Prevention of Professional Deformation of Employees of Internal Affairs Bodies: Psychological, Pedagogical, Organizational and Legal Aspects

Korsun Ksenia Ivanovna ORCID: 0000-0003-4160-7338 Lecturer, Department of Constitutional and International Law, Ural State University of Economics 620144, Russia, Sverdlovsk region, Yekaterinburg, 8 Marta str./narodnaya Volya, 62/45, office 750 korsunksenia@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Zadorina Mariya Andreevna PhD in Law Associate professor, Department of Constitutional and International Law, Ural State University of Economics 620144, Russia, Sverdlovsk region, Yekaterinburg, 8 Marta str./narodnaya Volya, 62/45, office 750 zadorina@bk.ru Other publications by this author

As A. P. Zykov rightly notes, each profession contributes to the transformation of thinking, behavior and communication to one degree or another, i.e. it influences the structure of a professional's personality ^{[1, p. 21]}. Any professional activity involves close interaction with various external factors of the professional environment, to which internal or personal factors of the individual are added. And the longer a person is in the field of one professional activity, the more likely he is to have specific professional stereotypes, which are commonly called professional deformation. The employees of the internal affairs bodies are no exception, the main purpose of which is to protect and restore violated human and civil rights and freedoms, to prevent unlawful encroachments on them. The quality of the performance of official duties depends not only on the result of the employee's activity, but also on his perception by citizens, the attitude of society to the system of internal affairs bodies and trust in the state as a whole.

In 2009, E. V. Kuznetsov revealed that 75% of the interviewed police officers have signs of professional deformation, manifested in a change of opinion about the chosen professional path; in the manifestation of negative personal qualities, such as cruelty, aggressiveness, overestimated self-esteem, indifference, cynicism, etc.; in formal attitude both to citizens and to to perform official tasks; to use one's official position for one's own, most often selfish, purposes ^{[2, pp. 322-325]}.

Aware of this problem, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation issued Order No. 777 on August 10, 2012, in accordance with which moral and psychological training of employees was organized. By Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia No. 660 of September 2, 2013, the Regulation on the organization of psychological work in the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation was approved. The Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated December 25, 2020 No. 900 approved the Procedure for organizing moral and psychological support for the activities of the internal Affairs bodies of the Russian Federation.

Despite the measures taken, most of the employees of the internal affairs bodies are still subject to professional deformation. According to a study by A. I. Pozin and N. V. Efimkina, currently about 60% of police officers have symptoms of professional deformation ^{[3, p. 101]}.

In this regard, the issues of prevention of professional deformation of employees of internal affairs bodies do not lose their relevance.

Within the framework of this article, using general and special methods of scientific knowledge to study regulations, scientific publications and conditions for the organization of work on the prevention of professional deformation of employees in the internal affairs bodies, we will try to solve the following tasks: 1) to reveal the essence of the concept of "professional deformation", to identify the causes and analyze the process of its appearance and development among employees of internal affairs bodies; 2) to analyze existing problems in the organization of work on the prevention of professional deformation of employees in internal affairs bodies; 3) to formulate recommendations for overcoming professional deformation of employees of internal affairs bodies.

To date, there is no consensus among scientists regarding the essence and content of the category "professional deformation". Thus, O. B. Polyakova believes that professional personality deformation is "destructive personality changes (changes in the mental structure, personality qualities under the influence of professional duties) that occur during the long–term performance of the same professional activity, which negatively affect labor productivity and interaction with other participants in this process and generate professionally undesirable qualities changing professional behavior of a person" [4. p. 60]. A similar position is taken by Ya. A. Korneeva, A. N. Zelyanina, N. V. Martirosova ^[5].

V. E. Orel holds a slightly different opinion, suggesting that professional deformation should be understood as a set of negative socio-psychological traits inherent exclusively to a professional ^{[6, pp. 263-267]}. It is difficult to agree with this position entirely, because not always and not every employee who has worked for many years in any structure can be called a professional in his field. In addition, V. E. Lapshin and N. V. Shamanin argue that all employees of the internal affairs bodies, including those with up to three years of work experience, are at risk of professional deformation ^{[7, pp. 79-84]}.

