The Influence of Places on Police Decision Pathways: From Call for Service to Arrest

Research on factors that influence police discretion usually focuses on individual or situational characteristics (e.g., an officer or citizen's age, race or gender, or the seriousness of the incident). In contrast, this study examines whether characteristics of places influence police decisions to “upgrade” or “downgrade” their response to incidents. Earlier research is expanded in three ways: first, rather than examining an isolated decision within the series of decisions that make up an incident, a series of chronological decisions within a “decision‐making pathway” is derived and analyzed. Second, multiple categories of racial and ethnic composition of places and their influence on police decision‐making pathways are examined. Third, decision pathways of a variety of incidents at small geographic places are compared across an entire jurisdiction. Findings indicate that, even when controlling for the level of violence, places with a greater proportion of Black or wealthy residents significantly influence officers' decisions to downgrade crime classifications and actions taken on incidents reported to the police.     

A ‘double edged sword’: discretion and compulsion in policing domestic violence

Policing domestic violence is a complex area in which there are divergent views about the extent to which front line police action should be mandated by legislation and guidance. This study set in Victoria, Australia raised questions about the balance between discretion and compulsion in policing domestic violence through researching the implementation of the Code of Practice used to respond to domestic violence incidents. The project team interrogated aggregate data from the police database on family violence and also interviewed 125 police members (60 sergeants and 65 constables) to explore the attitudes to the Code of Practice and policing domestic violence. The findings reveal that discretion within a range of options is circumscribed. Variable understandings of the nature of domestic violence and the role of risk assessment and management suggest that constrained and guided discretion may be required to achieve optimum effectiveness in policing responses to domestic violence.     

Victims' perceptions of police response to domestic violence incidents

This study examined the nature of police response to domestic violence incidents with a focus on the identification of areas of police intervention that female victims of domestic abuse find “most” helpful and “least” helpful. The first part of the study was based on the analysis of a random sample of incident reports of domestic abuse cases recorded in 2000 and 2001. These reports were examined to obtain information about the characteristics of domestic abuse victims and summary information about the incidents of domestic abuse offenses. The second stage of the research study involved a telephone survey conducted with a random sample of fifty female domestic abuse victims who called the police. The study examined female victims' perceptions of how the police responded to the domestic abuse incidents, how helpful or not so helpful victims found the police to be when they responded to their calls, and how their cases were handled by the legal system.     

Attitudes to corruption amongst Russian police officers and trainees

The police are perceived by overseas agencies to play a key role in thedevelopment of democratic states. In the Russian Federation, the promotion of trust between the police and the public has been hampered by the fact that police are perceived by the public, and reported by the media, to be open to using their positions at work to obtain money, goods or services. Survey research about beliefs and values concerning corruption was conductedamongst students and serving officers attending a police institute, whichprovides the most promising Russian police recruits with a four-year higher education leading to the rank of ``officer'. From these ranks will come those police who are likely in future to shape both policy and institutional values. The data provided evidence that ``fast-streamed' police recruits think that corruption is often justifiable and/or morally acceptable underparticular circumstances, or for particular goals.     

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.     

Police evaluative perceptions of themselves,the general public and selected occupational groups

In recent years the police have faced sharply increasing pressures, criticisms, and role confusions due to such factors as rising crime rates, widely publicized incidents of police corruption and brutality, judicial changes in legally acceptable due process procedures, and new functions and tasks being assigned to police. This study investigates aspects related to the effects of increased strains and role confusions on police. Specifically, the study examines, with a semantic differential scale administered to 492 state and city police, how police perceive themselves and their roles, and their perceptual evaluations of the general public and various groups they interact with. The findings indicate that the respondents evaluate themselves and their profession highly implying they have a positive self-concept and are favorably disposed to their career. The four most negatively evaluated groups were lawyers, college students, politicians, and prison inmates. The low evaluation of lawyers may be due to the respondents' view that attorney frustrate and complicate the criminal justice system.     

