POLICE PERCEPTIONS OF INFLUENCE: A Study in the Criminal Case Disposition Process

This study examines police perceptions of their own influence and the influence of the judges, attorneys, victims, and defendants in the felony case disposition process. The findings suggest that while police perceive their own influence as relatively low, it is enhanced by their direct participation in plea discussions both in their own view and that of the observers. The study concludes that there appear to be substantial benefits from greater police participation in the negotiated disposition of criminal cases.     

Ambivalent sexism,empathy and law enforcement attitudes towards partner violence against women among male police officers

Police attitudes towards partner violence against women (PVAW) can play an important role in their evaluation and responses to this type of violence. The present study aims to examine ambivalent sexism and empathy as determinants of male police officers' law enforcement attitudes towards PVAW. The study sample was composed by 404 male police officers. Results suggested that male police officers scoring low in benevolent sexism expressed a general preference for unconditional law enforcement (i.e. regardless of the victim's willingness to press charges against the offender), whereas those scoring high in benevolent sexism expressed a preference for conditional law enforcement (i.e. depending on the willingness of the victim to press charges against the offender). Results also showed that police officers scoring high in empathy and low in hostile sexism were those who expressed a general preference for unconditional law enforcement. The presence of sexist attitudes and low levels of empathy among some police officers, and their influence on law enforcement attitudes, highlights not only the importance of specific training, but also the need to pay attention to the selection process of police officers dealing with PVAW.     

What’s in a Name? Organizational,Environmental, and Cultural Factors on Support for Community Policing in Turkey and the U.S.

Community policing (COP) represents officers’ expectations of police work that revolves around specific order maintenance chores that take place within the community. It is generally assumed that police officers are cognizant of the community policing type activities occurring in police organizations where COP is either formally or informally adopted. However, very little research has been done to examine whether or not police officers in other countries are engaging in similar COP type activities without the organizational endorsement or official implementation of community policing as it is known in the U.S. and elsewhere. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we compare law enforcement officers’ attitudes toward their conceptions of police work with specific attention to order maintenance and community oriented type police activities in two countries, Turkey (no formal COP programs) and the U.S. (formal and informal COP programs). Secondly, we examine to what extent police organizational and environmental factors in these two countries influence officers’ conceptions of community-oriented policing activities. Findings suggest that, relative to Turkey, U.S. police officers have a favorable disposition toward COP type activities, suggesting name does matter. However, findings in both countries also suggest that officers’ orientation to police work that is reflective of the police operational philosophy, and the organizational and environmental factors are better predictors of COP type activities.     

A comparative study of the attitudes of Urban,Suburban and Rural Police Officers in New Jersey regarding the use of force

This article examines the attitudes of sample populations of urban, suburban and rural police officers in New Jersey in regard to a hypothetical use of force scenario. The aim of the study is to identify similarities and differences in the perceptions of officers who are faced with the same type of hypothetical situations but who are exposed to different training, procedural and environmental factors. Police officers in the United States receive different types of training in each state that might influence their attitudes towards the use of force. A pilot study was conducted comparing two urban police departments from two different states and showed some differences in the attitudes of the surveyed officers. To further explore these differences, a more refined look at three police departments in one state (New Jersey) was conducted as part of a doctoral dissertation of the lead author. Research questions are aimed at identifying the differences in the frameworks for the justification of force based on a host of variables. The research questions stipulated that there will be some significant differences in attitudes towards the use of force by the officers, based on physical location of the communities they police. The findings of the study identified additional factors that might influence the officers’ attitudes. Twelve focus groups, four at each of the sites, were analyzed and it appears that there may be a geographic and demographic influence on how the officers respond to the scenario.     

Police officers’ attitudes toward their role and work: A comparison of black and white officers

This study tests whether Black and White police officers differ in job-related attitudes. The analyses focus on officers’ attitudes toward police role, selective enforcement, legal restrictions, and departmental problem-solving efforts. Survey data were collected from the Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) during the summer of 1996. Findings show that compared to White officers, Black officers tend to have a broad role orientation, be less selective, and have positive attitudes toward legal restrictions. Implications for future research and policy are also discussed.     