A. F. Karavaev, in his works devoted to the activities of employees of internal affairs bodies, notes that the specifics of official activity, in particular, the need for prompt decision-making, a high degree of public danger of the profession, physical exertion and psycho-emotional shocks, increased responsibility determines the occurrence of professional deformation among employees of internal affairs bodies ^{[8, pp. 172-187]}.

The point of view of the famous Russian scientist E. F. Zeer does not lose its relevance, who notes that the cyclical nature of performing actions on the same professional task contributes to an increase in fatigue, loss of professional skills and abilities, and a decrease in efficiency in performing work. Professional deformation, in his opinion, is a gradual accumulation of changes in the existing personality structure that negatively affect the fruitfulness and productivity of a person, relationships with other individuals of this process, as well as the development of the subject himself ^{[9, pp. 36-37]}.

P. V. Kustov and N. N. Silkin, investigating the professional deformation of police officers, believe that its development is due to the content, organization and conditions of operational and service activities ^{[10, p. 407]}. At the same time, M. N. Bochkova, V. A. Shapoval, N. V. Meshkova and S. N. Enikolopov state that professional deformation can be a consequence of personal traits ^[11]. In this regard, value orientations can be attributed to the prerequisites of professional deformation, because the motives for entering the service in the internal affairs bodies can be completely different: from the desire to benefit society and the state to the desire to improve their social and financial situation. And it is in the latter case that the risk of professional deformation is higher. Employees, among whose installations material remuneration prevails, it is necessary to identify and work with them to improve their professional reliability ^{[12, p. 54]}. Otherwise, professional deformation will cause corruption among the employees of the internal affairs bodies ^{[13, p. 136]}.

Thus, it can be concluded that professional deformation always implies some kind of transformation of a person's personal qualities as a result of performing professional tasks, as well as within the framework of official and off-duty relationships in the team.

It should be noted that professional deformation in its development goes through three main stages.

At the first (initial) stage, minor changes in personality occur. It begins in the first (rarely second) year of service. An employee acquires knowledge and skills, forms his own style of performing official tasks, is quite capable of controlling his mental and emotional state. Most often, it helps him more, has a beneficial effect on him than a negative one. However, already at this stage, employees, when faced with adaptation to difficult working conditions, may show signs of professionally deformed thinking, which, according to M. I. Cherepanova, indicates the need for rehabilitation measures of a psychophysiological nature at the early stages of service ^{[14, p. 173]}.

The second (middle) stage is determined by the fact that many qualities take an exaggerated shade, often negative. So the qualities that the personality possessed are sharply replaced by the opposite ones, for example, attentiveness is transformed into excessive vigilance and suspicion, calmness changes to indifferent behavior, or to cruelty and aggressiveness, exactingness into pedantry, etc. These qualities appear in the 3-4 year of service in the internal affairs bodies, precisely when an employee has studied the specifics of his specialty at a fairly good level, but faces a lack of career growth in the future. This is largely due to professional burnout, the source of which, according to G. I. Urazayeva, is an unfavorable mental state of the individual, reinforced and reinforced by repeated stressful situations in the professional sphere ^{[15, pp. 15-16]}. It is at this time that a person begins to doubt the correctness of the choice of his professional activity, the desire to perform official duties disappears, the willingness to come to the aid of citizens.

The third level is deep, it is passed by employees who have served 10-12 years, who have undergone professional deformation. Along with the lack of opportunities to move up the career ladder, there is chronic fatigue, apathy, depression, excessive emotionality, neuroses, mental disorders due to the lack of opportunity to change the type and type of activity. The limit, the highest point, the last stage of professional deformation of the personality of an employee of the internal affairs bodies is considered to be professional degradation, which consists in the complete dependence of a person on his profession. A well-structured work of an employee of the internal affairs bodies forms a "template thinking", a creative and innovative approach to solving new tasks is lost. Professional deformation at this stage manifests itself in immorality, violation of the law, asocial behavior. At this stage, the employee, having already learned all the subtleties of his profession, can, in his opinion, boldly "circumvent the law" in order to obtain his own benefit.

