What personal attitudes and perspectives shape police employees’ view on the COVID-19 pandemic? How do they assess the dangerousness of the coronavirus as well as the handling of the pandemic by society and the media? What are their opinions on the measures to con-tain the pandemic — personally as well as concerning their official duties? And how does all this affect their level of mental stress? These questions are answered based on original data from a standardized survey among employees of the police in the German state of Saxon, carried out between October and November 2020. The results2 indicate that the diversity of opinions among Saxon police employees essentially reflects the spectrum of views that was also evident in the state of Saxony and also for the German public in the region, during the survey period. At the same time, police-specific peculiarities are apparent and furthermore, the attitudes and perspectives towards the pandemic form consistent attitudinal patterns. Using cluster analysis, three different attitudinal types were found in the Saxon police: con-cerned interventionists, unconcerned sceptics, and hesitant conformists. These attitudinal types show consistent patterns of attitudes and perspectives on the pandemic. They also report different levels of mental stress in the performance of their duties. The outcome con-tributes to a deeper understanding of the police force under the conditions of crisis and polar-ization. As such, they have implications for leadership communication and organizational cultures in a democratic police force.