ABSTRACT
The professions of policing, psychology, and police psychology have grown geometrically in the United States. Psychology applied to policing, or police psychology, can broadly be defined as the application of psychological principles and methods to law enforcement. In 1989, a major revision of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was published, resulting in the MMPI-2, which in turn caused police psychologists to attempt further validation studies with the new test. The new version of the MMPI was a vast improvement over the older one as it satisfied the criticisms leveled against it but maintained its usefulness. Police officers as a group tend to fall in the “normal” MMPI range on clinical scales and generally present an emotionally healthy image. Tort liability associated with lawsuits against police departments may also include wrongful death, assault and battery, false arrest, and false imprisonment.
