The assessment of capable guardianship measures against bullying victimization in the school environment

Abstract

Policymakers, school officials and the law enforcement community have expanded legal tools and other strategies to address bullying in recent years. This has resulted in a larger and more challenging role for law enforcement officers working in school settings. The present study seeks to understand the ways in which local law enforcement officers interpret this new role and their efforts to prevent and respond to bullying. We draw upon Routine Activities Theory as a lens to view officer perceptions of promoting guardianship and reducing target suitability of young people most at-risk for bullying victimization. Data collected from qualitative interviews of law enforcement officers working with local schools, suggest that officers see a role for law enforcement in promoting guardianship around this health and safety concern, but recognize the limitations of using arrest authority. They emphasize promoting trust and building relationship in efforts to support potential and current bullying victims.     

Perceived Citizen Cooperation, Police Operational Philosophy, and Job Satisfaction on Support for Civilian Oversight of the Police in South Korea

While civilian oversight in matters pertaining to police accountability is commonly found in law enforcement agencies in Western countries, this concept is fairly new to many emerging democracies. This study examines the origins and development of citizen oversight of the police in South Korea. Using a sample consisting of 406 surveyed Korean police officers, this study further examines the effects of individual factors and organizational characteristics, such as police operational philosophy, citizen support, and job satisfaction, on officers’ perceptions of civilian oversight of the police. The findings suggest that, although South Korean police officers are generally ambivalent about the role of civilian oversight, there is a strong relationship between organizational characteristics and support for a civilian role in police oversight.     

Police Perceptions of Computer Crimes in Two Southeastern Cities: An Examination from the Viewpoint of Patrol Officers

Although scholars and law enforcement administrators have provided input on how local law enforcement is responding to various forms of computer crime and how officers perceive of it, patrol officers have been rarely surveyed to understand their perceptions of computer crime. Examining officer perceptions is vital considering that patrol officers are being asked to be more effective first responders to digital forensic crime scenes as a critical step in combating computer crimes at the local level. This study therefore addressed this gap by surveying patrol officers in two southeastern cities regarding their perceptions of computer crime, specifically regarding its uniqueness, offenders and targets, and seriousness and frequency in comparison to traditional forms of crime. Results indicated that many officers do not have strong opinions on several aspects of computer crime. However, they perceive it to be a serious problem and consider some computer crimes to be as serious as traditional forms of crime.     

An impact of community policing: Reported stressors, social support, and strain among police officers in a changing police department

Community-based policing requires a radically different philosophical and organizational approach from the more traditional approach to policing. Stress may be experienced during organizational change as areas of responsibility and roles are altered. This study had three primary objectives: to identify (1) the areas officers and their immediate supervisors actually consider stressful, (2) the officers' and supervisors' responses to stress, and (3) the influence of their social support systems on these responses. Data were collected from community coordinators, radio response officers, and sergeants of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina. The officers and sergeants report specific physiological responses, lack of job involvement, and propensity to leave law enforcement; all responses that are considered by the literature to be related to stress. Stressors that are both common in law enforcement in general and stressors unique to a department implementing community policing are found to be significant. Work social support does appear to affect the level of job involvement of the officers. The finding that sergeants do not appear to feel that they have work social support may be working to the detriment of their ability to cope with stress and their willingness to be involved with their job.     

Listening to law enforcement officers: The promises and problems of police - adult probation partnerships

Police-probation partnerships have increased in recent years, but evaluations of such partnerships are rare. Particularly within probation agencies, such partnerships can be perceived as an abandonment of service responsibilities in favor of enforcing the law against probationers, but the views of police officers involved in these partnerships have not been examined in the past. The current study began this process by examining the perceptions of law enforcement officers in Texas. In particular, the following questions were addressed: (1) whether they experience role conflict or role ambiguity, (2) how they perceive the effectiveness of partnerships, and (3) how they evaluate the impact of partnerships on crime reduction. Three partnership patterns were identified using cluster analysis. The analysis revealed a significant relationship between the extent of partnerships and the perceptions of law enforcement officers on the partnerships. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.     