Ethnicity, trust, and acceptance of authority among police officers

This article examines the factors that influence the willingness of police officers to comply with decisions made by police command staff. In particular, this research focuses on the extent to which officer ethnicity interacts with perceptions of procedural justice in influencing officer compliance. The data for this study were drawn from an anonymous mailed survey (n = 648) examining officer attitudes toward the complaint investigation process in one large municipal police department. Structural equation modeling demonstrates that ethnicity does influence officer compliance, but only weakly and indirectly. Latino/a officers are less likely to report trust in police internal affairs than White officers, and thus somewhat less likely report that they are willing to comply with command staff decisions. Other factors, such as morale, perceptions of procedural justice, and rank, prove to be much more powerful predictors of officer compliance than ethnicity.     

THE ATTITUDES OF WOMEN AND MEN IN POLICING: TESTING CONVENTIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY WISDOM*

Historically, women were excluded from policing because they were thought to be physically as well as temperamentally unsuited for the rigors of police work Despite the fact that most evaluations of behavior on the street reveal few differences in the way men and women perform most tasks, many police officers, as well as academicians and observers, believe that women bring a different set of attitudes and values to policing. However, there has been little research that either confirms or casts doubt upon these attitudinal differences. This study examines the conflicting predictions about gender and attitudes derived from theory about gender differences and sociological theory about occupational socialization, drawing upon the former to develop hypotheses about four dimensions of police attitudes: perspectives on the police role, attitudes toward citizens, evaluations of departments and coworkers, and occupational integration. These hypotheses are tested with data from the Police Services Study, which surveyed police officers in 24 departments. The results suggest that although men and women may not be equally integrated into their jobs as police officers, there are few differences in the ways men and women see their role, their clientele, or their departments.     

Attitudes of police recruits towards domestic disturbances: An evaluation of family crisis intervention training

Police student officers' attitudes towards domestic disputes following family-crisis-intervention training are analyzed. A total of 359 student officers from fourteen training classes participated in the study. The most dramatic improvement in attitudes was observed in officers' perceptions of disputants and in their perceptions of domestic disturbance calls. The study also investigated the attitudes of student officers toward organizational policy, training, and community relations. Student officers' attitudes significantly improved in thirty-one of fifty-one items (p < .05). In general, the changes in attitudes demonstrated that the family-crisis-intervention program did affect the attitudes of student officers in the predicted direction of change. Following training, student officers were more likely to view domestic disputes as legitimate police business and more likely to believe that their actions could influence families in crisis and that people in crisis both want, and will benefit from, assistance. It is concluded that crisis-intervention training appears to be responsible for the change in officer attitudes and that family-crisis training should be included in the curriculums of police training academies.     

Force,Stress, and Decision-Making Within the Belgian Police: the Impact of Stressful Situations on Police Decision-Making

Stress and fear are inevitable aspects of the police job and may have a large impact on police officers’ decision-making process. Many studies have explored how stress and fear may influence assessments of police officers, especially with regard to the use of force. This article aims to contribute to this research domain by reporting the findings from two empirical studies among Belgian police officers: a quantitative study of police officers’ attitudes towards and experiences with the use of force and a qualitative study on the influence of stress and emotions on officers’ decision-making and assessment abilities and accuracy of shooting. Both studies confirmed that stress and fear are often present in Belgian police practice. One of the main findings is that Belgian police officers are anxious about the consequences of their actions because they know they will be held accountable for them. The pressure that results from this accountability can make it even more difficult for police officers to react to stressful situations. Therefore, we need to look for the right balance in this difficult position, by providing tools that support police officers in making daily decisions, and help them do their job as effectively as possible.     

Who is better for handling domestic violence? A comparison between Taiwanese female and male Officers

This study examined Taiwanese female and male police officers’ perceptions of handling domestic violence. Specifically, it assessed officers’ attitudes toward whether female officers, male officers, or a combination of female and male officers are more suited for handling cases of battered women, offenders, and domestic violence overall. Survey data were collected from 96 female and 156 male officers from two police departments in Taiwan. Frequency distributions showed that a combination of male and female officers were most preferred by officers for handling abused women, offenders, and domestic violence overall. Regression analysis found that female officers were significantly more likely than male officers to favor a combination of male and female officers over female officers alone for handling battered women. Female officers were found to be more likely than male officers to favor male over female officers and a combination of male and female officers for handling offenders. Police supervisors’ attitudes toward domestic violence also influenced officers’ attitudes toward who is more suited for handling offenders. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.     

