Burnout in Blue: An Analysis of the Extent and Primary Predictors of Burnout Among Law Enforcement Officers in the United States

Abstract

Job-related burnout is a significant concern for researchers, law enforcement administrators, and government authorities because of its broader effects on officer health, job performance, and service provided to the public. This topic is particularly relevant amidst a variety of complex challenges and heightened scrutiny surrounding law enforcement officers, their decisions, and relations with the public. Although much work has been conducted on burnout among police officers, the aim of this study is to build on the literature through analyzing survey data from roughly 13,000 sworn respondents representing 89 agencies throughout the United States to describe the extent of two components of burnout—emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Then, based on Leiter and Maslach’s (2004) six areas of worklife, this study uses multivariate analysis to identify the primary predictors of those two components of burnout and how they are shaped by the characteristics of the agencies and communities in which these officers work. The analysis indicates approximately 19% of the total sample was experiencing severe levels of emotional exhaustion and 13% had extreme values of depersonalization. In addition, regression analyses suggest that specific measures of workload and values were the strongest predictors of emotional exhaustion, while depersonalization was driven by similar factors in addition to a measure of community that tapped into relations with the public. Furthermore, little empirical support was found for the importance of agency and community-level variables as predictors of either component of burnout. A discussion of how to translate those results into efforts to mitigate burnout is also presented.

Keywords

police burnout stress law enforcement

In a recent edition of The Police Chief, the President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Donald W. De Lucca (2017), highlighted the myriad challenges police officers face in rising to higher standards of performance, crime prevention, and community engagement and how those demands can affect the emotional, physical, and mental well-being of sworn personnel in the United States. In particular, those greater demands and scrutiny increase the likelihood that officers experience job-related burnout, a condition that can affect adversely physical health, the functioning of the organization, and even the quality of service provided to the public (Schaible & Six, 2016). In light of its serious consequences, burnout has been the subject of numerous studies in policing, with many of those works being single-agency examinations of its correlates ( Schaible & Gecas, 2010) or how it varies between different groups of law enforcement personnel (McCarty & Skogan, 2013) or as a function of officer demographics (Padyab, Backteman-Erlanson, & Brulin, 2016).

While those studies have added considerably to the existing knowledge of burnout in policing, this study seeks to build on the literature with the following goals. First, the study uses survey data collected from a national sample of over 13,000 sworn officers representing 89 agencies throughout the United States to describe the extent of two central components of burnout, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (Schaufeli & Taris, 2005). Second, framed by Leiter and Maslach’s (2004) six areas of worklife, the study uses multivariate analysis to identify the strongest correlates of those two components of burnout, respectively, among this sample of police personnel. Finally, recognizing that law enforcement is primarily a local orientation in the United States, with great variation in the structure and environment in which departments are situated, the study explores how the two components of burnout are affected by the broader agency- and community-level characteristics in which these officers work. This study’s pursuit of those goals will contribute to a more thorough understanding of burnout while also serving as a broader call to policing scholars to focus on the human resources issues that are of critical importance to law enforcement leaders throughout the country. As De Lucca (2017) argued, expectations that officers rise to the heightened challenges they face in the status quo amidst great scrutiny cannot be met when they are emotionally, physically, or mentally unwell. As such, the results here will allow the ability to tailor specific initiatives to officers who are experiencing burnout or types of agencies where this condition is most likely to manifest.

An Overview of Burnout and its Implications

Burnout is a form of enduring psychological strain that entails exhaustion from and diminished interest in work (Xanthopoulou & Meier, 2014). Often confused with its antecedent, work-related stress, burnout is a condition that can result from prolonged exposure to stressors that exceed the individual’s resources to cope (Cooper, Dewe, & O’Driscoll, 2001). While burnout affects employees in a variety of different work contexts, it can be especially pronounced in the human services professions, such as health care, social work, and law enforcement (Bradley, 1969; Maslach, 1982). Employees in those professions face constant demands from the public they serve, a lack of reciprocity in their working relationships, and inadequate resources to mitigate those challenges (Buunk & Schaufeli, 1993), factors that are especially pronounced today in American policing. Over time, those frustrations can lead to employees becoming more burned out, which manifests in heightened feelings of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization (i.e., detachment from the public they serve), and diminished feelings of personal accomplishment in their work (Leiter, Bakker, & Maslach, 2014).

The implications of burnout are multifaceted and serious for both the individual and the work organization. As far as individual effects, studies using samples of entire working populations and independent sources of health information have found burnout to be related to depressive disorders (Ahola et al., 2005), anxiety disorders (Ahola, 2007), and alcohol dependence (Ahola, 2007). Furthermore, high levels of burnout were related to musculoskeletal and cardiovascular disorders (Honkonen et al., 2006; Toker, Melamed, Berliner, Zeltser, & Shapira, 2012). As for the work organization, high levels of burnout were related to employee absences from work (Honkonen et al., 2006). Given these myriad implications, it is not surprising that researchers like Leiter et al. (2014) have labeled burnout as a major career crisis of the 21st century and a fundamental challenge of working life.

Study Framework

Given those troubling implications, a large body of literature has explored burnout using frameworks like the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989) and the job demands-resources model (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001) to describe and explain the general conditions under which individuals come to experience this unmitigated stress condition. This study draws upon Leiter and Maslach’s (2004) six areas of worklife, which have been found to have strong empirical support as predictors of this condition. The first area, workload, entails job demands exceeding human limits or when employees have too much to do in too little time. Control is the second area and involves the level of autonomy, access to resources, influence over decisions, and exposure to unambiguous demands that employees experience in their work environments. Rewards, the third area, can be monetary, social, or intrinsic and reflect the power of reinforcements to shape behavior. Community, the fourth area, encompasses social support and a lack of interpersonal conflict on the job. Fifth, feelings of fairness involve employees being treated with respect or at least believing an equitable process is in place to guide promotions, decisions, and discipline in the organization. Finally, a broader sense of values reflects the power of job goals and expectations and the extent to which the realities of the job align with the ideals and motivations that originally attracted employees to their work.

