PSYCHOLOGY OF OPERATIONAL AND INVESTIGATIVE ACTIVITY: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The article presents a retrospective analysis of the formation and development of the psychology of operational and investigative activity as an independent branch of legal psychology. The historical preconditions for the integration of psychological knowledge into the theory and practice of operational and investigative activity are revealed, starting from its formation within general legal psychology and criminalistic tactics and ending with the current stage, determined by the complication of the operational environment under martial law. Four main stages of the genesis of operational-search psychology are distinguished: the stage of emergence of applied psychological knowledge within the structure of operational-search practice; the stage of institutionalization of operational-search psychology as an independent branch of legal psychology, connected with the adoption of national legislation on operational and investigative activity and the formation of domestic scientific schools; the stage of systemic psychological support, accompanied by the reform of the National Police of Ukraine and the development of comprehensive conceptual models of psychological accompaniment; the current stage, determined by the conditions of martial law and the active development of communicative-psychological technologies. Scientific approaches of leading domestic researchers to defining the subject, principles, and structural-functional models of psychological support for operational and investigative activity are analyzed, including the functional structure of psychological accompaniment of risk-related professions. It is established that operational-search psychology has formed as an independent branch of legal psychology with its own subject of research, specific methods, and legally defined limits of application. It is proved that further development of this field is connected with improving the psychological selection, accompaniment, and rehabilitation of operational unit officers, as well as with the integration of communicative technologies, in particular profiling and non-verbal behaviour analysis, into operational-search practice.