Officer Attitudes and Management Influences on Police Work Productivity

Police officers are afforded a high degree of discretion in the exercise of their authority, and the control of this discretion is an important issue. While it is assumed that individual officer attitudes and preferences shape their discretionary activity, these officers are also members of a paramilitary organization with leaders appointed over them. The present study explored the influence of both officer attitudes and supervisor influences to explain variation in officer traffic citation issuing rates. Hierarchical linear modeling was used with a sample of 312 patrol officers and 60 supervisors from 21 municipal police agencies. The results revealed that both officer occupational attitudes and supervisor influences (through informal rewards and behavior modeling) significantly influenced the degree to which officers issued traffic citations. The findings emphasize the need for both the supervision of officers and the shaping of officer attitudes in the control of officer discretion.     

Belonging and Unbelonging in Encounters Between Young Males and Police Officers: The Use of Masculinity and Ethnicity/Race

This article is based on a study in which the work of police officers has been followed on a day-to-day basis, with a special focus on the work directed at youths. The focus is on how contact is established or obstructed in the meeting between police officers and young males, and the significance of constructions of masculinity and ethnicity/race for this process. Encounters between young males and police officers are analysed from Yuval-Davis notions of belonging and unbelonging. The analysis shows how both masculinity and ethnicity/race can be used for establishing or obstructing contact between police and young males. The article also show how belonging and unbelonging is a question of negotiations that can undergo a number of shifts in the course of a given situation, and also that these negotiations take the form of a collaborative activity, even if this starts from unequal power positions. A situation that starts from an antagonistic approach may in fact, via markers of belonging, turn out quite different. But it is also pointed out that the markers of belonging in one dimension, at the same time may generate markers of unbelonging in others. Finally this developing of contact shall be understood both as a way of changing the contacts into less conflicted ways and as one of several ways of gaining more control in stigmatized areas.     

Religiosity and stress for police officers

Much of the research which has been conducted to date regarding stress and police officers has focused on identifying the presence of stress, associating stress with specific stressors, and comparing levels of stress between police officers and members of other professions. This project focused on the influence of one potential mediator of stress—religious activity. Data were collected from a population of law enforcement officers from a medium sized city and from a comparison group of firefighters from the same city. The data indicate that religiosity has two factors (1) traditional beliefs and activities and (2) religious satisfaction and perceived influence of religion on subject’s everyday lives. The second factor was found to be negatively related to stress for police officers. As religious satisfaction and perceived influence increase, stress increases.     

The theory of planned behavior and policing: how attitudes about behavior,subjective norms,and perceived behavioral control affect the discretionary enforcement decisions of police officers

This research used qualitative methods to investigate police officer decision-making processes within the context of the theory of planned behavior from the discipline of psychology. Interviews with police officers were conducted to elicit how the constructs of attitudes about enforcement behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control manifest themselves in a policing context and how they affect the enforcement decisions that police officers ultimately make. The results indicated that officer attitudes about enforcement behaviors impact the decisions officers make with the caution that the impact of these attitudes varies across varying situational contexts. In terms of subjective norms, officers were primarily concerned with supervisor expectations more than the expectations of coworkers or the community in general. Officer decisions are also impacted by perceived limits on their discretion with these perceived limits being largely conditioned by offense seriousness. Theoretical implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Police attitudes in assigning responsibility for wife abuse

Prevailing myths concerning wife abuse generally tend to blame the victim. The present study examines the degree of responsibility assigned by police officers to the wife, the husband, as well as the couple's socioeconomic situation in cases of wife abuse. The officer's position (neutral vs supportive) adopted toward the woman is also investigated. The influence of eight characteristics related either to the spouses or to the situation of violence on both the officer's position and the attribution of responsibility is analyzed. The characteristics are: couple's socioeconomic status, type of household, drinking by husband, alleged antagonism on the part of the wife, ambivalence of wife to press charges, type of abuse, history of assault, and violence toward children. The results are based on answers to case vignettes provided by 235 municipal police officers. The data were analyzed by performing a multivariate analysis of variance. Results indicate the type of abuse to be the characteristic with the greatest impact on police attitudes. While the husband is systematically considered more responsible than the wife, police officers always consider the wife somewhat responsible, particularly when there is alleged antagonism by the woman and when threats of violence are present.     