Burnout Among Law Enforcement Officers

Either implicitly or explicitly, researchers have applied those frameworks to studies of burnout among police officers, producing a growing body of literature through which much can be learned. For example, scholars have established how and why the policing occupation and law enforcement agency simultaneously produce the types of demands, inadequate resources, and negative elements of worklife that increase the likelihood of officers experiencing burnout. Fishkin (2015, p. 147) described the difficulties that officers face trying to develop an identity separate from the job, balancing healthy social interaction, dealing with internal departmental hassles, interpersonal issues with coworkers and supervisors, and frustrations with the legal system—all of which lead them to feeling lost in the world around them, becoming one with the misery of the job, and increasing their feelings of burnout. Frequent, and sometimes fraught, interactions with members of the general public also increase the likelihood of burnout in the policing profession. Schaible and Six (2016) highlighted the difficulties that officers face trying to shift into different roles depending on the encounter and the need to suppress or fake emotions in various contexts. While this type of acting can be a coping mechanism that allows officers to distance themselves from the tragedies they may encounter working with the public, it also leads to higher levels of burnout, in particular feelings of depersonalization (Schaible & Six, 2016, p. 6).

Relatedly, some of this research has been descriptive, attempting to quantify the extent of burnout among sworn personnel or how it differs between subgroups of law enforcement employees. For example, Hawkins (2001) assessed a sample of 442 officers working in four police departments and found that over one-third of officers scored high on emotional exhaustion, the primary component of burnout, while well over half scored high on feelings of depersonalization, a secondary component of burnout. Researchers like McCarty and Skogan (2013) explored how burnout among sworn personnel compares or contrasts with civilian law enforcement employees, finding a core similarity between the two groups of employees. Furthermore, studies have focused on demographic differences in burnout, with McCarty (2013) finding that female sergeants had higher levels of emotional exhaustion and lower levels of depersonalization than male sergeants in a large Midwestern municipal police agency.

The implications of burnout have also been assessed, with researchers finding that officers suffering from burnout have experienced family discord (Hawkins, 2001; Jackson & Maslach, 1982), health complaints (Martinussen, Richardsen, & Burke, 2007), and excessive alcohol consumption (Jackson & Maslach, 1982). For law enforcement agencies, burnout has been associated with officers’ intentions to quit the police department (Jackson & Maslach, 1982; Martinussen et al., 2007), positive attitudes toward the use of self-reported violence (Kop, Euwema, & Schaufeli, 1999), and negative coping mechanisms, like psychological distancing from the general public (Padyab et al., 2016).

Finally, a large quantitative literature has helped in establishing statistical relationships between an assortment of independent variables and officer reports of burnout (e.g., Martinussen et al., 2007; McCarty & Skogan, 2013; McCarty, Zhao, & Garland, 2007; Padyab et al., 2016; Schaible & Gecas, 2010). Often, these studies employ a survey methodology to measure officer feelings of burnout and various predictor variables that tap into perceptions of job resources, demands, or other areas of worklife. For example, Martinussen et al.’s (2007) study of 223 Norwegian police officers found that work demands and a lack of resources were related to burnout. Furthermore, in a study of 1,554 Swedish patrol officers, Padyab et al. (2016) found that feelings of troubled conscience were associated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Among U.S. police officers, McCarty and Skogan (2013) found that difficulty establishing a life separate from the job, which they conceptualized as work–life conflict, increased significantly feelings of burnout among both sworn and civilian police personnel. Interpersonal relationships with supervisors and coworkers, which they termed social support, also had a strong statistical relationship with burnout, with both sworn and civilian personnel having lower levels of that condition when social support was perceived to be high.

Study Rationale

While a strong foundation of work exists in this field, many of the studies cited earlier involve somewhat small samples of officers (Martinussen et al., 2007), respondents from a single agency (Schaible & Gecas, 2010) or a small number of agencies (Hawkins, 2001), or somewhat narrow foci on identifying differences in burnout levels based on demographics (Padyab et al., 2016) or job types (McCarty & Skogan, 2013).

As such, this study attempts to expand the literature by, first, describing the extent of the two central components of burnout, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, from surveys of over 13,000 law enforcement personnel working in 89 varied agencies throughout the United States. Second, working with variables consistent with Leiter and Maslach’s (2004) six areas of worklife, the study uses multivariate analysis to identify the strongest correlates of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, respectively, to identify what affects those distinct components of burnout. Finally, acknowledging the possibility that there is a collective element to burnout that can be constructed through the shared experience of working in a law enforcement agency or policing in a certain type of community (see Halbesleben & Leon, 2014), the study explores how emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are affected by the size of the department, the violent crime rate, police to population ratio, and agency type.

While the goals outlined earlier are interesting from an academic standpoint, it is hoped that the ultimate contribution of this study is practical, as the current environment in the world of policing begs more inquiries into burnout to help identify strong correlates and potential remedies. In addition to the concerns outlined by De Lucca (2017), the final report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (2015) identified officer wellness and safety as one of six main “pillars” around which recommendations and action items were centered, with the overall message that “. . . wellness and safety of law enforcement officers is critical not only to themselves, their colleagues, and their agencies but also to public safety” (p. 4). As such, studies of this nature are essential in understanding the mechanisms and contexts in which burnout flourishes and offering evidence-based remedies that help mitigate its effects. The next section describes the data and measures used in those pursuits.

