A Qualitative Study: An Examination of Police Officers’ Lived Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Author: Richard C. Helfers,Johnny Nhan
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10575677211050427
• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Date: 01 September 2022
• Subject Matter: Original Articles

A Qualitative Study: An

Examination of Police Off‌icers’

Lived Experiences During the

COVID-19 Pandemic

Richard C. Helfers

1

and Johnny Nhan

2

Abstract

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe prompting stay-at-home

orders for all but the most essential workers in society. Policing was one of the professions that

is essential for community safety, regardless of the circumstances. Off‌icers were on the front-line

of the COVID-19 public health crisis and their preparedness was crucial for off‌icer and community

health. During the onset of the pandemic little was known about how off‌icers perceived the virus

and how police agencies prepared off‌icers to work in a highly contagious environment. This study

used semistructured interviews of police off‌icers in two states in the United States that had elevated

cases of the virus. The authors explored the lived experiences of police off‌icers to explore off‌icers’

perceptions, concerns, implications the pandemic had on patrol activity, and agency preparedness

during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed structural and cultural forces

that resulted in off‌icers and their agency leadership not taking the pandemic seriously, ill-prepara-

tion and ill-equipping, and disincentives in reporting exposure. Moreover, off‌icers’fears were largely

not based on their own well-being, but on the risk of spreading the disease to their family members.

Keywords

policing, pandemic, COVID-19, public health

In the early months of 2020, the COVID-19 virus impacted the United States and disrupted daily

routines in America (Stogner et al., 2020). Most businesses and organizations temporarily shut down

operations or moved them online, but police off‌icers had to remain on the job and continue perform-

ing many of the physical duties associated with police work. Police off‌icers already have shorter life-

spans than nonpolice off‌icers (Violanti et al., 2013) and have to be on the front-line of the COVID-19

pandemic, which naturally placed them at a higher risk of contracting the disease. Khadse et al.

1

The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA

2

Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Richard C. Helfers, The University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd., Tyler, TX USA.

Email: rhelfers@uttyler.edu

Original Article

International Criminal Justice Review

2022, Vol. 32(3) 308-327

© 2021 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/10575677211050427

journals.sagepub.com/home/icj

(2020) indicate that “police personnel are 8.78 times more likely to be affected by COVID-19 than

the general population”(p. 578). Compounding this unprecedented time period, off‌icers were also

confronted with social upheaval and urban riots sparked by police use of force incidents that resulted

in the deaths of George Floyd Jr in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Breonna Taylor in Louisville,

Kentucky. Thus, off‌icers faced contentious situations that possibly increased their exposure to the

virus where little was known about the effects on their health and well-being. Therefore, foresight

among police administrators is paramount to ensure the safety of their off‌icers and to enhance the

public health of their communities.

This study examined the nature of police work during the COVID-19 pandemic using qualitative

interviews with front-line police off‌icers and supervisors from Texas and California, two states in the

United States that experienced elevated levels of infections. The researchers focused on practical,

cultural, and structural factors related to off‌icer sentiments on the virus and changes in patrol activ-

ities, comments on preparedness and policy, along with the compounded impact of friction with the

public arising from highly publicized incidents involving the police use of force on unarmed African

Americans. The scope and quick spread of COVID-19 coupled with social upheavals intersecting

with the structural, procedural, and cultural rigid institution of police may have exposed law enforce-

ment’s limitations as the de facto panacea for various societal social ills.

Review of the Literature

Brief Historical Overview

In the United States, as society was evolving with increased population and technology in the late

19th century and early 20th century, a primary role of the police was to provide social service-type

functions such as assisting those in need of housing and food (Oliver, 2017). Then the police tran-

sitioned toward a focus on their crime control function in the reform era of policing (Walker, 1977)

and then recognized the need to engage with the community in the late 20th century during the com-

munity policing era (Trojanowicz & Bucqueroux, 1990). Overall, the role and expectations for the

police are complex with a common denominator that they must intimately interact with individuals

in an effort to solve complex individual and community concerns. Through these intimate personal

contacts, police off‌icers are naturally at a higher risk of exposure to individuals with communicable

diseases.

Contemporary Expanding Role for the Police

As a result of the deinstitutionalization movement in the 1960s and 1970s, the police interacted

with persons with mental health concerns at higher rates (Barker, 2013). A byproduct of this

movement resulted in individuals with mental illness being homeless (Mechanic & Rochefort,

1990). A result is police today come into contact with many individuals who are homeless and

may have communicable diseases. Woodyard (2019) reported a hepatitis A outbreak that occurred

in Los Angeles among the homeless population in 2018 and Seattle experienced outbreaks of

strep throat and Shigella infections among their homeless population. Gorman (2019) has also

argued that unsanitary living conditions proliferated the spread of “medieval”diseases among the

homeless population in Los Angeles and unsanitary conditions were blamed for several Los

Angeles Police Department off‌icers and city employees near Skid Row contracting bacterial infec-

tions related to typhus (Puente et al., 2019).

Additionally, a study of tenants of permanent supportive housing in the Los Angeles’Skid Row

area found the residents to be at high risk for COVID-19 (Henwood et al., 2020). They noted that the

increased risk factors included lower awareness of the seriousness of COVID-19 and lowered

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