Explaining Police Officer Intentions To Leave Their Career Field

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2026

School

Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, and Security

Abstract

Research examining police officer retention has generally relied upon general work environment predictors to explain intentions to leave a police career. Recent research has applied theory explaining departures as a multistep process, where job satisfaction and stress mediate the relationship between work conditions and leaving the profession. These prior inquiries have been methodologically limited in the number of predictors and agencies included. The current inquiry uses a survey of eight police agencies to test the conceptual framework that job satisfaction and stress mediate the relationship between workplace environment and intentions to leave policing. Findings indicate that many commonly theorized predictors of job satisfaction and stress do not directly influence intentions to seek another career (i.e. role clarity, job danger, autonomy, relations with coworkers, and value congruence with shift), but do display an indirect relationship via job satisfaction and stress. Most predictors that do hold a direct relationship with intentions to leave were partially mediated by job satisfaction and stress.

Publication Title

Journal of Crime and Justice

Volume

49

Issue

3

First Page

361

Last Page

381

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