Perceived effects of concealed handgun ownership by private citizens among law enforcement officers in Texas

On January 1, 1996, a new law took effect in Texas granting certain state citizens the privilege to carry a concealed handgun on their person for the first time since 1871. As a result of this dramatic shift in state law, Texas is now among the growing number of states across the nation who have adopted similar statutory provisions in one form or another. While at least one empiricals study of citizen’s attitudes toward concealed handgun ownership was conducted prior to the law’s effective date, no similar efforts were undertakens to assess the beliefs, perceptions and attitudes of the state’s law enforcement officers about this important social policy. The present study was therefore undertaken in response to the lack of serious attention which the issue of concealed handgun ownership among private citizens has received as it directly relates to the law enforcement profession. Subjects for this study (N=327) were drawn from four Texas law enforcement agencies representing various organizational sizes and missions. While the responses of officers who participated in the study indicate optimism about the law’s potential to deter various types of crime, they also reflect a certain degree of concerns about concealed handgun ownership among private citizens especially as this policy directly relates to perceive inadequacies in statemandated requirements and issues affecting officer safety.     

Perceptions of Law Enforcement Officers in Seeking Mental Health Treatment in a Right-to-Work State

The high stress environment of law enforcement places officers at risk for a variety of mental and physical health problems; however, officers are reluctant to seek out treatment. The purpose of this study was to identify which factors associated with law enforcement officers had predictive value in the level of stigma perceived in seeking mental health treatment by currently employed, certified peace officers in Arizona. The factors included sex, age, race/ethnicity, years employed as an officer, size of the department, current rank/position within the department, the type of government operating the agency, and payment of union dues. The study included 454 participants. Participation included the completion of demographic data, the Self-Stigma of Seeking Psychological Help (SSOSH), and the Perceptions of Stigmatization by Others for Seeking Help (PSOSH). Using standard multiple regression, the most significant finding was the relationship between the size of the department and levels of stigma (p = .014); such that, the size was inversely related to the levels of perceived stigma. As the agency size increased, the perceptions of stigma decreased. Such a finding has several implications for law enforcement agencies related to preparedness and training.     

Police Body-Worn Cameras: Perceptions of Law Enforcement Leadership

Many people are enthusiastic about the potential benefits of police body-worn cameras (BWC). Despite this enthusiasm, however, there has been no research on law enforcement command staff perceptions of BWCs. Given the importance that law enforcement leadership plays in the decision to adopt and implement BWCs, it is necessary to assess their perceptions. This is the first study to measure law enforcement leadership attitudes toward BWCs. The study relies on data collected from surveys administered to command staff representing local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in a large southern county. Among the major perceptual findings are that command staff believe BWCs will impact police officers’ decisions to use force in encounters with citizens and police will be more reluctant to use necessary force in encounters with the public. Respondents also believe that use of BWCs is supported by the public because society does not trust police, media will use BWC data to embarrass police, and pressure to implement BWCs comes from the media. Perceptions of the impact of BWCs on safety, privacy, and police effectiveness are also discussed.     

Sheriff law enforcement officers and the use of force

This study examined the relationship between sheriff law enforcement officers' characteristics and their use of force. Official records were utilized to collect data on the sworn law enforcement officers of the Florida Polk County Sheriff's Office and their self-reported use of force for 1999. The findings of this study indicated that White, male law enforcement officers, thirty-five years of age or younger, with less than 145 months of service, and assigned to patrol duties were more likely to resort to the use of force. Given that sheriff law enforcement officers are an integral part of policing, it is recommended that more studies be conducted of the use of force by these public officials.     

The Impact of Negative Publicity on Police Self-legitimacy

High-profile events involving police use of force in various cities throughout the US and internationally have garnered enormous media coverage and demonstrated the importance of police-community relations. To date little empirical attention has focused on how such events may negatively impact police officers. Using survey data from 567 officers, this study considers whether perceptions of negative publicity are adversely related to officers’ sense of self-legitimacy (i.e. the confidence they have in their authority). Findings revealed officers who felt less motivated as a result of negative publicity expressed less self-legitimacy. However, the degree to which officers felt their job had become more dangerous as a result of negative publicity was not significantly related to self-legitimacy. These findings increase our understanding of the sources of self-legitimacy and reveal that negative publicity surrounding law enforcement presents a unique challenge to officers’ confidence in their authority, which can have important implications for the community.     

