STUDY OF STRESS IN THE PERFORMANCE OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DUTIES BY SPECIAL AGENTS IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION COMMAND

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between years of criminal investigative experience and stress experienced by Special Agents within the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command in performance of each of sixteen major duties of their job. The study was conducted with 550 Special Agents in the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command field units in the continental United States. Subjects were mailed the Special Agent Job Stress Inventory, which was developed as part of this study to determine the stress experienced by Special Agents in the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command when performing their job duties. The Kruskal-Wallis H test and the Mann-Whitney U test were employed to analyze the 505 Special Agent Job Stress Inventories which were properly completed and returned. Of the sixteen null hypotheses tested in this study, ten could not be rejected, six were rejected. Differences in years of investigative experience was found to differentially influence perceived stress levels with respect to the duties of "interviewing victims of serious crime that involves high media attention and commands interest," "interviewing a rape victim," "interviewing witnesses in conjunction with an investigation," "testifying at court proceedings," "appearing as a witness in an article 32 (grand jury) hearing," and "performing worldwide protective service missions.". It was found that, in general, Special Agents with less than three years of investigative experience perceived more stress in job performance than did those with over three years of experience. This would suggest that the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command should institute vigorous training programs which utilize realistic experiences related to a Special Agent's criminal investigative duties. It further suggests that the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command should attempt to develop policies that maximize the retention of experienced Special Agents in order to maintain a force of Special Agents who will be able to perform their job duties with minimal levels of stress.