Methods

Participants

The participants in this study included 13,146 sworn personnel representing 89 law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. Descriptive statistics for the participating officers and agencies are presented in Table 1. In terms of the participating officers, roughly 13% were female and 19% were minority (i.e., Black, Latino, or “other”), percentages that suggest females were somewhat underrepresented and minorities were equally represented in comparison to the general demographics of these agencies. As far as agencies, the sample included officers representing 70 municipal police departments and 19 full-service county Sheriff’s offices, with an average size of 794 full-time sworn personnel. Table 1 also presents the descriptive statistics for the two dependent variables analyzed in this study in addition to all independent variables capturing one of the six perceptive areas of worklife, all of which will be defined and discussed later in this report.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics for Sworn Personnel (n = 13,146) and Law Enforcement Agencies (n = 89).

Variable	Mean (SD)	n (%)
Dependent
Burnout: Emotional exhaustion	3.40 (1.67)
Burnout: Depersonalization	2.84 (0.75)
Independent
Worklife
Workload	3.17 (1.19)
Control1	3.46 (1.16)
Control2	2.73 (1.31)
Control3	2.39 (0.85)
Control4	2.51 (0.87)
Control5	2.67 (0.62)
Reward1	1.94 (0.79)
Reward2	2.58 (0.89)
Reward3	2.15 (0.79)
Reward4	2.52 (0.88)
Reward5	2.61 (0.90)
Community1	3.49 (1.20)
Community2	4.26 (0.96)
Community3	3.68 (1.12)
Community4	3.92 (1.15)
Community5	2.89 (0.73)
Community6	2.19 (0.75)
Community7	2.50 (0.79)
Community8	3.35 (0.65)
Community9	2.39 (0.71)
Fairness1	2.34 (0.91)
Fairness2	2.64 (0.85)
Fairness3	2.83 (0.97)
Fairness4	2.89 (0.98)
Fairness5	3.06 (0.85)
Fairness6	2.37 (0.89)
Fairness7	2.08 (0.87)
Values1	2.07 (0.89)
Values2	3.10 (0.75)
Values3	2.80 (1.26)
Values4	3.33 (0.66)
Values5	3.06 (0.68)
Demographic
Gender
Male=0		9404 (71.54)
Female=1		1660 (12.63)
Education
Less than college degree=0		4921 (37.43)
College degree or above=1		6331 (48.16)
Race
White (reference)		8294 (63.09)
Black		911 (6.93)
Latino		1002 (7.62)
"other"		578 (4.40)
Rank
Police officer (reference)		7609 (57.88)
Sergeant		2279 (17.34)
Lieutenant or above		1419 (10.79)
Age
18–35		2281 (17.35)
36–41		2118 (16.11)
42–45		1925 (14.64)
46–50		2215 (16.85)
51–80		1913 (14.55)
Agency/community
Violent crime (per 10,000)	50.49 (43.57)
Total sworn employees	794.46 (1818.79)
Police-population ratio (per 10,000)	18.88 (9.08)
Agency type
Municipal police department=0		70 (78.65)
Sheriff’s office =1		19 (21.34)

Note. SD = standard deviation.

Data and Measures

Measures of burnout, worklife, and officer demographics used in this study were drawn from a roughly 100-item survey conducted as part of Phase II of the National Police Research Platform and funded by the National Institute of Justice. One hundred agencies agreed to participate in a series of three omnibus online surveys, although this report focuses only on the 89 agencies that completed the third of those, hereafter referred to as Law Enforcement Organizational Survey C, or LEO C. Many of the questions on LEO C had already been field tested in one of the two previous surveys.

Seventy-seven of the 89 participating agencies were recruited from a random sample of municipal police departments and Sheriff’s offices. The sample was drawn from the 2007 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) database. In particular, this database enabled the research team to identify and sample Sheriff’s agencies providing policing services. Agencies with 100 to 3,000 sworn police personnel were eligible to participate. Consideration was also given to the geographic location of the agencies, with a desire to include agencies in the Northeastern, Midwestern, Southern, and Western parts of the United States. In addition to the randomly selected agencies, 12 additional agencies that had participated in Phase I of the National Police Research Platform were included for study. Ultimately then, these 89 agencies were not a truly representative sample of all agencies in the United States, as they skewed toward larger municipal departments and Sheriff’s offices. Still, they represent a great deal of diversity in American policing, with regard to agency location and type. In line with our agreement with the agencies, their identities are not revealed in this report.

Additional agency- and community-level measures were drawn from two sources. First, data from the 2010 United States Census were collected for the municipality that each agency served. Those data were used in the denominators of the violent crime rate and police to population ratio, respectively. Second, administrative data were gathered from each agency regarding the number of reported violent crimes in addition to the number of sworn employees. The crime data were used in the numerator of the violent crime rate, while the personnel data were used to calculate the total sworn population and police to population ratio found in each respective agency.

Procedures

LEO C was conducted online using software hosted by Qualtrics, Inc© between October 2014 and February 2015. Working through participating agencies, invitations from agency leaders were e-mailed to employees inviting them to link to their survey’s home page, using an Internet address provided in the message. There they were presented an informed consent statement and could choose to proceed with the survey. Occasional reminder messages were sent to employees by their agency heads during the field period for the survey, which was about 30 days per agency. The median time to complete the survey was approximately 18 minutes and the average agency-level response rate was 35%, based upon the personnel data provided by each agency.

Dependent Variables

The two central components of burnout—emotional exhaustion and depersonalization—were the dependent variables assessed in this study. Emotional exhaustion was measured through a four-item scale (α = .92). The four items asked respondents about the frequency, respectively, with which they felt “used up” at the end of the day, burned out from their work, frustrated by their job, and emotionally drained from work. Responses were scored on a 7-point Likert-type scale using these response categories: never, less than once a month, once a month, 2 to 3 times a month, once a week, 2 to 3 times a week, and daily. A high score on the composite measure indicates frequent manifestations of emotional exhaustion. Depersonalization was measured through a two-item scale (α = .71). The two items asked sworn personnel about the level of agreement that the job was hardening them emotionally, and if they had become more callous toward people since they took the job. Responses were scored on a 4-point Likert-type scale using these response categories: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. Responses were reverse-coded so that a high score on the composite measure indicates higher levels of agreement that depersonalization is occurring. All items above were modified, with permission, from Maslach’s Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (Maslach & Jackson, 1996), which is the most widely used measure of burnout (Cooper et al., 2001).

