Police Support for Community Problem-Solving and Broken Windows Policing

This paper explores overall police officer acceptance of tactics and tenets of broken windows and community problem-solving policing. It assesses differential support for each by police officer characteristics (i.e., race/ethnicity, gender, rank, education level, years of service, and assignment). This study presents the findings of a survey of 227 sworn police personnel from two urban police departments. Univariate analyses reveal the levels of support that police have for certain police tactics and tenets of broken windows and community problem-solving policing. Regression analyses examine the relationship between key officer characteristics and support for these tactics and tenets as measured by respondents’ agreement with various items and indices. Findings include support for community problem-solving (and also a reliance on traditional policing methods); a lag in investigators’ acceptance of community problem-solving; and differences by officer race/ethnicity, education, rank, and assignment in indices related to broken windows and rapid response policing. The differential acceptance of broken windows and rapid response tactics by race/ethnicity suggests interesting implications for future studies of race/ethnicity and broken windows policing. The greater acceptance of certain tactics by patrol officers supports current moves toward innovating in police investigations’ bureaus.     

Students and the police in Ghana: mixed feelings

This study examines university students’ perceptions of the Ghana police service in contrast with general population studies that explain citizens’ attitudes toward the police. Two research questions guided this study: (1) What are university students’ perceptions of the police? and (2) What factors influence university students’ perceptions of the police? Using data collected from one large university in Ghana between the months of December 2012 and February 2013, the study found several intriguing findings. First, students have moderate trust in the Ghana police. Second, students critically evaluated police procedural fairness and effectiveness. Multivariate regression models revealed that vicarious experiences of police corruption, marital status, level of education, and ethnicity predicted students’ trust in the police as well as influenced their perceptions of fairness and effectiveness. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.     

Tracking the evolution of police training and education in Poland: linear developments and exciting prospects

ABSTRACT

An important issue for police services across the world is the training and education of police personnel. Both training and education have often been linked to the professionalization of policing. An overview of current developments in police training and education in Poland is provided by a discussion and delineation of learning pathways for Polish police officers and the relevant pieces of legislation that have influenced these pathways. This contributes significant knowledge to international literature by being the first repository of information about Polish police training and education. The historical context of police and police training in Poland is introduced first, followed by an overview of the two-tier system of training. Finally, developments of police training in the Polish context are critically assessed to demonstrate the slow, yet undeniable, approach toward professionalisation of police officers in Poland.     

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.     

“Being a topic expert is not sufficient”: a mixed-method analysis of teaching dynamics at the Tasmania police academy

ABSTRACT

In unpacking the results of an in-depth longitudinal program evaluation, and in light of literature on police education, we analyse the various elements that contribute to the dynamic delivery of teaching in a police academy. A mixed-method analysis of 5 years of student evaluations enriched with the views of police education managers, coordinators, and educators provides an overview of the circumstances in which educators teach police recruits, the dynamics which unfold when teaching police, and the necessary characteristics for educators when addressing a police audience. This analysis positions the Tasmanian model of police education as an interesting case study in the midst of relatively critical literature about police education, and even more cautious studies on higher education partnerships in policing.     

Linking confidence in the police with the performance of the police: Community policing can make a difference

The existing literature of community policing was silent on the linkage between police performance and confidence in the police. This study argued that broader measures of police performance were an inevitable result of the shift from the traditional model of police to community policing. Consequently, confidence in the police could be used profitably by police management as one alternative measure of officers’ effectiveness. Data from a northwest city were used to find out the sources of confidence in the police. The results indicated that volunteers involved in community crime prevention programs showed higher confidence in the police and informal collective security bred confidence in the police. Furthermore, victimization and traffic tickets reduced confidence in the police. These results and their implications for police management are discussed within the limitation of data.     

Public assistance of police during criminal investigations: Russian experience

This study examines the high levels of public unwillingness to assist police in criminal investigations in Russia. Variables of public trust of police, fear of crime, victimization, and prior contact with police are used to explain this phenomenon. Also included in the study are variables of police fear and avoidance of police. The findings suggest that higher levels of distrust in, as well as fear and avoidance of police are strong predictors of citizens’ unwillingness to assist police in Russia. The paper discusses potential implications of these findings for the 2011 police reform in Russia.     

Rethinking police education in the United States

ABSTRACT

Higher education for police in the United States began as police science and police administration in the early-to-middle 1900s but morphed into criminal justice starting in the 1960s, continuing in that mold to the present. This paper examines curricula at a handful of universities to provide a snapshot of U.S. police education today, illustrating that modern criminal justice programs do not focus very much on police at either the undergraduate or graduate level. The paper then considers alternative models that could provide students a more in-depth encounter with the now-robust policing body of knowledge, something that barely existed 50 years ago but could, at this point, serve as the foundation for a respectable and relevant academic and professional education.     

