The sample consisted of 303 recruits from the Queensland Police Academy. The recruits, who had undergone 6 months of training as part of a 12-month course, completed the forms voluntarily. The Perceptions of Police Work Questionnaire was constructed for the study. It is a 26-item fear schedule that uses scales that range from 0 (no fear) to 7 (severe fear). The themes of questionnaire items relate to situations that operational police may encounter. A factor analysis identified five factors that relate to fear: physical danger, mutilated/dead bodies, public crime, organizational fears, and court/interpersonal situations. Age was found to correlate poorly with the factor scores. These findings provide support for the validity of an occupation-fears construct in the context of police work. Recruits who reported intense and generalized fears may be at risk for the development of chronic stress reactions, although a future study must determine whether or not fear is a predictor of stress. The construct of occupational fear was apparently distinct from the fear-of-crime construct. The intensity of organizational fears in recruits might be reduced if police organizations provide officers with accurate information about organizational procedures such as internal investigations. 2 tables and 12 references (Author abstract modified)