Fixations on the Police: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

It is known that public office holders are at greater risk than the general population of being contacted by fixated individuals who are obsessively preoccupied with a person or idiosyncratic cause. To date, very little attention has been paid to fixated persons who specifically focus on the police. For this study, we collated information on such individuals who have focused on police officers and police institutions to provide an overview of their features, behavior, motivations, and targets. An exploratory mixed-methods investigation examined 30 files kept by the State Security Investigation Group of the Western Australian Police. The modal person of interest in this study is a single, unemployed Australian born male in his mid 40s with a history of mental health issues, residing in an urban area. He has previous convictions, multiple foci, is fixated on a particular cause or belief and feels he is justified in his actions. All the persons in the present work who were visited by police were unwilling to desist, which provided opportunities for investigators and other professionals to obtain information concerning the intentions of the fixated person. This is important for policing because interactions with fixated persons may lead to police officers becoming part of a fixated belief system, because more than half of our sample made threats, and because fixated persons can strain resources and cause significant disruption.