I am a licensed clinical psychologist in the Commonwealth of Virginia specializing in police psychology, forensic psychology and general clinical psychology. I received my undergraduate education at Brooklyn College, and my graduate psychology education at the State University of New York at Cortland and the University of Mississippi. After completing a clinical psychology internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., I served as a psychologist and major in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. I was the chief of the clinical psychology section of the Community Mental Health Activity at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. I served as the psychological consultant to both military commanders and hospital physicians. Much of my work in the military consisted of providing psychological care and treatment to active-duty military personnel suffering from a wide variety of psychological disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorders, among others. I was also the executive officer of the Community Mental Health Activity, and was responsible for all administrative matters related to the functioning of the clinic. I also served as the psychological consultant to the Surgeon General for the selection of psychologists to serve in the U.S. Army clinical psychology internship program.
After my honorable discharge from the military, I entered private practice and became the first police psychologist for the Arlington County Police Department, where I established a pre-employment psychological screening program for police applicants and police candidates for select squads such as SWAT and Hostage Negotiations. During the last 30 years, I have served as the psychological consultant to numerous law enforcement agencies such as the Arlington County Sheriff's Office, the Alexandria Police Department, the Alexandria Sheriff's Office and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police, among others.
I was also the director of psychology for the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute, where I supervised a staff of psychologists and provided direct clinical services to psychiatric patients. I was also responsible for leading the substance abuse program at the hospital, and for evaluating all restrictive programs both physical and chemical.
I earned my law degree at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University and completed a legal clerkship with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Virginia. I have also worked as an independent psychological examiner for the Fairfax County Community Service Board and General District Court. I am a diplomate in police psychology from the Society of Police and Criminal Psychology. I have written numerous articles and delivered presentations on police psychology and forensic psychology. My books include "Selected Readings in Forensic Psychology" (2006), "Jews in Blue" (2006), "Malingering, Lies, and Junk Science in the Courtroom" (2007), "Forensic Psychology" (2010) and the "Handbook of Police Psychology" (2012). I am working on the second edition of the "Handbook of Police Psychology," and a book on police impersonators. I teach applied criminal psychology and police psychology at George Mason University, and police psychology at George Washington University. I live in Northern Virginia with my wife and five children.
Kitaeff's candidate statement
I am representative of the members of APA. During the last 37 years, I have been an academician, a clinician, a researcher, an author, a military officer, a supervisor and an administrator. I feel that I can relate to the membership in a very fundamental way.
I believe that psychologists must continue researching, practicing and teaching about the interaction of emotional and behavioral factors affecting physical illness. Examples include obesity, diabetes, stress-induced illnesses, anxiety, depression and addictions.
We must insure that psychologists are recognized as full-fledged health providers from both statutory and health insurance standpoints. This would include increased training programs in psychopharmacology with the eventual goal of appropriately trained psychologists achieving prescriptive authority in every state. The success of such privileges has been demonstrated in the Department of Defense programs. We must also reaffirm our commitment to active-duty military personnel, returning veterans, first-responders and wounded warriors.
In graduate training programs, we must adapt to the changing demographics (cultural and language) of this country. We need to study the causes of mass violence in schools and in the workplace, and understand how they can be prevented.
We need to attend to psychology applied to the law, and the law applied to psychology. This includes a commitment to police psychology and the men and women in law enforcement. Unconfirmed and uncorroborated phenomena such as repressed memories and unscientifically derived psychological syndromes must be seriously examined.
Finally, we need to listen to psychologists who have not traditionally been involved in APA governance. We owe immeasurable gratitude to members of our ranks who have taken leadership positions and spearheaded initiatives benefiting all of us. But we need more psychologists to take an active role and have a voice in our association.