论警察体育的功能及发展走向

当前，我国警察教育正面临改革和发展的重要时刻，警察体育作为警察教育的重要组成部分，也面临新的机遇和挑战。通过回顾我国警察体育发展的历史，对警察体育的教育训练功能和行业功能进行分析，并对警察体育以后的发展走向作出判断，以期为中国警察体育可持续发展提供些许参考。     

The reasons for choosing a career in policing among South Korean police cadets

Despite the importance of understanding the reasons for choosing the police as an occupation for developing effective recruiting strategies, there is a surprising lack of research about what motivates people to choose careers in policing in South Korea. Employing the sample of 410 Korean police cadets, the study found that a financial factor — “steady salary” and “job security” — was the most important factor affecting the decisions of police cadets to join the police. Regression analyses indicated that gender and social-economic status had significant effects on cadets' motivation of joining the police. In the conclusion, policy implications for developing an effective recruitment strategy are discussed.     

Bad cops

Research Summary Police scholars and public policymakers throughout generations have sought to identify reliable correlates of police misconduct. Despite these efforts, general statements as to the etiology and epidemiology of police misconduct remain inconclusive, in part because of the inconsistent definitions of misconduct and the difficulty of obtaining the data required to make such statements. This research attempts to fill these gaps through a comparison of the personal and career histories of all 1,543 officers who were involuntarily separated from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for cause during 1975–1996 with a randomly selected sample of their police academy classmates who served honorably. The study uses confidential NYPD files as its major data sources, which include extensive biographical and career information. The study finds that career‐ending misconduct rarely occurs in the NYPD and that the types of misconduct do not match well with existing definitions. Several factors emerge as significant predictors of misconduct, including officer race, minimal education, records of prior criminality and prior poor employment, failure to advance in the NYPD, and histories of citizen complaints. Policy Implications This study shows that existing definitions of police misconduct are difficult to apply to actual cases of police malpractice, which leads the authors to create a new eight‐category classification scheme. The rarity of misconduct, especially on‐duty abuse, confirms prior research indicating that most police officers do their jobs without engaging in serious malpractice. These findings suggest that the NYPD has become better behaved as it has become more diverse along race and gender dimensions and that the link between black officers and misconduct might be explained by persistent “tokenism.” The findings related to race have important implications for continued efforts to build racially representative police departments. Personal history findings highlight the importance of conducting background investigations that disqualify candidates with arrest records and employment disciplinary histories, whereas the inverse relationship between college education and misconduct provides strong support for continued emphasis on pre‐ and post‐employment educational requirements.     

POLICE CULTURE AND COERCION*

Researchers have long noted the link between police culture and coercion. To date, however, there have been no empirical studies of this relationship. Using data collected as part of a systematic social observation study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this research examines the relationship between traditional views of police culture—from an attitudinal perspective‐and coercion—from a behavioral perspective. After developing a classification scheme of officers' outlooks in the context of police culture, we examine the extent to which officers' alignment with cultural attitudes translates into differences in coercive behavior. The findings indicate that those officers who closely embody the values of the police culture are more coercive compared with those that differentially align with the culture, suggesting that police use of force is a function of officers' varying attitudinal commitments to the traditional view of police culture. The implications of these findings for policy and future research are considered.     

Police Sexual Misconduct: Female Police Officers' Views Regarding Its Nature and Extent

Sexual misconduct among on-duty police officers has received little scholarly attention. Existing research that has attempted to provide police officers' views on this matter has been dominated by the male perspective. The present study focuses on female officers' perspectives and provides insight into the nature and extent of such behavior. The findings show that female officers report that police sexual misconduct is common. Differences in perceptions about such behavior between female and male officers are identified. Theoretical explanations for police sexual misconduct are explored. Policy implications of how police sexual misconduct might be better controlled are discussed.     

TEMPO: A contemporary model for police education and training about mental illness

Given the increasing number of interactions between police and people with mental illnesses (PMI), there has been widespread interest in the development of education for police about how best to interact with PMI. This paper reflects the review of current practice in a variety of jurisdictions across Canada as well as in the United States (U.S.), the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Australia; it proposes a comprehensive model of learning based on the literature that addresses not only the content in the narrow sense but also the importance of broader contextual knowledge and understanding in developing effective education and training. Embedded in the principles articulated in the Mental Health Strategy for Canada, the TEMPO (Training and Education about Mental illness for Police Organizations) model is a multilevel learning strategy for Canadian police personnel. Learning objectives and key principles are articulated in order to ensure the model is applicable to a wide range of police agencies and individual jurisdictional needs. In addition to providing a firm basis of factual knowledge for police personnel, the resultant model embraces a human rights/anti-stigma philosophy, provides for a range of education appropriate to diverse police audiences, emphasizes a systems approach to police/mental health liaison activities and addresses issues related to the delivery and implementation of police education and training.     

