Markus M. Thielgen

• Prof. Dr.
• Professor (Full) at University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration North Rhine-Westphalia (HSPV NRW)

For police officers, a high level of physical fitness is a prerequisite to meet both the training demands during education and the job demands of police service successfully. Before police officers enter the service, they have to pass a selection procedure and to complete a course of study or training. The present study has two aims. First, we desc...

One of the main objectives in police service is to consistently complete police operations without any physical or mental injuries. During their service, active police officers can access several operating resources, such as pepper spray, batons, Tasers, and guns. However, one of the most important resources they can apply are their communication s...

In police operations, nonverbal communication, including police officers’ appearance, is omnipresent and manifold. Indeed, nonverbal behavior includes facial cues (eye movements, facial expressions), vocal features, body movements, gestures and postures, proximity and touch. Additionally, police officers’ physical appearance (uniform, weapons, body...

We discuss the problems concerning data access and data quality of police reports. As data sources police reports might be offer some specialties quiet relevant for police research and practice. Police reports are a specific data source generated under specific conditions. Cognitive bias and memory malleability might determine mostly the quality of...

Interrogation is a core task of practical police work. The outcomes of interrogation often provide crucial evidence for solving criminal cases. The success of interrogation depends on interactions between police officers and citizens. Based on a comprehensive literature overview, we propose a three-factor typology for interrogations by police offic...

Interrogation is a core task of practical police work. The outcomes of interrogation often provide crucial evidence for solving criminal cases. The success of interrogation depends on interactions between police officers and citizens. Based on a comprehensive literature overview, we propose a three-factor typology for interrogations by police offic...

Personalauswahl und Personalentwicklung spielen angesichts des demografischen Wandels, des steigenden Konkurrenzdrucks im Kampf um Nachwuchskräfte sowie des wachsenden Aufgabenspektrums eine zentrale Rolle für alle Polizeiorganisationen. Mit der Rekrutierung erfolgt der Einstieg in eine berufliche Laufbahn bei der Polizei und liefert so die persona...

Als eine empirisch gut untersuchte Theorie aus der Pädagogischen Psychologie liefert die Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) auf der Grundlage der kognitiven Architektur des Lernenden didaktische Empfehlungen für die Gestaltung von Lernmaterialien und -umgebungen („instructional design“). Für die Entwicklung von Expertise sind hierbei insbesondere das kapa...

Accurate face identity processing (FIP) is a critical component of security professions. Unfortunately, however, rapid face matching as required in real-life situations such as passport controls cannot be improved via training. While here accuracy is a high priority, it is neither the only, nor most important performance-measure. Officers must proc...

Die äußere Erscheinung von Polizist*innen im Einsatz ist durch Uniform und Ausrüstung für andere deutlich wahrnehmbar. Mit der Wahrnehmbarkeit beginnt auch die Eindrucksbildung. Im Sinne des Brunswik’schen Linsenmodells formt der/die Betrachtende aus proximalen („wahrnehmbaren“) Hinweisreizen (cues) einer Person ein Urteil über distale („entfernte“...

Polizist*innen führen Gespräche-mit Bürger*innen, mit Kolleg*innen, mit Vorgesetzten und Mitarbeitenden, am Telefon und im direkten Kontakt. Sie verfolgen damit verschiedene Zwecke: sie beruhigen, informieren, belehren, fragen, fordern oder erklären. Als Träger*in der verbalen Kommunikation ist die Stimme damit eines der wichtigsten Einsatzmittel d...

Accurate face identity processing (FIP) is a critical component of security professions, but unfortunately cannot be improved via training. While accuracy is a high priority, it is neither the only, nor most important performance-measure. Passport control officers must process high-throughput information as efficiently as possible – accurately and...

In the present study, we investigated whether police officers’ performance in searching for unfamiliar faces in a video-based real-world task is predicted by laboratory-based face processing tests that are typically used to assess individual differences in face processing abilities. Specifically, perceptual performance in the field was operationali...

Für Ermittlerinnen und Ermittler von Strafverfolgungsbehörden stellen Vernehmungen und Befragungen ein zentrales Element bei der Aufklärung von Straftaten dar. Dabei wird das Grundwissen in Bezug auf diese Kernaufgabe von Polizei und Justiz im Rahmen der Berufsqualifizierung vermittelt und im Laufe des Berufslebens, in vielfältigen und komplexen Pr...

Both, the number of people wearing visible body modifications, e.g., tattoos, and their acceptance in society have been significantly increased. Thus, rules and regulations of German police officers’ appearance prohibiting to show tattoos during police services are challenged. Basically, such standards aim to minimize risk factors in police service...

Vor dem Hintergrund der weiten Verbreitung von Körpermodifikationen (z.B. Tätowierungen) und Körperschmuck (z. B. Piercings) und der möglicherweise gestiegenen Akzeptanz in der Bevölkerung stehen Vorschriften zum Erscheinungsbild von Polizeibediensteten aktuell zur Diskussion. Der vorliegende Beitrag wird mit einer allgemeinen Betrachtung eingeleit...

Verbreitung und Akzeptanz von Körpermodifikationen, z. B. Tätowierungen, haben in den letzten Jahren zugenommen. Im Zuge dieser Entwicklung werden bisherige Vorschriften zum Erscheinungsbild von Polizistinnen und Polizisten, die diese weitgehend untersagen, in Frage gestellt. Jedoch haben Vorschriften im Polizeidienst die Funktion, bestimmte Risike...

In the light of an aging workforce, age differences in workers’ motives are important guidelines for an age-differentiated human resource management. Whereas research has addressed age differences in explicit work values or motives, age differences in implicit motives and in the congruency between implicit and explicit motives (i-e-congruency) have...

This study addresses coping processes as explanation of age-related differences in strain experience. Based on the life-span theory of control, we posit that older workers employ more active problem-focused and more active emotion-focused coping strategies than younger workers, which should mediate age effects on strain at work. The correlation bet...

This study examines the effects of implicit and explicit motives at work. Specifically, we hypothesize that congruency of implicit and explicit motives (i-e congruency) affects work motivation. Integrating research on age-related gains in self-regulation strength, we expect that negative effects of low i-e congruency on work motivation are more det...

Age differences at work not only go along with differences in job-related abilities and expertise, but also with diverging attitudes and experiences at work. Indeed, there seem to be systematic age differences both in work motivation and stress which might provide important guidelines for age-differentiated human resource management. Among these sy...

Purpose - The ongoing demographic changes in many industrialized countries affect managerial decisions in many ways, and require sound knowledge of systematic age differences in central work-related variables. The current paper aims to address age differences in the experience of work-related stress. Based on life-span approaches, the authors focus...