Abstract:
The purposes of this research were to study burnout in the metropolitan traffic police and to study the correlations between the burnout of traffic police with purpose in life, seeking of noetic goals and emotion intelligence. The sample was 359 warrant police officer in the metropolitan traffic police department. The instruments used were the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Purpose in life, the Seeking of Noetic Goals and the 33-item Emotion Intelligence Scales. It was found that 1. metropolitan police officer with difference ages and difference work experiences had no significant difference burnout in work. 2. the police had moderate level of burnout in all three scales i.e. emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. 3. burnout correlated negatively with the Purpose in life and the Emotion intelligence but did not correlate with the Seeking of Noetic Goals. Additional interview for the cause of the burnout of the traffic police, fifteen police with score higher than x+2SD in burnout scale were selected for interviews. Instruments used were a tape recorder and a set of questionnaire. It was found that causes of burnout of the metropolitan traffic polices could be categorized into three groups, i.e. (1) physical setting of traffic (2) interaction with those around and (3) thought and feeling of the police.