Independent Variables

A variety of measures were included, each consistent with one of the six areas of worklife identified in Leiter and Maslach’s (2004) framework. For brevity, not all items are detailed in text but are defined in Table 2. The first area, workload, was captured through a single survey item (workload) that measured on a 5-point scale the extent to which the respondent felt there was insufficient time to manage life outside of work. Higher values on the item correspond to a greater level of conflict between work and life outside of work. The second area, control, was assessed using five different survey items (control1 through control5) that tapped into different dimensions of autonomy, exposure to unambiguous demands, and influence over decisions. For example, officers were asked how often the head of the organization makes clear what is expected of employees. The third area, rewards, was captured through five different items (reward1 through reward5). As one example, respondents were asked about their satisfaction with their career prospects in the organization. The fourth area, community, encompassed nine items (community1 through community9) that tapped into views of supervision and camaraderie with coworkers and the community. For example, officers were asked how often their supervisor treats employees with respect. The fifth area, fairness, was assessed with seven items (fairness1 through fairness7). As one example, respondents were asked their level of agreement that getting promoted in the agency is a fair and open process. Finally, the values area of worklife encompassed five items (values1 through values5). For example, officers were asked how important the agency’s goals were to them.

Table 2.

Measures of Worklife.

Label	Measure	Response categories
Workload^a	Over the past month, how often have you felt there was not enough time to manage your life outside of work?	Very often (1) to never (5)
Control1^a	How often does the head of your organization make clear what is expected of employees?	Always (1) to never (5)
Control2^a	How often does the head of your organization encourage input from employees when important decisions are made?	Always (1) to never (5)
Control3^a	I am encouraged to share ideas about ways the agency can improve.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Control4	How restricted do you feel by your department's rules and regulations when performing your daily work?	Very restricted (1) to not at all restricted (4)
Control5^a	In general, how much freedom are patrol officers given to make decisions on their own in your department?	Too much freedom (1) to almost no freedom (4)
Reward1^a	Officers who consistently do a poor job are held accountable.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Reward2^a	The opportunity to work in a special unit is available to me if I want it.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Reward3^a	Employees who consistently do a good job are rewarded.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Reward4^a	Rate your overall satisfaction with your rate of pay.	Very satisfied (1) to very dissatisfied (4)
Reward5^a	How satisfied are you with your career prospects–that is, your chances of being promoted to where you think you should be in this organization?	Very satisfied (1) to very dissatisfied (4)
Community1^a	How often does your supervisor work with people to develop their abilities?	Always (1) to never (5)
Community2^a	How often does your supervisor treat employees with respect?	Always (1) to never (5)
Community3^a	How often does your supervisor recognize when employees are having problems on the job?	Always (1) to never (5)
Community4^a	How often does your supervisor listen to employees' concerns?	Always (1) to never (5)
Community5^a	People support each other when things get tough at work.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Community6^a	Officers have reason to be distrustful of most citizens.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Community7	Most people respect the police.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Community8^a	The public doesn't understand what it means to be an officer.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Community9	The relationship between the police and the people of this city is very good.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Fairness1^a	In this agency, the disciplinary process is fair.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Fairness2^a	Officers are treated with respect during formal disciplinary investigations.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Fairness3^a	In my current workplace, employees are treated the same regardless of their gender.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Fairness4^a	In my current workplace, employees are treated the same regardless of their race/ethnicity.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Fairness5^a	In my current workplace, employees are treated the same regardless of their sexual orientation.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Fairness6^a	The process getting promoted in this agency is open and fair.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Fairness7	Getting good assignments depends on whom you know, not on merit.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Values1	The department is more interested in measuring the amount of activity (e.g., tickets, arrests) than the quality of their work.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Values2	It is sometimes necessary to break department rules to advance up the ranks.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Values3^a	How supportive are you of the direction that top management is taking this organization?	Extremely supportive (1) to not supportive at all (5)
Values4^a	I am strongly committed to making the agency successful.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)
Values5^a	The agency’s goals are important to me.	Strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4)

Response categories were reverse-coded.

In addition to those areas of worklife, five demographic control variables were included in the analysis: gender, education, race, rank, and age. Education was assessed through a dichotomous measure identifying respondents with a college degree or above, compared to those with less than a college degree. Race was measured using three dummy variables, which captured respondents self-identifying as African American, Hispanic, and "other." Self-identifying Whites served as the reference category. Rank was measured using two dummy variables, which captured respondents with a sergeant rank and those who were lieutenants or above. Patrol officers served as the reference group. Finally, age was assessed as an ordinal variable that reflected ascending officer age categories.

Finally, four variables capturing agency/community factors consistent with areas of worklife were included. The workload area of worklife was captured through the violent crime rate per 10,000 residents and the police to population ratio, as they reflect more systematic demands that characterize the entire agency. Police officers who work in communities characterized by high rates of violent crime may have elevated feelings of danger that exceed human limits and increase feelings of burnout. Furthermore, workload in law enforcement agencies may be captured by police to population ratios. As that ratio increases, workload stemming from interactions with the general public may decrease as those responsibilities diffuse over a larger population of officers. The community area of worklife was captured through the total number of sworn employees as well as a dichotomous measure of whether the agency was a municipal police department or Sheriff’s office. The total number of sworn employees may be indicative of social support and a lack of interpersonal conflict, as studies have found that smaller departments may be characterized by more informal and personal relationships among officers at all levels of the organization, a factor that may decrease feelings of burnout (Regoli, Crank, & Culbertson, 1989). The type of law enforcement agency may also reflect differences in feelings of community both internally among sworn personnel as well as externally with members of the community. For instance, McCarty and Dewald (2017) found that relations between Sheriff’s deputies and the county Sheriff were more positive than municipal officers with their chiefs and sworn personnel in Sheriff’s offices had more favorable views of the citizens that they serve, factors that may decrease feelings of burnout in those agencies.