Ya. A. Korneeva and N. N. Simonova distinguish the following types of professional deformation of the personality of law enforcement officers: authoritarianism, professional aggression, overcontrol, behavior transfer (manifestation of role transfer syndrome), irresponsibility or learned helplessness, conservatism and anxiety ^[16]. At the same time, different types of professional deformation prevail in different divisions of the internal affairs bodies. Extra-departmental security personnel are more characterized by overcontrol, conservatism and authoritarianism ^[17]. Employees of crime investigation and detection units have a higher level of professional aggression and behavioral transference than employees performing administrative and preventive functions ^[16].

In this regard, the prevention of professional deformation of employees of internal affairs bodies is of particular importance. Under the prevention of professional deformation, it is customary to understand a set of measures necessary for conducting with employees of internal affairs bodies in order to reduce the risk of exposure to the development of professional deformation. Such work combines both psychological forms and forms of a non-psychological nature, for example, educational or organizational and managerial.

In the process of prevention of professional deformation of specialists in the field of law enforcement, the main tasks are:

– development of moral, psychological and physical resistance to external factors of influence in the course of performance of official activity;

– improvement of skills and methods of personnel management;

– formation of a comfortable moral and psychological climate in the team;

– education in specialists of moral attitudes determined by the Code of Ethics and Official Conduct of Employees of the Internal Affairs Bodies of the Russian Federation, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated 26.06.2020 No. 460.

Knowledge and consideration of factors and indicators of professional deformation of specialists of the internal affairs system are extremely important and necessary for managers and employees of recruitment agencies, as well as employees who are engaged in educational work with them.

It is known that psychological work implies one of the types of moral and psychological support for the activities of internal affairs bodies, which is dynamically developing in modern conditions and is in demand. The activity of psychologists undoubtedly has a positive impact on the development of certain qualities of employees, their stability, readiness to solve problems, as well as on the psychosocial climate in the service team.

However, the inefficiency of psychological assistance is noted in the internal affairs bodies of Russia, since only one full-time employee of the psychological service works in most territorial bodies. It is obvious that one specialist, even with all his efforts, is not able to implement the necessary set of measures. In this regard, we believe it is necessary to introduce a staff of psychologists who would conduct daily necessary consultations on resolving acute crisis situations, monitor employees, including their communication with citizens, conduct courses, trainings with solving case problems, seminars on competent management of subordinates from the point of view of psychology with people holding managerial positions.

The duties of psychologists should also include personal counseling of employees and their psychological correction, group work with staff, work to improve the level of personal and legal status in the service. At the same time, as noted by I. L. Tretyakov, the best effect will be observed when using cognitive technologies ^[18].

At the same time, it is necessary to build a unified strategy for the prevention of professional deformation of law enforcement officers, including the need to ensure transparency of information on preventive measures for subjects of preventive activities. But in this case, it is impossible to allow violations of the confidentiality of personal data of employees of internal affairs bodies.

The position of the leadership of the internal affairs bodies plays an important role in the implementation of this set of measures. It should be interested in ensuring a stable moral and psychological climate in the team, strive to provide conditions for carrying out measures to improve the moral and ethical foundations, legal and professional culture of employees.

Prevention of professional deformation of law enforcement officers is a system of preventive measures, the main purpose of which is to reduce the number of psychological deviations of law enforcement officers and minimize the probabilistic conditions for their appearance and development. In this regard, the management of territorial divisions and educational organizations of departmental institutions should diagnose the condition of employees and identify people at risk of professional deformation in order to provide them with timely psychological assistance.

However, measures to prevent professional deformation should begin to be carried out even before hiring, at the stage of professional and psychological selection of candidates for admission to the service. Psychological testing, a conversation with a specialist psychologist will contribute to the prevention of negative consequences both in the life of the individual and society as a whole (in the form of the consequences of ineffective law enforcement). Some researchers insist on the necessity of conducting accentuation tests during the professional selection of candidates for the position ^[19].

An important role is played by the prevention of professional deformation at the stage of higher education. It is here that cadets and students receive additional psychological support from the teaching staff and the department of moral and psychological support, which contribute to the development of legal and ethical culture among students. It is assumed that psychological units must follow the requirements of ethical standards of education when conducting events with future officers.

