Being a Blue Blood: A Phenomenological Study on the Lived Experiences of Police Officers’ Children

• Author: David M. Scott,Richard C. Helfers,Paul D. Reynolds
• Published date: 01 June 2021
• Date: 01 June 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1098611120964954
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Being a Blue Blood:

A Phenomenological

Study on the Lived

Experiences of Police

Officers’ Children

Richard C. Helfers

1

,

Paul D. Reynolds

2

, and

David M. Scott

1

Abstract

There has been speculation by researchers regarding the potential fears, concerns,

and difficulties experienced by children of police officers, such as fears about their

parent being injured or killed while on duty, ridicule and bullying, or being personally

assaulted. More disheartening are the increased potential stressors facing police

officers’ children due to increased community hostility across the country over

the last few years, particularly among the African American community, stemming

from a series of police involved shootings of unarmed African American males. Yet,

there remains scant research that has examined the lived experiences of police

officers’ children. To address this gap in the policing literature, this study used

semi-structured interviews of police officers children in a southern state using a

phenomenological methodology to explore the lived experiences of being a child

of a police officer. Findings and policy recommendations are discussed.

Keywords

children of police officers, police families, post-Ferguson policing, community

hostility

1

Department of Social Sciences, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States

2

Department of Criminal Justice, University of North Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States

Corresponding Author:

Richard C. Helfers, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, United States.

Email: rhelfers@uttyler.edu

Police Quarterly

2021, Vol. 24(2) 233–261

!The Author(s) 2020

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1098611120964954

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Recent inquiry into police-community relations has focused on decreased police

legitimacy and increased community hostility toward the police, particularly

within minority communities (A. S. Lee et al., 2018; Terrill, 2016). In particular,

growing concerns have emerged on off‌icer attitudes toward their off‌icial duties

(i.e. “Ferguson Effect”) and their overall emotional well-being and health

(Oliver, 2017; Shjarback et al., 2017; Torres et al., 2018). There has been spec-

ulation by media and researchers regarding the potential fears, concerns, and

diff‌iculties experienced by children of police off‌icers; including concerns over

their parent(s) being injured or killed while on duty, potential ridicule and bul-

lying, or being personally assaulted (Abernaty et al., 2007; Stone, 2001). For

example, a daughter of a police off‌icer described her fears for her father’s safety

after the death of an undercover NYPD off‌icer in 2007 when she stated, “it was

always nerve-racking; sometimes he would work at night and we wouldn’t know

until the morning if he was coming home because it was a dangerous job”

(Abernaty et al., 2007, para. 5).

More disheartening are the increased potential stressors that police off‌icers’

children may be confronted with due to increased community hostility across

the country directed toward police in response to a pattern of police use of force

incidents against African Americans that resulted in death. Yet, there remains

scant research that has examined the lived experiences of police off‌icers’ children

and also how recent media attention on policing has shaped their daily experi-

ences and perceptions of how they view their parents’ occupation and their daily

interactions and concerns.

To address this gap in the policing literature, this study used semi-structured

interviews of police off‌icer children in a southern state using a phenomenolog-

ical methodology. This approach allows the researchers to explore the lived

experiences of being a child of a police off‌icer in the United States. The benef‌it

of using this qualitative approach was it provided researchers a way to derive

meaning and themes out of past events by capturing the essence of lived or

shared experiences (Creswell, 2013; Fischer, 1984; Reynolds & Hicks, 2015).

The primary research questions guiding this research are: 1) How do police

off‌icers’ children describe their lived experiences? and 2) How have current

events shaped their perceptions, if any?

Emerging police research has used this methodology to examine other types

of police phenomenon such as: challenges of being a police mom (Ellis, 2018),

police off‌icers’ reactions to perceived mistreatment (Reynolds et al., 2018), and

police off‌icer’s lived experience of the use of deadly force (Broom

e, 2014). Thus,

this methodology provides a sound approach to this topic of interest as a plat-

form for children of police off‌icers to voice their feelings and beliefs about their

lived experience using their own words without researcher bias (Creswell, 2013;

Fischer, 1984).

234 Police Quarterly 24(2)