Analytic Strategy

The analysis begins with basic descriptive statistics to accomplish the first goal of the study, which is to understand the extent of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization among this large sample of police officers throughout the United States. Then, results of OLS regression analyses are presented to accomplish the second and third goals of the study, which are to identify the strongest correlates of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, respectively, and to determine how they are affected, if at all, by the nature of the agencies and communities in which these officers work. A presentation of those results and additional information about the analyses conducted appears in the following section.

Results

Referring back to Table 1, it reports the average levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization for the sample of sworn personnel. The average value of the emotional exhaustion scale was 3.40. Translating that score into the response categories used for those items, sworn personnel, on average, reported feeling emotionally exhausted somewhere between once a month and 2 to 3 times a month. The average value of the depersonalization scale was 2.84. Translating that score into the response categories used for those items, sworn personnel, on average, were over the midpoint of the scale more toward agree than disagree that they have become more callous or hardened emotionally by the job.

A more detailed examination of the emotional exhaustion scale indicates that approximately 19% of the total sample had values of 5 or above, which translates into experiencing those symptoms on a weekly, or more frequent, basis. This threshold is important, as it been defined by researchers like Ahola and Hakanen (2014, p. 12) as an indicator of severe burnout. Digging deeper into the individual items that comprised this scale, the survey question that probed feelings of frustration with the job was the most commonly occurring issue (3.56) among the four that measured emotional exhaustion. Translating those scores into the response categories for the survey item, sworn personnel felt frustrated by the job between 2 to 3 times a month and once a week.

A more detailed examination of the depersonalization scale is slightly more complex, as a different set of response categories was incorporated for the two items. With that said, the analysis assessed extreme values of depersonalization, encompassing those respondents with a reported score of 4.00 on the composite scale, which reflects sworn officers who strongly agreed that the job is hardening them emotionally and that they have become more callous since taking the job. Using that standard, almost 13% of the sample reported these extreme values of depersonalization. A closer examination of the two items used to measure depersonalization shows that the one that tapped into whether the job is hardening them emotionally was the most likely to be agreed with (2.96). Translating that average score into the response categories for the survey item, the average sworn respondent was likely to agree with that statement.

Before proceeding to the OLS regression results, it should be noted that each worklife variable derived from the survey was analyzed as a unique predictor in the statistical models, as opposed to being combined into a series of multi-item composite scales. This approach was taken due to the large sample size and the desire to drill down into the specific components of each area of worklife to determine which ones were driving feelings of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, respectively. Given the inclusion of a multitude of these similar variables, collinearity diagnostics were assessed. After excluding one measure of worklife (i.e., community3) from the emotional exhaustion model, variance inflation factors ranged from 1.31 to 3.40, meaning that all were below 4, which is an often cited critical value for that diagnostic (O’Brien, 2007).

With that information as a backdrop, Table 3 presents the results of OLS regression analysis for emotional exhaustion, regressed on the different indicators of worklife, officer demographics, and measures of agency and community characteristics. The analysis was conducted using the R program and a forward selection procedure, which enabled the identification and rank ordering of the most significant predictors according to their p values. The b coefficients for statistically significant variables are reported, along with the standard errors. A list of variables that did not reach the standard of statistical significance is reported at the end of the table. Furthermore, the table contains two columns quantifying first the variation in emotional exhaustion explained by each respective statistically significant independent variable and second the cumulative amount of variation explained in the dependent variable. These metrics were reported as the large sample of officers included here means that an independent variable simply reaching the standard of statistical significance is quite a low bar to clear. As such, quantifying the variation explained by each variable helps identify the factors that are related strongly to this measure of burnout.

Table 3.

Regression Results for EE.

	b	SE	Variation in EE explained	Cumulative variation in EE explained
Independent variables
Worklife
Workload	0.18*	0.01	0.22	0.22
Values3	−0.03*	0.01	0.08	0.30
Reward5	−0.04*	0.01	0.03	0.33
Community5	−0.05*	0.01	0.02	0.35
Control4	−0.04*	0.01	0.01	0.36
Community8	0.06*	0.02	0.01	0.37
Community1	−0.01*	0.01	0.01	0.38
Values4	−0.06*	0.02	<0.01	0.38
Reward3	−0.02*	0.01	<0.01	0.38
Fairness3	−0.02*	0.01	<0.01	0.39
Reward2	−0.03*	0.01	<0.01	0.39
Community9	0.01*	0.01	<0.01	0.39
Values1	−0.01*	0.01	<0.01	0.39
Fairness1	−0.01*	0.01	<0.01	0.39
Community2	−0.05*	0.02	<0.01	0.39
Control2	−0.01*	0.01	<0.01	0.40
Community6	<0.01*	0.01	<0.01	0.40
Demographic
Rank: Lieutenant or above	0.06*	0.01	<0.01	0.40
African American	−0.05*	0.01	<0.01	0.41
Age	−0.01*	0.01	<0.01	0.41
Latino	−0.04*	0.01	<0.01	0.41
Rank: Sergeant	0.03*	<0.01	<0.01	0.41
“other” race	−0.03*	0.01	<0.01	0.41
Gender	0.01*	0.01	<0.01	0.41
Agency/community
Total sworn employees	0.30*	0.04	0.01	0.42
Police-pop ratio (per 10,000)	−0.01*	<0.01	<0.01	0.42
Agency type	−0.03*	0.01	<0.01	0.42
Intercept	1.46*	0.04

Note. Worklife variables that failed to reach the standard of statistical significance: Control1, Control3, Control5, Reward1, Reward4, Community4, Community7, Fairness2, Fairness4, Fairness5, Fairness6, Fairness7, Values2, Values5. Worklife variable that was removed due to collinearity concerns: Community3. Demographic variables that failed to reach statistical significance: Education. Agency/community variables that failed to reach statistical significance: Violent crime rate (per 10,000). EE = Emotional Exhaustion.