Police training strategies and the role perceptions of police recruits

There has been much debate regarding basic police training and its effect on the attitudes of police recruits. Some critics argue that academy training creates negative attitudes in police recruits that favor arrest and crime attack orientations. The data presented in this article suggest that police recruits from a large urban police training program possess attitudes unfavorable toward crime attack or strict enforcement policing roles. The article examines a Los Angeles Police Department recruit training class, and the perceptions these recruits have toward selected policing roles. The study suggests police recruits do not perceive their role as simply being one of crime attack and strict enforcement.     

The organizational values of law enforcement agencies: The impact of field training officers in the socialization of police recruits to law enforcement organizations

This article examines how the values communicated by Field Training Officers (FTOs) influence the behaviors of police recruits to conform to the norms of the police culture. Analysis and interpretation of the written responses of police recruits to a program evaluation form in a police department located in the western United States were used to identify the explicit and implicit values that were communicated during the Field Training Program (FTP). The findings of this study indicated that although positive explicit values were communicated during the FTP, several potentially negative implicit values were also communicated to police recruits. Consequently, the perceived status of the FTO is an important factor in police recruits learning job-related values. Recommendations are made for developing effective leadership strategies for bringing greater levels of congruency between the explicit and implicit values of law enforcement organizations that are communicated to police recruits during the training process and organizational socialization. Author Note: Wade Engelson is a lieutenant with the Fresno Police Department. He has been with the department for 12 years and is currently assigned as the Commander of the Special Investigations Bureau. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business/Economics and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from California State University, Fresno. He holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of California, Davis/California State University, Fresno Joint Doctoral Program. He has taught in a variety of settings and has published articles in the fields of sexual harassment, organizational socialization, tactics, and training issues. His research interests include leadership issues, organizational socialization, and the hidden curriculum of organizations.     

Discretionary Leniency and Typological Guilt: Results from a Danish Study of Police Discretion

Results from a qualitative study of police discretion in Denmark are presented. The aim of the study was to investigate the background for police decisions made on the spot, and to determine whether or not police discretion amounts to discrimination. Police discretion is analysed as two distinct forms of power, namely the power of definition/suspicion and the power of procedure/prosecution. The study shows that both forms are used in a discriminatory way, and it is argued that use of the power of suspicion results in discrimination. The power of prosecution, on the other hand, need not necessarily entail discrimination, but in practice it often does. The police discern between ?typical offenders' and ?decent citizens' and treat suspects differently according to type. The reason for this discrimination, it is argued, can be found in officers' notions of typological guilt , a form of ? alleged ? guilt that is independent of concrete evidence. Differences in the degree of leniency experienced by different types of suspect can be interpreted as vicarious punishment of the typologically guilty. The impact of this kind of police practice on police?citizen relations, and possibilities for improvement, are discussed.     

Police Use of Less Lethal Force: Does Administrative Policy Matter?

Scholars have long theorized that constraining police officer discretion via organizational policy improves decision-making. Empirically, prior research shows that more restrictive lethal force policies result in a reduction in the number of police shootings and in racial disparity. Yet, researchers have never examined the impact of less lethal force policies in relation to the full spectrum of less lethal force tactics. In addressing this research void, we examine 3,340 use of force incidents from three US agencies, each varying in terms of policy direction and restrictiveness. The results consistently show that officers working within the most restrictive policy framework used force less readily than officers who operated within more permissive policy environments. Hence, police administrators wishing to reduce coercion should consider the potential effect that a more restrictive policy may have on such behavior.     

STREET-LEVEL DISCRETION IN POLICING

This article examines the consequences of a clash between police officers' expectations of street-level discretion and supervisors' constraints on such discretion. Two hypothesized consequences are examined: police officer alienation from the citizenry and police officer disaffection with the department. Both attitudinal data (from a survey of police officers) and behavioral data (from direct observation of police officers on patrol) are used. The data show some support for the hypothesis that disaffection with the department is a consequence of the discretion-constraint clash, but no support of alienation from the citizenry as a consequence. Rather, the data suggest that officers back away from discretion in situations where the public is perceived to be hostile and where supervisors reinforce that perception by active monitoring of police-citizen encounters.     

