Police requirements in the corona crisis

Dynamic governmental policies, the constant risk of infection and staff shortages can lead to stressful and uncertain situations in which police officers have to act appropriately. The new international study "SHOT-COVID19", as part of the Horizon 2020 research project SHOTPROS investigates the current work demands, dynamics and stress of European street patrol officers during the COVID19-crisis.

Sebastian Egger-Lampl, Scientist at AIT Center for Technology Experience, explains: „The SHOT-COVID19-study gives us the opportunity to quantify and understand current stress situations. From this, we can derive how trainings should be optimized for future crisis scenarios in order to better cope with stress and increased strain in the future.” The police officers taking part in the SHOT-COVID19 study are surveyed about their work requirements during the corona crisis three times from late March to mid-June. Thanks to the close cooperation with various European law enforcement agencies in SHOTPROS, a large number of participants was acquired in a short time. Up to now, more than 1.400 street patrol officers from different countries have participated in the study – with numbers increasing. International cooperation in research and security is of central importance at times like these. The SHOT-COVID10 study shows that this is possible despite the difficult circumstances. The main goal is to support European police officers in their daily challenges - today and in the future.

The study results will also feed into the police training program that SHOTPROS will develop over the next 2 years. This programme, enhanced by Virtual Reality training, aims to prepare police officers for real-life incidents more efficiently.

Planning and execution

The study was initiated by Marie Ottilie Frenkel from the University of Heidelberg. The research partners are now working together on the successful implementation and execution of the SHOT-COVID19 study. The AIT Center for Technology Experience is responsible for supporting the recruitment of the study participants, in the course of which the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) was also included. The AIT is also working on the qualitative evaluation of the study and, together with the BMI Security Academy, is supporting it with scientific publications. The first results of the study will be published in about 3 months.