*p < .05.

As the results in Table 3 indicate, emotional exhaustion appears to be driven primarily by the measure of workload, which explained 22% of the variation in this component of burnout. More specifically, the positive direction of the b coefficient indicates that as sworn personnel reported with greater frequency that they did not have time to manage their lives outside of work, the frequency of their feelings of emotional exhaustion also increased. In addition to workload, a measure of values (values3) explained 8% of the variation in emotional exhaustion. Specifically, the negative direction of the b coefficient suggests that as respondents were more supportive of the direction that top management is taking the organization, they were less likely to report feelings of emotional exhaustion. While many other measures of worklife reached the standard of statistical significance, they each explained 3% or less of the variation in emotional exhaustion.

Demographic factors, collectively, explained very little variation in feelings of emotional exhaustion with each of the variables explaining less than 1%. Finally, and similarly, the agency and community characteristics variables explained a small amount of variation in emotional exhaustion. The only agency or community variable that explained more than 1% of the variation in emotional exhaustion was the number of total sworn employees. The positive direction of that b coefficient indicates that as the size of the total sworn population increased, so too did the feeling of emotional exhaustion in that agency. Collectively, the independent variables explained approximately 42% of the variation in emotional exhaustion.

Table 4 contains the results of OLS analysis for depersonalization, regressed on the different indicators of worklife, officer demographics, and measures of agency and community characteristics. The structure of the table is the same as what was used for the emotional exhaustion analysis. Variation in depersonalization appears to be related primarily to one of the community-oriented variables (community8), which explained almost 11% of the variation in this component of burnout. Specifically, the positive direction of the b coefficient indicates that as sworn personnel reported higher levels of agreement that the public does not understand what it means to be a police officer, they also were more likely to agree about having feelings of depersonalization. In addition, a measure of values (values3) explained roughly 5% of the variation in depersonalization. Specifically, the negative direction of the b coefficient suggests that as respondents were more supportive of the direction that the top management is taking the organization, they were less likely to report feelings of depersonalization. This variable was also a prominent driver of emotional exhaustion. Finally, consistent with the emotional exhaustion model, workload was a strong predictor of depersonalization, explaining almost 4% of the variation in this outcome. The positive direction of the b coefficient indicates that as sworn personnel reported with greater frequency that they did not have time to manage their lives outside of work, their feelings of depersonalization also increased. In addition, while many other measures of worklife reached the standard of statistical significance, they each explained 2% or less of the variation in depersonalization.

Table 4.

Regression Results for DP.

	b	SE	Variation in DP explained	Cumulative variation in DP explained
Independent variables
Worklife
Community8	1.15*	0.12	0.11	0.11
Values3	−0.10*	0.04	0.05	0.16
Workload	0.44*	0.05	0.04	0.20
Community6	0.26*	0.04	0.02	0.22
Values5	−0.19*	0.08	0.01	0.23
Reward1	−0.12*	0.03	0.01	0.24
Values2	−0.03*	0.06	<0.01	0.24
Values1	−0.13*	0.03	<0.01	0.25
Control4	−0.11*	0.04	<0.01	0.25
Community5	−0.17*	0.06	<0.01	0.25
Fairness1	−0.03*	0.04	<0.01	0.25
Fairness7	−0.10*	0.04	<0.01	0.25
Community1	0.01*	0.05	<0.01	0.26
Values4	0.03*	0.11	<0.01	0.26
Fairness4	−0.07*	0.04	<0.01	0.26
Community7	−0.01*	0.06	<0.01	0.26
Reward2	0.04*	0.04	<0.01	0.26
Control3	−0.08*	0.04	<0.01	0.26
Demographic
African American	−0.51*	0.04	0.01	0.27
Latino	−0.32*	0.04	<0.01	0.27
"other" race	−0.26*	0.05	<0.01	0.28
Gender	−0.14*	0.03	<0.01	0.28
Age	0.04*	0.04	<0.01	0.28
Rank: Sergeant	0.15*	0.03	<0.01	0.28
Rank: Lieutenant or above	0.19*	0.04	<0.01	0.28
Agency/community
Police-pop ratio (per 10,000)	−0.05*	0.01	<0.01	0.28
Total sworn employees	1.06*	0.24	<0.01	0.29
Agency type	−0.07*	0.03	<0.01	0.29
Intercept	2.96*	0.24

Note. Workload variables that failed to reach statistical significance: Reward5, Reward3, Fairness3, Community9, Community2, Control2, Community3, Control1, Control5, Reward4, Community4, Fairness2, Fairness5, Fairness6. Demographic variables that failed to reach statistical significance: Education. Agency/community variables that failed to reach statistical significance: Violent crime rate (per 10,000). DP = depersonalization.

*p < .05.

Demographic factors only explained roughly 2% of the variation in depersonalization, with the dummy variable representing African American officers being the strongest predictor. The negative direction of that b coefficient indicates African American officers had significantly lower level of depersonalization than White officers. Finally, the agency and community characteristics variables explained a small amount of variation in depersonalization, with all of them explaining less than 1% of this outcome measure. Collectively, the independent variables explained approximately 29% of the variation in depersonalization. A discussion of these findings appears in the next section.

Discussion and Conclusion

The challenge to law enforcement personnel to meet higher standards of transparency, accountability, and effectiveness in the status quo amidst great scrutiny of these efforts requires a foundation of emotional, physical, and mental wellness. Burnout, in essence, is the absence of wellness and having officers afflicted with this serious stress reaction undermines not only their physical and emotional health but also efforts to reform policing in America. A sizeable literature already exists on burnout among police officers, which is expanded here through an analysis of 13,000 sworn officers representing a diverse set of 89 agencies throughout the United States.

