In the course of duty, police officers are confronted time and again with situations that can easily escalate and lead to attacks on them. The analysis focuses on police officers on operational and patrol duty because this group has heightened exposure to violence. The aim of the project is to identify factors that increase the probability of an operation leading to an attack on police officers (risk factors). The primary question is to what extent work-related and personal factors (such as stress and social skills) have an impact on victimisation risk for police officers. As the outcome of a situation can be generally assumed to depend on the interplay between a range of factors, the study also takes into account factors relating to the situation (such as information available to the police and visibility) and to the other party (such as gender, inebriation and conduct).
A written survey on experience of violence in the police service was conducted between November 2012 and March 2013. The survey targeted all police officers on operational and patrol duty in Lower Saxony. A total of 1,931 officers took part, making for a 40.1 percent response rate. The survey findings were published in a KFN research report in 2014.
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