This paper presents a qualitative research proposal designed to investigate the occupation of police officers, with particular focus on job hazards and the motivations that keep officers serving despite those risks. Drawing on the real-world example of layoffs in Camden, New Jersey, the paper argues for a research design combining one-on-one interviews and field shadowing to capture in-depth, subjective perspectives. It also addresses essential ethical considerations — including informed consent and participant confidentiality — that are critical to obtaining honest and complete data in qualitative criminal justice research.
Recently, 163 police officers were laid off in Camden, New Jersey, and the community felt the impact acutely. As one report noted, "callers to 911 who report things like home burglaries or car break-ins are asked to file a report over the phone or at police headquarters; officers rarely respond in person" (Goldstein, 2011). When police officers are laid off and removed from the community, as occurred in Camden, the safety of residents is jeopardized, and officers who remain employed face increasing danger as human resources are stretched thin.
The importance of police officers is evident, which makes it valuable to explore more fully the type of people they are and the many different components of their occupation, including its job hazards. The goal of this criminal justice research is to capture a complete and detailed overview of the police officer occupation — specifically, what the job hazards are and why police officers choose to continue in this role despite knowing those hazards.
The research methods best suited to accomplish this goal would be a one-on-one interview structure combined with a shadowing exercise in which the researcher follows an officer through his or her daily activities. During the shadowing, it would be useful to capture the how and why of the officer's experience, along with the characteristics and traits that allow police officers to overcome job hazards and continue performing their duties.
The one-on-one interview structure is well suited to this research because it helps the researcher build rapport with the officer being interviewed, allows for detailed questions, and enables the researcher to probe specific topics that arise during conversation. One-on-one time with a police officer offers the personal perspective that is essential to eventually compiling a meaningful summary of findings. Ideally, multiple one-on-one interviews would be conducted with different officers to gather as much information as possible.
The shadowing component is equally important. Observing officers on the job helps capture their emotions and reactions in real time, and gives the researcher an opportunity to observe the traits officers demonstrate when confronting occupational hazards. After a hazard is encountered during shadowing, the researcher should attempt to record the officer's immediate thoughts and feelings about the experience.
The research approach outlined above is grounded in the fundamentals of qualitative research. Qualitative research carries several key advantages, including the ability to "produce more in-depth quality information" and the use of "subjective information and participant observation to describe the context, or natural setting, of the variables under consideration, as well as the interactions of the different variables in the context," as it "seeks a wide understanding of the situation" (Key, 1997). These advantages are particularly valuable for painting a complete picture of the police officer occupation — including what the daily job hazards are and why officers persist in their careers despite awareness of those hazards.
"Key topics and question areas for interviews"
"Protecting participants through consent and confidentiality"
In order to complete successful research into the occupation of being a police officer — along with finding hazards about the job and attaining information about why officers continue despite those hazards — there are many things that need to be taken into account over the course of the qualitative research outlined here. It is important that questions are asked in a conversational, spontaneous manner that allows the researcher to probe follow-up answers and gain a more comprehensive overview of the officer and the occupation. Other factors, such as method selection, informed consent, and confidentiality, are all essential components of the qualitative research process, and each plays a role in generating trustworthy information from which conclusions can be drawn.
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