Our study had three goals, the first of which was to describe the extent of two primary components of burnout, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, among this sample of sworn personnel. As far as emotional exhaustion, which was a composite measure of four survey items, the average officer reported this condition manifesting between once a month and 2 to 3 times per month, a value that would be considered more toward mild than severe burnout (Ahola & Hakanen, 2014, p. 12). Still, approximately 19% of the total sample of officers reported feeling emotionally exhausted at least weekly, which would constitute severe burnout.

As far as depersonalization, which was a composite measure of two items, the average officer was just over the midpoint of the scale, more likely to agree than disagree that they have become more callous or hardened emotionally by the job. Furthermore, 13% of the sample had extreme values of depersonalization, meaning that they strongly agreed with both survey measures that, first, the job is hardening them emotionally and that, second, they have become more callous since taking the job.

The second goal of the study was to utilize a multitude of measures consistent with Leiter and Maslach’s (2004) six areas of worklife to identify the strongest correlates of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, respectively. Regression analysis indicates that much of the variation in feelings of emotional exhaustion was driven by two variables. First, the greatest amount of variation was explained through a measure of workload which, in essence, captures how often the respondents felt there was insufficient time to manage their lives outside of work. More than anything else, feelings of emotional exhaustion became more frequent as this balance tilted more toward work and less toward time outside of work. A secondary, yet still strong, predictor of burnout was a measure of values, specifically the item that gauged support for the direction top management is taking the organization. In essence, then, as the sample of sworn personnel expressed greater support of top management and the plans for the organization’s direction, they were less likely to feel emotional exhaustion.

This pattern of results is both different from and similar to what was found to influence depersonalization. With regard to difference, the variable that explained the most variation in depersonalization was a measure of community, specifically the item that tapped into the level of agreement that the public does not understand what it means to be a police officer. In essence, then, those feelings that the public does not understand what it means to be an officer are associated strongly to hardened feelings and a more callous view of the public that they serve. With regard to similarities, the same measures of values and workload that were prominent in the emotional exhaustion analysis were also strong predictors of depersonalization, suggesting that aligning views with top management’s direction ameliorates this component of burnout while a greater struggle with the demands of work and their infringement on time outside of work exacerbates this condition.

Finally, the study explored how the two components of burnout were affected by the broader agency- and community-level characteristics in which these officers work. To that end, the statistical analyses undertaken suggests very little variation in those two components of burnout was explained by the measures of context that were utilized for the 89 agencies studied here, including the number of sworn personnel, police to population ratio, violent crime rate, and agency type. In fact, only the total number of sworn employees in the emotional exhaustion analysis explained more than 1% of the variation in one of the two outcome measures, with that result suggesting that as the total number of sworn employees increased, emotional exhaustion also (slightly) increased.

To some degree, this pattern of findings is not a surprise, as studies of work-related stress in policing have found little empirical support for similar types of contextual variables (see Morash, Haarr, & Kwak, 2006). The lack of empirical support in this study is probably also indicative of the fact that many of the agencies analyzed here are large, meaning that officers within those departments are faced with a variety of contexts in which they police. Put simply, there is a great deal of interagency variation in these mostly large organizations that is masked by the broad measures utilized here. The greater salience of individual worklife measures, as opposed to agency or community measures, is advantageous in that this pattern of findings is more conducive to interventions through supervision, training, communication, rules, or standards. It is to those practical issues that this discussion now shifts.

Perhaps it is not surprising that workload is such a prominent driver of both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Studies of law enforcement personnel have consistently found that the officers who express the greatest difficulty balancing work and life responsibilities also express the highest levels of burnout (see McCarty & Skogan, 2013). While the ethos of police officers is typically to internalize these struggles or feel as if they should toughen up or simply soldier through feelings of work–life imbalance, the findings here should make it clear that if organizations want to decrease burnout among sworn personnel, they should prioritize managing workload and make sure expectations are reasonable (Leiter & Maslach, 2004).

To that end, some police agencies have experimented with alternative schedules to decrease workload and improve balance. For instance, Burger and Nachreiner (2017) studied the implications of a variety of schedules on performance and wellness among a sample of patrol officers in Germany. Generally, the authors found that officers working under more flexible schedules reported more favorable feelings of balance between work and life. This approach, however, was not a panacea as the most flexible schedules were found to weaken work-related social structures. In essence, then, these findings suggest that law enforcement agencies should find a middle ground to ensure officers experience some flexibility in their work schedules to help manage their feelings of workload and insert more balance between their jobs and lives outside of them.

More generally, while extensive research (e.g., Paoline, 2003) has highlighted the difficulties of changing the prevailing police culture and its inclination toward heavy workloads, Rabe-Hemp (2008) has suggested that law enforcement agencies can introduce incremental changes to provide officers with opportunities to manage overload (i.e., seeking help, going on vacation, turning down overtime) and better balance work and life issues. Relatedly, suggestions in the literature on workload issues largely rest on providing more frequent emotional support (i.e., listening, empathy) and instrumental support (i.e., tangible assistance targeting problem-solving strategies) to officers as they attempt to manage their difficult jobs (Collins & Gibbs, 2003; Duxbury, Higgins, & Halinski, 2015; Rabe-Hemp, 2008).

The importance of values as a strong correlate of burnout also is consistent with previous research. Leiter and Maslach (2004, p. 130), for example, labeled organizational values as one of the two (along with workload) basic contact points for interventions intended to ameliorate burnout, highlighting the challenges that organizational leaders face in building a shared vision that permeates both policies and practices. Specifically, the analysis conducted here suggests that when officers feel a lack of support toward the direction top management is taking the organization, they are more likely to feel both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization toward the public they serve.

