ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the context of research and existing knowledge with regard to the sense of insecurity felt by police officers. It deals with mechanisms that spark feelings of insecurity in police officers and in the public. The chapter explores additional findings on the performance of police duties with regard to police officers' perceptions of safety and those of the general public. Research has shown that police officers tend to perceive things differently to rest of the population. Police officers are people, just like everyone else, but who have been trained to act in certain situations. The initial training, specialisation and further training that police officers undergo throughout their career gives them the wherewithal adapt a more rational attitude towards fear of crime and to be able to protect themselves psychologically. Despite relatively low and stable crime rates in Switzerland, police officers – sometimes and in certain contexts – fear for their own safety as representatives of a high-risk profession.
