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Violence against police is a problem that calls for organizational solutions. Among dangers to be avoided are crisis-induced panic & the minimization of the problem, as well as strategic planning by police leadership without rank-&-file participation. Even the most serious violence problems afford opportunities for learning if such problems are addressed by cross sections of a police department's membership. Police unions can be involved as partners in organizational problem solving, as has occurred in industry in Quality of Work Life experiments. Joint worker-manager problem solving is independent of labor-management negotiations, which can take adversary form. Recent experiences in the Oakland (Calif) Police Dept have shown that even problem officers -- officers who contribute to citizen confrontations -- can design interventions that reduce violence levels in a community. The Oakland model presupposes that organizational reform activity can simultaneously increase organizational effectiveness & enhance personal problem-solving capacities. As officers help shape a more responsive police agency, they engage in activities -- analyzing data & evolving data-based solutions -- that refine their skills & build their morale. HA.

In the winter of 1941-1942 26 professional people & public figures tried to predict the course of events in the following decade & the state of the world in 1952. These predictions were obtained by H. Cantril by requesting the R to 'write out your general predictions of how things will turn out within the next 10 yrs.' A summary of the findings of an over-all content analysis & a rank ordering of the accurate predictions are presented. Data from letters antedating & post-dating Pearl Harbor were coded separately. A prediction involves the selection of past experiences which seem to be relevant to the developing sequence of events, but it is always a guess & successful prediction depends on an ability to anticipate novelty. Immediate experience, such as Pearl Harbor, tends to influence the nature of prediction, its direction & emphasis. Examples of the wishfulfilling character of predictions are given. Frustration only sometimes appears valuable in prognostication. The characteristics of good prediction are noted. All of the foreign-born people in the sample were successful predictors; these are seen as people who were prevented from growing strong pol'al & ideological roots. The successful predictors were characterized by a wide scope of experience & a broad cultural background. Various predictions are closely interrelated, & the 2 most accurate documents pose several alternative sequences rather than oversimplifying. Good predictions are cautious since they take emergence into account & they are not strongly motivated. It is finally noted that a prediction may be correct because the predictor's premises are valid or because of the irrelevant fact that his att's & wishes happen to coincide with the course of events. J. D. Twight.

Using PO polls for the period 1938-1952 the cultural interpretation (the reason why conservatism varies with increasing age is due to individuals' being reared in different times having different cultural patterns and influences) is challenged in favor of attributing the change to bona fide psychological variables. Opinions regarding conservatism, adherence to habits and traditions, resistance to innovations and emotional retrenchment are used. L. P. Chall.

Who constitutes the subset of mentally ill who behave violently? Which criminal offenders are disturbed? Using case histories that serve as vivid depictions of disturbed violent offenders and their offenses, [the authors] address these and other questions on the way to answering the central question of the book: What are the relationships between emotional disorders and violence? By analyzing the results of a study they conducted of inmates in the New York state prison system, the authors . . . shed new light on the relationship between mental illness and violent behavior. Through use of cluster analysis resulting in a number of specific typologies, they are able to make detailed connections between offenders with mental disorders and the behavioral paths they may follow. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)