Clearly, top managers in law enforcement organizations should redouble efforts to open lines of communication between themselves and the rank-and-file, especially as it relates to changes in organizational philosophies or directions. Beyond simply the mantra that more communication about these issues helps mitigate feelings of burnout, top managers should consider engaging more with the rank-and-file in building a shared direction for the organization, as opposed to imposing one from the top down. This philosophy echoes police scholars who have recognized a disconnect between the rank-and-file and management (Crank, 1998; Lipsky, 1980; Reuss-Ianni, 1983) and the benefits of an open line of communication between ranks (Gau & Gaines, 2012; Johnson, 2015; Steinheider & Wuestewald, 2008). A feeling of ownership, in turn, has to be spread out to all of those who work within the organization. This open and participatory structure allows employees, in this case sworn personnel, to feel a greater stake in what they have helped build.

One approach to getting officers to feel more ownership and “buy-in” to new directions is for top management to support and model the types of organizational-justice-related behaviors that are important to employees, including those that are seen as prioritizing interpersonal relations between employees and managers, giving officers a voice, and protecting them from unfair attacks (Rosenbaum & McCarty, 2017). These steps are essential to help minimize feelings of burnout as officers are expected to continue doing police work under the current conditions of extreme mistrust and scrutiny.

Finally, the importance of community, specifically how depersonalization is related strongly to officers’ perceptions that the public does not understand their jobs, should also be considered by departments in their efforts to mitigate burnout. The clear response, then, would be more engagement between officers and citizens—a pressing priority today in most law enforcement agencies to address a multitude of issues beyond officer burnout. To help departments facilitate those efforts, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has established the Institute for Community-Police Relations to provide guidance and assistance to law enforcement agencies. Specifically, community engagement approaches are highlighted through a blog on best practices related to these issues (www.theIACPblog.org).

With regard to the depersonalization component of burnout and the analysis conducted here, it appears as if it is essential that those efforts move in both directions, with the public being able to articulate their concerns but officers also having the chance to discuss and communicate information about police processes, practices, and challenges. As one example of a program that seeks to accomplish that goal, the Policing-Inside Out program is a 15-week joint partnership between Howard University and the IACP that aims to improve community–police relations through engaging students, police officers, and community leaders in open dialogue to help all parties gain a deeper understanding of each other’s perspectives (Crowe, 2017).

In light of the recommendations outlined earlier, a logical next step in this line of research would be to assess and thoroughly evaluate what agencies are currently doing with regard to programs and initiatives intended to mitigate officer burnout and improve elements of workload, values, and community that were found to be so prominent in this study. A glaring problem in the universe of burnout studies has been the lack of sound evaluations of these various interventions. While no perfect program or initiative exists to curb burnout, departments are invariably utilizing different approaches to address these issues. Research on how and where these programs are implemented - whether internally (through supervisors or a human services department) or externally (through employee assistance programs) – will enrich our understanding of the effects of burnout initiatives. Corresponding evaluation work would help complement the variables-oriented approach to identifying strong correlates that was employed here. Finally, studies that link survey measures of burnout to other outputs are critically needed in the world of policing. For example, studies that assess self-reported burnout as an independent variable with dependent variables such as sick days, public complaints, or contacts with community members would help shed light on the consequences of this condition specific to the law enforcement profession.

Limitations of the study also need to be acknowledged. First, the nature of the online survey constrained the number of questions that could be posed to respondents with regard to a multitude of other concepts, such as additional dimensions of burnout, workload, or other demographics like years of professional experience. Second, the cross-sectional nature of the research design only enabled the identification of statistical relationships between the independent and dependent variables, leaving any claims of causality and definitive time order beyond the scope of the study. Third, the contextual variables that were included are for the entire agency or the entire community in which the agency is situated. Invariably, within these complex agencies and municipalities, there are different dynamics that occur at the district-level, division-level, or neighborhood-level that were not captured with the measures utilized here. Relatedly, the sworn personnel surveyed here represent mostly large agencies, which are not typical in the United States. With that said, while large agencies are not typical, a majority of sworn personnel in the United States are employed in jurisdictions with more than 100,000 residents, making this sample of officers and their views consistent with the bigger city, county, or suburban environment that many officers face (Reaves, 2015). Finally, the response rate was 35 percent. While this overall rate is somewhat low, it was based on complete lists of employee e-mail addresses and the opportunity to participate in the surveys reached all corners of the organization. Nonresponse included employees who were in court or on special assignment, on vacation or sick leave, or enjoying compensatory time off, setting a high standard.

The abovementioned limitations aside, it is imperative that studies of this nature continue to be conducted and agencies heed these recommendations, as issues of officer burnout are likely to become even more pressing with the passage of time, as the sometimes competing quests for performance, crime prevention, community engagement, accountability, and transparency continue to be demanded by the general public and undertaken by law enforcement organizations. The takeaway here is that the well-being of individual officers must be prioritized as they attempt to adapt to these changes and respond to a myriad of demands, both internally and externally.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The research reported here was conducted with the support of Grant Number 2008-DN-BX 0005, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. The findings and conclusions of the research reported here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Author Biographies

William P. McCarty, PhD, in Criminal Justice, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Professor McCarty was one of the Co-Principal Investigators of the National Police Research Platform () and has recently completed an evaluation of the Chicago Police Department’s body-worn camera program. His research interests include criminal justice organizations, stress and health among law enforcement employees, and police supervision. His academic publications have appeared in Crime and Delinquency, Police Quarterly, and Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management.

Hani Aldirawi, MS, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science at the University of Illinois in Chicago. His research interests include big data, microbiome data analysis, and bioinformatics.

Stacy Dewald, MA, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Criminology, Law and Justice at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Her research interests include criminal justice organizations and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Mariana Palacios, MA, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Criminology, Law and Justice at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She has recently worked as a research assistant on the Chicago Police Department’s body-worn camera program. Her research interests include criminal justice organizations, stress and health among law enforcement employees, and police body worn cameras.

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