Compliance with the rules of time management are the main prerequisites for preventing professional deformation. Careful planning of the day and week helps to reduce overwork and overstrain of a law enforcement officer. Active recreation significantly reduces the negative impact of stressful factors.

It is important to teach a young employee not to overestimate their professional qualities and abilities, otherwise it will lead to situations where inflated personal expectations cannot be justified (underestimation of the quality and efficiency of work), this not only causes aggression, but also creates a sense of professional unfitness, and, consequently, illegal behavior. Self-regulation, as N. G. Kondratyuk and V. I. Morosanova note, is a means of preventing professional deformation ^[20].

In addition, psychologists should also evaluate factors related to personality traits that can also lead to the commission of crimes by law enforcement officers.

These recommendations should be taken into account and applied in the work of internal affairs bodies, while they should be applied by psychologists not only with those who enter the workplace, but also to provide reliable assistance throughout the entire period of service.

The activities of the psychological support service in the internal affairs bodies should be aimed at detecting, correcting, as well as carrying out preventive measures that help prevent professional deformation of police officers ^[21].

The development of the institute of mentoring, will contribute to the rapid passage of adaptation by new employees; conducting special diagnostics to identify professional deformation of both candidates entering the service for the first time and current employees using computer testing, will allow identifying and screening out candidates of the "risk" group, as well as accelerate and improve the work of the psychological service; implementation of consideration at courses, seminars practical classes, trainings, advanced training of the most typical examples of professional deformation, will solve the problem of destructive manifestations and gradually contribute to the achievement of their complete overcoming by civil servants; internships and practices of cadets in specialized organizations, the participation of university teachers in joint projects with specialized organizations is necessary to eliminate contradictions between a decent level of education and incompetence in professional activities; organization of events outside of official activities: ceremonial meetings, concerts, etc. they will significantly relieve the routine work of employees, will bring "new colors" into their lives; a change of position, job responsibilities should be introduced in order to eliminate the monotonous work of employees.

It would be advisable to send employees of the internal affairs bodies for professional retraining according to programs aimed at the formation of knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for socio-psychological adaptation to adverse situations and prevention of emotional burnout.

The results obtained by studying the experience of work on the prevention of professional deformation of employees in the police departments of Yekaterinburg and monitoring the training of future law enforcement officers in higher educational institutions of Yekaterinburg (Ural Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Ural State Law University, Ural State University of Economics) for the period from 2019 to the present, allow us to offer a set of measures to prevent professional deformation of employees of internal affairs bodies (table 1).

Table 1 – A set of measures to overcome professional deformation of personal qualities and correction of official behavior of employees of internal affairs bodies

Based on the conducted research, a number of conclusions should be drawn.

1. Prevention of occupational deformation is a set of necessary measures envisaged in order to reduce the risk of exposure to the development of occupational deformation. The activities of the leadership of the internal affairs bodies play a special role in the implementation of this set of measures. Such work combines both psychological forms and forms of a non-psychological nature, for example, educational or organizational and managerial.

2. The activity of the psychological service with the support of the management should contribute to a stable moral and psychological climate in the team, strive to provide conditions for carrying out measures to improve the moral, moral foundations of employees of internal affairs bodies, their legal, ethical and professional culture.

3. The pedagogical conditions for the prevention of professional deformation of employees of internal affairs bodies should include:

– increasing the hours devoted to studying the problems of professional deformation and methods of its prevention in the work programs of a number of disciplines (for example, "Professional ethics and official etiquette", "Fundamentals of professional activity", "Anti-corruption", "Psychology and pedagogy in professional service activities") studied by cadets and students of higher educational institutions;

– conducting trainings on the development of self-regulation skills, time management, etc., reducing the risk of professional deformation;

– inclusion in the curricula of advanced training programs for employees of internal affairs bodies of issues related to methods of countering professional deformation.

4. Organizational, legal and managerial measures for the prevention of professional deformation of employees of internal affairs bodies should involve the development and adoption of a program for the prevention of professional deformation of employees in specific departments of internal affairs bodies, taking into account the specifics of their activities; expansion of the staff of psychological services; development of the institute of mentoring.