Organizational Social Capital and Performance of Drug Law Enforcement Departments

Supply reduction efforts by drug law enforcement departments are a significant factor in improving the effectiveness of drug control policies. The performance of drug law enforcement departments is one of the most important concerns for policy makers. Therefore, improving the performance of these departments is crucial in order for governments to constrict illegal drug markets and prevent illegal drug distribution. The literature suggests that social capital may have significant impacts on organizational performance. Using survey data from 12 city law enforcement departments in Turkey, this study examines the effects of three social capital dimensions (structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions) on the perceived performance of drug law enforcement departments by using structural equation modeling. The results of this conceptually grounded and empirical study suggest that drug law enforcement departments should pay close attention to promoting social capital among officers in order to fight effectively against drug trafficking.     

The influence of job assignment on community engagement: bicycle patrol and community-oriented policing

The purpose of this study is to compare a specialized community-oriented policing (COP) unit to a reactive unit on officer perceptions of public contact and officer perceptions of job performance. We also compare bicycle patrol officers to motor vehicle patrol officers within these units. Using a static group comparison design, questionnaires were distributed to officers within the Toronto Police Service (n = 178). Bicycle patrol is associated with more contacts with the public and higher rates of proactive policing when compared to motor vehicle patrol and bicycle officers are more likely to rate higher on several measures of crime control. Officers with a COP mandate engage with the public for a wider variety of reasons compared to those with a reactive mandate, and are more likely to rate higher on perceptions of performing job duties in a procedurally just manner. This study demonstrates the value of a specialized COP unit that includes bicycle patrol in achieving tenets of COP. It contributes to the literature on COP and the use of bicycle patrol in law enforcement by presenting the perspective of the police officer.     

Is it all about race? Intergroup threat and perceptions of racial profiling

Relatively few studies have assessed theoretically relevant predictors of individual’s perceptions of racial profiling by law enforcement officers. The current study addresses this limitation by drawing on theoretical frameworks highlighted in the growing body of literature examining disproportionate minority contact (DMC) with the criminal justice system. Specifically, we draw on the racial and symbolic threat perspectives with the objective of identifying theoretically relevant individual and community level predictors of perceptions of racial profiling by public and private police bodies in airports, malls, and on the roads. Results of our analysis of data on White and Black individuals nested within communities support the racial threat perspective in documenting the influence of racial heterogeneity and interracial labor market competition on perceptions of racial profiling. However, in contention to predictions derived from the symbolic threat perspective, the results fail to uncover a link between interracial socioeconomic inequality and perceptions of racial profiling by law enforcement officers. These results highlight the importance of moving beyond individual explanations of profiling and other forms of DMC and suggest community characteristics and perceptions of intergroup threat are particularly salient to understanding perceptions of race-based distinctions in formal social control.     

Confidently Wrong: Police Endorsement of Psycho-Legal Misconceptions

Public beliefs about psychological issues relevant to the legal system have been demonstrated to often be misconceived, but the endorsement of such beliefs in law enforcement samples is largely unknown. This study was the first to compare psycho-legal beliefs between law enforcement officers and the general public in the UK. Participants were presented a 50-item questionnaire measuring five psycho-legal topics; police procedures, courts, tough on crime, mental illness, and memory and cognition. Despite direct involvement and relevant experience, law enforcement officers endorsed just as many empirically contradictory beliefs as those who were not law enforcement officers. Further, law enforcement officers were more confident in their responses. This research has implications for identifying areas of limited knowledge within police samples that can be targeted by police education.     

