RISK-TAKING AND POLICE PURSUIT

Measures of risk taking and sensation seeking were administered to 69 American patrol officers of a suburban police department to determine the relationship of these traits to officers' tendencies to engage in high-speed vehicular pursuit. Pursuit tendencies were measured by offi cial departmental records, self-reports of previous pursuits, and resp onses to two hypothetical scenarios. These three measures of pursuit t endencies were combined to form a single scale, which was found to cor relate somewhat, but significantly, with risk taking and with sensatio n seeking. Furthermore, risk taking and sensation seeking were relativ ely uncorrelated with each other. Attention to personality differences , therefore, may help supervisors exercise more control over police pu rsuits.