Police study: “Much more research is needed”

A study shows that the police have difficult working conditions and sometimes problematic attitudes. However, the two do not necessarily belong together, says the criminologist Singelnstein in an interview tagesschau.de.

tagesschau.de: The police study commissioned by former Interior Minister Horst Seehofer was heavily criticized in the run-up because, in addition to political attitudes, it also looks at stress factors and working conditions that police officers are confronted with on duty. How do you see that after now first results presented became?

Tobias Singelnstein: You can tell from the concept that there was a political process beforehand. Things were lumped together that have little to do with each other. The fact that stress and attitudes were examined together gives the impression from the outset that the two belong together.

It is great that there is such a large-scale study that includes almost all federal states and also asks many important questions. But it’s not the racism study that’s been called for. Therefore, the study can only be a small contribution if we want to deal with racism in the police force.

tagesschau.de: Both before and during the study, there were repeated concerns that police officers would be placed under “general suspicion”. Why is this such a big topic?

single stone: Nobody really wants to be checked in a professional context. This applies in particular to the police, because many police officers already feel that they are being controlled. The self-understanding that an organization that has such extensive executive powers also needs corresponding social control should be anchored much more firmly in the police force.

“working conditions could be improved”

tagesschau.de: In the interim report, the stress factors mentioned include a lack of decision-making leeway for the riot police and a lack of staff in all areas. How does this affect police work?

single stone: The results so far confirm that the working conditions can be improved – compatibility of family and work and shift work are also important issues. You already know that from other works. However, it has not yet been investigated what connection it has with the other topics of the study.

It is difficult to investigate whether there is actually a connection between working conditions and problematic attitudes. This requires a complex evaluation, which is not yet included in the interim report.

tagesschau.de: According to the survey, experiences of violence also play a role in police service. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is now calling for better offers of help for police officers, but according to the interim report, psychological counseling, for example, is only partially accepted. What could help?

single stone: It is clear that it is a challenging job with experiences that are difficult to process. In the police there are few opportunities to deal with this, little room for reflection and discussion.

However, it is also difficult to reconcile the self-image of the police with taking advantage of offers of help. There are not enough of these, it has been discussed for a long time. Nevertheless, it is also the case that the offers that are available are not accepted enough. This is due, for example, to an image of masculinity that opposes the use of supervision and help because this is seen as a weakness.

“Often a sworn community”

tagesschau.de: According to the study, a particularly great motivator and help in coping with stress is the collegiality and team spirit among police officers. The study points out that this cohesion is often seen as problematic from the outside, because it could prevent abuses from being uncovered. How do you rate that?

single stone: In every professional context there is collegiality and cohesion. But these are particularly pronounced in the police force.

And of course that’s ambivalent. On the one hand, it is important to be able to work well together. But on the other hand, it also means that the police are often a close-knit community from which mistakes and negative things do not leak out.

tagesschau.de: Stereotypical attitudes in the police service are often justified with “knowledge from experience” – especially in the case of focal point guards. Certain groups of people are therefore particularly conspicuous, according to the study, for example, “the Bulgarians” are spoken of. What influence does experience and knowledge have on the attitude of civil servants?

single stone: This is closely linked. We know from various studies that problematic attitudes tend to develop in service rather than being brought in from outside. This does not necessarily mean that you have to have had negative experiences with certain groups of people yourself. Because this empirical knowledge is passed on and passed on in the police force and can thus shape individual attitudes.

Where this knowledge contains stereotypes and prejudices, it leads to certain characteristics being ascribed to certain groups. And an individual may then be assigned this putative characteristic of the group, regardless of whether he has it or not.

“It needs anti-racist education and training”

tagesschau.de: Sufficient leisure time, intercultural teams and a temporary stay in focal point guards are mentioned as possible solutions against stereotyping. How do you see these proposed solutions?

single stone: This addresses the idea that there is an experience overload in focus watches. This can happen in principle and then the measures mentioned can represent a building block. But that is only part of the problem.

Above all, there is a need for more anti-racist education and training that takes these issues into account. And there is an urgent need to take a detailed look at the racist stocks of knowledge in the police experience.

tagesschau.de: The study’s interim report also indicates that the responses may reflect, at least in part, what respondents consider socially desirable. Could that be prevented at all?

single stone: You can’t prevent it completely. There are some methodical approaches to reduce this effect. But in empirical social research you can never depict reality perfectly, you can only ever approximate it.

What is just as problematic are the low response rates. 16 percent took part in the online survey of the MEGAVO study – that is, 84 percent did not take part. This is not a representative excerpt. One has to assume that people with problematic attitudes tended to be less involved.

“We’re just getting started”

tagesschau.de: You yourself dealt with the illegal use of force by police officers in a study by the Ruhr University in Bochum. What did you find out?

single stone: In our second interim report, we also looked at practical knowledge. Incidentally, this does not necessarily only refer to groups of people, but can also refer to places, for example if they are perceived as particularly dangerous. This can mean that people who are in such places are particularly scrutinized by the officials and may also be treated differently.

The MEGAVO study draws heavily on individual attitudes, but these only make up part of racism. In this way, the structural side of the problem is hardly taken into account. However, it is precisely this side that would be particularly important to examine.

tagesschau.de: Do you think that a more comprehensive racism study is still needed, as has been called for several times?

single stone: Yes. We’re just beginning to talk about the problem. Much more research is needed, with many different research approaches and methodological approaches, in order to come as close as possible to reality.