Screening for Insider Threats in U.S. Law Enforcement
So what?
While there are anecdotal examples of insider threats in law enforcement, we do not have a systematic understanding of whether these are isolated incidents or indicative of a more pervasive issue. The first step in addressing this gap is to assess department-level policies and procedures. Specifically, we are interested in what agencies consider during hiring decisions, which types of individuals are being screened out of the hiring process, and how agencies elect to monitor and detect potential insider threats among officers.
Project Summary
The main objective is to better understand current policies and procedures to screen for and identify insider threats in the law enforcement hiring process and among active officers.
Purpose/Objectives
This project’s findings will inform recommendations for best practices for screening applicants and current officers to reduce the risk of insider threats while also identifying additional research directions of an understudying topic.
Methods
Researchers are taking a multi-pronged approach to conduct formative research on insider threats in U.S. law enforcement. Using a mixed-methods design, they are collecting both (a) archival data and (b) survey data on hiring and screening policies and procedures from a stratified random sample of police departments and sheriff’s offices around the country, with (c) follow up interviews to further probe findings.
Outputs and Impact
- Toolkit for agencies self-assessment with online training module
- Lay groundwork for future research including:
- Prevalence and risk assessments of insider threats among officers
- Examination of department-level risk and protective factors for insider threats
- A process evaluation for agencies that use our toolkit
- Aim to empower law enforcement agencies to be resilient to insider threats
Erin Kearns, Ph.D.
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Sadaf Hashimi, Ph.D.
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Jessie Huff, Ph.D.
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Justin Nix, Ph.D.
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