Punitive attitudes and causal attribution of crime among Israeli police officers: is there a gender gap?

Policy-makers and researchers have long been interested in the punitive attitudes and causal attribution of crime of police officers. Understanding the punitive attitudes and causal attribution of crime of those who enforce the law is necessary for both theoretical and practical reasons. The current study examines gender differences in punitive attitudes and causal attribution of crime among police officers at the beginning and at the end of their academic studies. One hundred and one police officers (47 policewomen and 54 policemen) participated in this study. The main results indicate that (a) policemen held more punitive attitudes than policewomen, (b) there were significant gender differences in the first year of academic study, with stronger support of classical theories (more punitive) among policemen compared with policewomen, but no gender differences were found in the last year, (c) police officers tended to attribute classical theories (more punitive) to the causes of crime regardless of gender and year of study, and (d) belief in individual positivism (less punitive) was greater among policemen than policewomen, and among the men, it was greater in the last year of studies than in the first year. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Citizen Review of the Police

Abstract

The research presents the summary and analysis of ten-year data (1991-2000) involving the People's Law Enforcement Board (PLEB). It describes the types of police officers and the police departments that had cases before the People's Law Enforcement Board (PLEB). It also examines the types of cases that were handled by these civilian review boards as well as the manner of dispositions of these cases, the number of times its decisions were affirmed, reversed, or modified by an appellate board, and the composition and qualifications of the members of the boards. The data indicate that the propensity of police officers for receiving complaints in the boards may be a function of both rank and assignment. The data also suggest that the PLEB tends to be lenient in its disposition of cases. However, the People's Law Enforcement Board appears to make good quality decisions as indicated by the appellate boards' upholding of PLEB decisions.     

Police uniforms,attitudes, and citizens

This study focuses on identifying the relationship between the citizen's attitude toward the police and the police uniform and authoritarian attitude. The perceived authority associated with the police uniform has been an essential ingredient of the police role. Consequently, the police uniform influences attitudes and behaviors of the wearers as well as the citizens with whom they interact. The citizen's attitude is negatively affected by the traditional military style police uniform in conjunction with the authoritarian attitude exhibited by police officers in performance of their duties. Consequently, when the uniform and officer's attitude are altered, there will be a corresponding change in the citizen's attitude toward the police. The attitude of the officer, in conjunction with the uniform, exerts considerably more influence on the citizen's attitude than does the uniform, officer's attitude, or any additional factor acting independently.     

An Inside View of Police Officers�� Experience with Domestic Violence

Since the recognition of domestic violence (DV) in the late 1970s, police officers have been frontline providers. Despite their changing role as a result of the criminalization of DV, little is known about their experiences and responses to this public health issue from their unique perspective. Via focus groups, 22 police officers discussed their scope of practice and emotional reactions to DV calls. Participants reported frustration with the recurring nature of DV and with the larger systems?? lack of accountability (e.g., courts, prosecution and community) that follow their initial interventions. Participants discussed the limitations of their role as protectors of public safety, attitudes that evolve over time and their beliefs as to contributing factors that perpetuate DV. Additionally, the officers recommend: more professional training, counseling, incident debriefing for officers including feedback on case disposition, better collaboration across professional groups, and evidence-based prosecution. Harsher penalties were also recommended.     

Suspect Police Officers Investigated by Former Police Officers: Good Idea,Bad Idea?

Up to 1992, all illegal use-of-force complaints against police officers in Israel were handled internally by the police department. In 1992, following public and political pressure, an external civilian board was established to handle such cases. In this framework, investigations of suspect police officers are conducted by former police officers. In this study, investigators' and suspects' personal and organizational characteristics were examined, as well as their attitudes to the civilian board and the manifestation of police violence. In general, the two groups were found to differ significantly on both levels. The employment of former police officers with high professional qualities seems to have some advantages in this investigative situation.