Designing a graduate entry route for police recruits: lessons from a rapid evidence assessment of other professions

ABSTRACT

Policing in the UK is currently undergoing changes to the training and attained qualifications of entry level police officers. The College of Policing is in the process of developing three entry routes into the profession, one of which is a graduate conversion course for those new recruits who hold, at a minimum, a Bachelor’s degree. The objective of this research was to gather evidence on existing conversion courses to inform the development of this route. A rapid evidence assessment was undertaken to a narrative synthesis of the literature on graduate conversion courses in other professions. Fifty-one studies were identified and coded. Four main themes emerged from the available evidence as being central. These themes – learning styles, translating theory into practice, teaching methods and assessment were cross cut by pedagogical sub-themes of collaborative learning, and reflective practice. Policy and practice implications for a policing conversion course are drawn out to guide development and delivery of police training and education in the 21^st century.     

Correlates of the endorsement of two competing policing styles among police cadets in China

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate police cadets’ endorsement of the law enforcement style and the community policing style of policing at a time when both styles of police practices have received significant attention in China. The data used in the analysis were collected from a national police university in China featuring a large sample of 900+ cadets. The first research objective concerns the dimensionality of sentiments toward the two styles of policing among police cadets. The second is the identification of key factors associated with these styles. The principal findings are that police cadets do see the law enforcement style and the community policing style as two distinctive conceptual dimensions. Moreover, different factors are associated with endorsement of each of the two styles of policing. Policy implications of these findings are discussed in some detail.     

CRIME AND THE POLICE A Multivariate Analysis

In an effort to assess the correlates of the variations in the rate of crime aggregated at a city level, data are analyzed using multiple correlation analysis that includes indicators of socioeconomic and social control (police) characteristics of the cities The results indicate that the rate of police and money budgeted to police contributes little to the explained variation in rates of crime. In addition, these indicators of social control variations do not correlate with variations in clearance rates The data are interpreted in terms of their implications for public policy, evaluation of police, and deterrence theory.     

Police culture,individualism, and community policing: Evidence from two police departments

According to the conventional wisdom, the police culture consists of a set of values, attitudes, and norms that are widely shared among officers, who find in the culture a way to cope with the strains of their working environment. Some research implies that the conventional wisdom is overdrawn, and recent research has begun to question it more directly. Changes in the composition (i.e., the race, sex, and education) of police personnel, as well as philosophical and organizational changes associated with community policing, could be expected to further fragment police culture and to shift the distribution of police attitudes. Here we examine variation in outlooks that, according to conventional wisdom, are part of the police culture, using survey data collected in two police departments. We also examine the relationships between these outlooks and characteristics of officers—sex, race, education, length of service, community-policing training, and community-policing specialist assignment—that are associated with the changes in policing. We find that officers' outlooks do not conform to the pattern that we would expect on the basis of conventional wisdom. We also find that the variation in officers' occupational attitudes is not patterned to a great extent by their characteristics. We conclude with directions for future research on police attitudes.     

Beatings,Beacons, and Big Men: Police Disempowerment and Delegitimation in India

It is a truism that police in India generally lack legitimate authority and public trust. This lack is widely understood by scholars, policy analysts, and police practitioners as being rooted in the institution's colonial development as a means of oppression, and its alleged corruption and criminalization in the postcolonial period. The social facts of situational hyper‐empowerment and the widespread decadence of police do much to explain their poor image and performance, but these explanations do not account for the fact that police in India are also structurally disempowered by cultural‐political and legal‐institutional claims to multiple and conflicting forms of authority that challenge and often overwhelm the authority of police. This structural disempowerment and its performances in everyday interactions between the police and the public constitute an ongoing social process of delegitimation of police authority in contemporary India. Following ethnographic analysis of this process of delegitimation, I explore the implications of focusing on police disempowerment for theorizations of the sources and capabilities of state legal authority more generally.     

Crime Prevention,Crime Repression,and Policing: Attitudes of Police Recruits Towards Their Role in Crime Control

This article presents the initial results of a 5‐year longitudinal study of police officers’ attitudes about themselves, their profession, crime, and their role in society. The study sample was comprised of graduating classes at l'École Nationale de Police du Québec in 2003. Graduates completed an anonymous multiple choice questionnaire designed for a similar study conducted in the 1990s in France (Monjardet & Gorgeon, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1999). The complete study will track attitude change in these recruits over the first 5 years of their police careers. Results from the first year point to a change in officers’ attitudes resulting from the shock of actually working as police officers and the recruits’ preconceived notions of what police work would be like. Training and education could be adapted to better prepare police recruits for this transitional shock, including changes in mechanisms used to integrate recruits, improvements in police organizations, and increased organizational support for new members. We also suggest ways of identifying areas where continued education would improve the overall quality of police work.