Formation of moral and psychological stability of police officers in cases of obstruction of their legitimate actions

In accordance with the current legislation ^[1] the legal requirements of the employees of the internal affairs bodies (hereinafter – ATS) are mandatory for all citizens and officials. However, in law enforcement practice, there are cases of obstruction of the performance of official duties by police officers. This happens both on the street when checking documents, and in various rooms when conducting procedural actions.

According to statistics, in 2020 and in the first half of 2021, 126,990 facts of committing illegal actions against police officers were registered, of which 78 were related to an attack on the life of an employee (Article 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), 11,752 were related to the use of violence against a representative of the authorities (Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In 15513 cases, an insult occurred to a representative of the authorities in the performance of his official duties or in connection with their execution (Article 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Disobedience to the lawful order of a law enforcement officer (Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation) was recorded 97567 times. As a result of these actions, more than 22.5 thousand citizens were brought to criminal and 86 thousand to administrative responsibility. At the same time, these actions are classified as obstruction of the legitimate activities of the police. 

Obstruction of the performance of official duties, as a rule, is of a pronounced conflict nature and can lead to the development of negative emotional reactions among police officers, a decrease in control over their actions or statements, the unlawful or disproportionate use of physical force, special means and firearms. Therefore, it is obvious that there is a need to organize work on the formation and development of moral and psychological stability among police officers, teaching them techniques for managing their emotional state.

The moral and psychological stability of employees is determined by the level of professionally significant personal qualities, readiness for their further development, knowledge of guarantees of legal and social protection, the ability to use socio-psychological resources when exposed to stressful factors ^[2]. The presence of moral and psychological stability leads to moral and psychological readiness.

The moral and psychological readiness of personnel for operational and official activities of the internal affairs bodies of Russia is a state of consciousness and psyche of employees, reflecting their focus, activity, mood and mobilization to overcome possible difficulties, ensuring the effectiveness and quality of performance of operational and official tasks ^[3]. At the moment of readiness, all mechanisms activating the employee's activity are activated. The psychophysiological and emotional sides of the personality are involved. There is a certain psychological attitude at a given time, usually aimed at fulfilling official duties. Such readiness of the employee is developed both within the framework of classes on moral and psychological training, and in classes on fire and physical training.

Fire training is one of the most difficult types of training for cadets of the educational organization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. The effectiveness of the indicators depends not only on the high level of possession of firearms, technical equipment, but also the psychological readiness of the cadet to shoot. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the majority of cadets feel the influence of various stress factors ^[4] associated with emotional and muscular tension, pronounced excitement at the firing line, fear of weapons, self-defense reflex, aiming, trigger handling, etc. Many authors have pointed out the dependence of shooting results on the psychological state ^{[5; 6, etc.]}. The necessary theoretical and practical level of fire training creates the basis for high-quality performance by cadets of their official duties as employees of the Department of Internal Affairs and observance of personal and public safety of citizens, which ensures the psychological stability of cadets and their readiness for professional activity. In this regard, the formation of moral and psychological stability of cadets is one of the most important tasks of educational organizations of the Ministry.

When obstructing legitimate activities, police officers may experience similar negative emotional states, such as confusion, anxiety, fear, anger, frustration. These states are a response of the psyche to external circumstances, the severity of which mainly depends on the individual characteristics of a person, the significance of the situation, the duration of its impact. The formation of moral and psychological stability among employees is a complex psychological process. Psychological resistance to external negative influences, problematic professional situations is achieved through self-regulation by employees of their psycho-emotional state, which includes a number of stages: the preparatory stage; the stage of task completion; the final stage.

For the formation of moral and psychological stability, such effective methods as training, business game, individual consultation, psychological debriefing, autogenic training and some others are used ^[7].

During the training , the following methods are used:

- problem-search method (problem formulation, search for a joint solution in a group;

- training exercises in groups;

- modeling of employees' activities (role-playing game);

- methods of "brainstorming" and discussions.

In the course of improving the effectiveness of classes, it is advisable to involve experienced employees as experts in conducting a business game. This will ensure the necessary exchange of professional experience and increase the effectiveness of training. The choice of training exercises may vary depending on the number of participants, the time frame of the lesson, the level of preparedness of young employees. To achieve the goals of the lesson, it is important to create an atmosphere of goodwill, mutual trust. At the beginning of the lesson, its theme, purpose and objectives are indicated.

For playback, situations are proposed (possibly actually arising in the official activities of participants, their colleagues) in which citizens disobeyed the lawful requirements of a police officer (provide documents for verification, stop committing an offense, proceed to a division of internal affairs bodies, etc.) ^[8]. It is important to note that any game action begins with modeling the simplest, from a psychological point of view, situations of employee-citizen relationships. In the future, a gradual transition is being made to modeling situations that are more intense in their psychological content, complicated by communication barriers, contradictions, disobedience to the legitimate demands of an employee (including those related to the threat to the life of an employee and the use of weapons). Thanks to this approach, a large number of different possible situations are simulated, the social and role experience of employees participating in the training is expanded, their gradual involvement in the business game takes place. In some cases, it is possible to use video recording, which increases the effectiveness of the training participants. Subsequent viewing of the video of the business game helps employees to look at their actions from the outside, assess their behavior in a situation of obstruction of their legitimate activities from various positions ^[9].

In a situation when, while performing official duties, an employee is faced with disobedience to his legal requirements, it is advisable to use "express" methods of managing the psycho-emotional state. These are breathing and verbal self-regulation techniques, some exercises that contribute to the rapid restoration of emotional stability of employees. The advantages of "express" methods of self-regulation are the simplicity of their application, minimal time spent, the ability to use them directly in a traumatic situation, and the rapid achievement of results ^[10].

