Assignment:
Human Interpersonal Reactions and Traumatic Events
You are the special teams commander in a major metropolitan police agency. You have a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, a narcotics unit, a vice unit, and a street crimes squad. You have heard that the street crime squad is starting to have a growing number of complaints of citizen abuse in terms of physical intimidation and claims of missing funds and property. You start by interviewing the newest member of the team, who has only been in the team for 4 months.
He is a great police officer who came from the detective bureau to work the street crime unit. In the interview, he related that several members of the nine-person team were heavy-handed with suspects. He also related that after a month on the team, he received an envelope in his locker that contained $3,000. He does not know who slipped it through the vent slots in the door, but on that day, he saw two other members of the team with similar envelopes.
Assignment Guidelines
In 5 to 6 paragraphs, address the following:
- What are 2 potential problems that are occurring in this team?
- Can these problems be attributed to stress caused by high-stakes, traumatic events? Why or why not? Explain.
- How do you think this situation could have progressed to this extreme? Explain.
- Are interpersonal reactions among police different from those of regular citizens regarding high-stakes, traumatic events? Why or why not? Explain in detail.