Officer work orientations, perceptions of readiness and anticipated effectiveness of an agency-wide community policing effort within a county Sheriff’s office

Across occupations of every form, including those in criminal justice, administrators, managers, and supervisors frequently introduce changes to the structure and/or processes of the work environment. These changes may be seen as necessary to enhance worker productivity, but may be viewed by some workers as an unwanted disruption to their routines. Should employees interpret changes in such a manner, they can, and often do, negate these reforms. Employee work orientations (i.e., philosophical approaches toward work) undoubtedly play a role in such an interchange because they influence both how employees behave on the job and how they perceive their job. The move toward community-oriented policing constitutes a major paradigm shift to the practice of law enforcement. This structural and procedural change to the routines of policing could be perceived as threatening to those law enforcement officers whose work orientations are inconsistent with the philosophical foundation of community-based policing. The presence of a sufficient number of such officers could doom this movement to failure. This study uses survey data collected from a sample of sheriff’s deputies involved in an agency-wide community policing effort. In this study we examine the effects of deputies’ work orientations on their perceptions of the agency’s readiness for and the anticipated effectiveness of this initiative. The findings suggest interesting differences in the efforts of a traditional crime control orientation versus a more progressive community service orientation toward policing.     

Cops and cameras: Officer perceptions of the use of body-worn cameras in law enforcement

PurposeThere has been a recent surge in the adoption of and media attention to the use of body-worn cameras in law enforcement. Despite this increase in use and media attention, there is little to no research on officer perceptions of body-worn cameras.MethodsThis study relies on baseline data of officer perceptions toward body-worn cameras collected from surveys administered to Orlando Police officers who are participants in a randomized experiment evaluating the impact of body-worn cameras (Taser AXON Flex) in law enforcement.ResultsResults suggest that police officers are, by and large, open to and supportive of the use of body-worn cameras in policing, they would feel comfortable wearing them, and that they perceive a potential for benefits of body-worn cameras in improving citizen behavior, their own behavior, and the behavior of their fellow officers.ConclusionsOfficers are generally supportive of body-worn cameras, and they hold perceptions that these devices can be beneficial in positively affecting relevant outcomes. Study limitations and implications are also discussed.     

Show Me Your Hands! Police and Public Perceptions of Violent Interpersonal Cues

Psychology has recently begun to examine human interpersonal social predictors of violence. One area yet unexamined is potential differences between law enforcement officers and non-police in their perception of aggressive interpersonal social cues. Using a sample of 129 police officers and 178 non-police individuals, a direct comparison was made about perceptions of interpersonal social behaviors associated with imminent violence. It was revealed that both samples generally shared similar perceptions, with a few exceptions. Police officers were more sensitive than other individuals are to each of the behavioral cues. The police sample also perceived the behavior of placing one’s hands in one’s pockets as more threatening than did the non-police sample.     

Law enforcement organizational behavior and the occurrence of post-traumatic stress symptomology in law enforcement personnel follwoing a critical incident

Research by Evans and Coman (1993), Sewell (1984), and Gudjonsson and Adlam (1983) suggests that being shot in the line of duty or the shooting of a partner are often ranked by officers, despite their infrequent occurrence, as the most stressful field events. This study was designed to elucidate factors within the organizational structure of law enforcement, other than the incident itself, which promote ineffective coping and increases in PTSD-like symptomology in police officers. This study found that both police officers, and the organization in which they work, practice predominately ineffective emotion-focused coping strategies following an officer-involved shooting. Possible links between organizational behavior and long-term post-traumatic symptomology were discovered; it appears that officers have readily available models of poor coping responses merely by imitating the behavior of their organization. Author Note: Charity Plaxton-Hennings, Psy.D., M.P.H., is a professor of health psychology, Azusa Pacific University, 901 East Alosta Avenue, Azusa, California 91702. She is also employed by The Counseling Team, Inc., in Southern California, providing organizational, therapeutic, and critical incident debriefing services to a variety of law enforcement and other public service agencies. A special thanks to Dr. Nancy Bohl for assisting in this project.     

The personality assessment inventory as a selection device for law enforcement personnel

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is a recent development in psychological assessment which has attracted attention because of the breadth of its coverage and the fact that it includes a four-point scale of item agreement. Matrix, Incorporated, is a psychological assessment center that specializes in the assessment of law enforcement personnel. Matrix has collected performance variables on 800 police officers who had taken the PAI prior to being hired. Correlational analysis was performed and there was a significant effect in the data. Discussion focuses upon the criteria in relation to the PAI variables, particularly with regard to aggression, antisocial characteristics and the validity scales. The data clearly demonstrate that the PAI has good potential for the selection of law enforcement officers. Emily DeCoster-Martin was an undergraduate psychology major at The University of Evansville at the time this paper was written