Breathing techniques are a set of special breathing exercises aimed at arbitrary (volitional) change (mobilization, tone enhancement, relaxation, calming, etc.) of the functioning of mental activity. Any police officer can use them.

It is known that breathing consists of two physiological processes - inhalation and exhalation. Inhalation is physiologically associated with arousal, mobilization of the body, exhalation - with calming, relaxation, a feeling of warmth and comfort. This allows you to use breathing techniques for both relaxation and activation. With mobilizing breathing, the emphasis is on inhaling, with relaxing breathing - on exhaling ^[11]. In the first case, a pause is made after inhalation, in the second - after exhalation. In general, the pause emphasizes and enhances the effect of the corresponding phase of the respiratory cycle (inhalation - if necessary, activation and exhalation in an effort to achieve a relaxing effect).

Another way of self-regulation is a complex method of speech control of a person's mental and somatic state, carried out with the help of specially selected verbal formulas (words, phrases). The purpose of verbal self-regulation is to change the psychophysiological state in accordance with the conditions of the implementation of behavioral programs.

An employee, when using verbal self-regulation techniques, can:

- to concentrate on internal processes and external conditions;

- limit the access of negative experiences from the sphere of the unconscious;

- apply techniques and techniques in various situations of performing operational and service tasks, including in motion.

Techniques of verbal self-regulation can be conditionally divided into techniques of self-monitoring and self-orders. "... The technique of self-monitoring is realized by posing questions to oneself that stimulate thinking, concentration of attention on the emotional and physical state ..." ^[12].

"... The identification of negative signs as a result of self-monitoring - irritability, excessive tension or muscle lethargy (the effect of "wadded legs", "hands dropped", etc.), decreased concentration, panic, stupor, etc. determines the transition to psychological self-regulation by "express" methods (breathing techniques, self-assessment, etc.). Self-assessment is one of the methods of psychological self-regulation based on the stimulating effect of the word. Self-orders are realized through volitional commands given to oneself. The technique of self-demonstration ensures the determination of actions in conditions of awareness of the goal and limited time for reflection. When forming the skill of self-expression, a reflex connection develops between internal speech and action ..." ^[12]. In general, it is advisable to consider self-orders as a trigger signal for the implementation of practical actions.

Most of the above methods can be successfully applied in classes on fire and physical training, since the mechanism of formation of moral and psychological stability, that for fire and physical training, that for obstructing the legitimate activities of an ATS officer are similar and require the cadets to be collected, resolute.

In this regard, it is advisable to highlight the following psychological characteristics of cadets, manifested in the process of fire and physical training:

– neuropsychiatric tension in the process of waiting for a critical situation to arise and the use of firearms and an offender's attack, manifested in fear, anxiety, doubt, uncertainty;

– the need to maintain a high degree of readiness for unexpected changes in a critical situation that requires increased attention, efficiency, psychological and emotional stability;

– the need for prompt response to the actions and resistance of the offender;

– the need to quickly predict at the same time their own actions and the actions of the offender, determining the strategy of action in a particular situation;

– a sense of responsibility for colleagues and citizens in cases of terrorist or extreme danger.

Accordingly, the process of forming the moral and psychological stability of cadets should be aimed at creating an optimal psychological state and the formation of constant internal readiness during training sessions and modeling various stressful situations.

Thus, based on the above, we will highlight important aspects of the formation of moral and psychological stability in the classes on fire and physical training of cadets of the educational organization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia:

– focus on the strength of knowledge and skills of handling service firearms and combat fighting techniques, both in standard situations and in extreme ones, taking into account factors of different strength and nature of impact;

– orientation to the depth of knowledge of the factors that cause destabilizing the situation, a variety of options for the actions of offenders;

– taking into account psychological and personal characteristics, the behavior of cadets in simulated situations close to reality.

Obstruction of the lawful activities of police officers is the cause of a conflict between a citizen (a group of citizens) and a representative of the law. In this situation, the employee should learn and apply the following rules:

1. Speak calmly, convincingly, concisely. Avoid raising your voice.

2. Not to enter into an argument, not to allow manipulation ("... I just drank, but what they say about the employees....", "... Think about it, I violated a little, and yesterday I read as an employee ...").

3. Don't make excuses. You are a representative of the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, but in a particular case you are solely responsible for your decisions and actions.

4. Maintain the belief that you are acting lawfully, in the interests of ensuring public order and public safety.

5. If the situation develops in such a way that you have to answer questions from a citizen, conduct a dialogue with him, in order to reduce conflict, it is advisable to demonstrate consent at the beginning of the phrase: «…You are right that however...", "... You are right, but in our case...", etc.

6. Even if a citizen behaves defiantly, rudely, disrespectfully, do not allow an arrogant, dismissive, insulting tone. Remember that for such actions, it is necessary to apply penalties to a citizen in accordance with the current legislation, and not your personal assessment of his behavior.

7. Do not delay the phase of dialogue, when obstructing legitimate activities, promptly stop illegal actions of a citizen in accordance with the rights that are provided for an employee by law. These recommendations will help police officers to cope with the excitement, calm the situation and take the initiative when communicating with aggressive citizens^[13].

At all times, a law enforcement officer had to show moral and psychological stability and calmness in any situation. In situations of maintaining law and order, when you have to interact with different categories of citizens, this ability will help you find a common language even with people who are not inclined to a reasonable dialogue. In modern realities, the moral and psychological stability of an ATS employee is the most important characteristic of his personal qualities aimed at maintaining law and order. Classes on moral and psychological, fire and physical training will contribute to its formation.