Changes in the professional commitment of police recruits: An exploratory case study

This research examines the effect of the initial socialization process on the level of professionalism among a cohort of thirty-six police recruits. These police recruits were surveyed at two points in their careers about their degree of professional commitment to the occupation. The first test period immediately followed their appointment to the force, and the second test period was six months later. Our principal finding was a significant decline in the level of professional commitment among the recruits between the two test periods; related findings to the professionalization process were similarly noted. The research demonstrates the effect of the initial socialization process among police and suggests ways police administrators can minimize the effect of initial socialization on level of professionalism, depending on their theoretical orientation.     

Does the stereotypical personality reported for the male police officer fit that of the female police officer

This research, using the content, validity and clinical scales found in the MMPI-2, investigates the differences in the psychological makeup of male versus female police recruits. The research design involves testing of police recruits on the first day of their academy experience. The literature on the police personality suggest that there exists a stereotype for male officers, a finding replicated in this study. The findings of this research also suggest that female officers do not generally fit the stereotype found in the study of male officers. An earlier version of this paper was present at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, March 12–16, 1996, Las Vegas, Nevada.     

“A CROSS-BURNING IS NOT JUST AN ARSON”: POLICE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF HATE CRIMES IN BALTIMORE COUNTY*

Growing public concern over racial and ethnic conflict and a perceived increase in hate crimes during the 1980s have led to legislation expanding the scope of the law and the severity of punishment for such offenses and to police-initiated efforts to focus attention on hate crimes. Although a number of critiques have examined the legislative approach, little attention has been devoted to the police response. This article examines the rationale for a police initiative in addressing hate crimes; the characteristics of incidents labeled as such in one jurisdiction, Baltimore County, Maryland; and some of the problems in defining, identifying, and verifying bias motivation. Because about 40% of the offenses initially considered by the Baltimore County Police Department to be motivated by racial, religious, or ethnic (RRE) prejudice subsequently are not verified as RRE motivated, a closer examination of all such cases permits insight into the social construction of “bias motivation” and related issues raised by a police hate-crime program. These include determining what forms of bias are eligible for special responses; identifying bias motivation; weighing the victim's perception of the event; determining the line between criminal and non-criminal incidents; and adopting consistent standards for verifying ambiguous events.     

Patterns of reported parent-child abuse and police response

The present study examines the level and patterns of parent-child abuse incidents that come to the attention of the police. It also addresses the response of law enforcement to such incidents in an attempt to discover the determinants of official intervention. The findings indicate that both family status and gender influence the patterns of parent-child abuse reported to the police. Multivariate analysis revealed that the arrest decision was influenced most strongly by the seriousness of the incident, as measured by offense severity and extent of injury to the victim. The likelihood of arrest was also affected by the race of the offender, but the influence of this variable was mediated by the seriousness of the offense. The study highlights the role that the value system surrounding the family plays in the reporting of parent-child abuse incidents and in the police decision to intervene.     

Public Satisfaction with Police Control of Disorder Crime: Does the Public Hold Police Accountable?

This study expands the research on public satisfaction with the police by attempting to disentangle the relationships among disorder crime incidents reported to the police, residents' perceptions of disorder, and citizen satisfaction with police performance on order maintenance. The police accountability model and the demographic model are utilized to predict the variation of public satisfaction with police control of disorder (SWPD). The data used in this analysis were derived from a random-sample telephone survey of 1,215 Houston residents. Crime data were provided by the Houston Police Department and further extracted from the area surrounding each individual respondent's residence surveyed by using Geographic Information Systems technology. The main findings are that while the actual incidence of disorder crime had no direct impact on residents' perceptions of police performance on order maintenance, it did have a significant direct impact on their perceptions of disorder. This shows the utility of the accountability model in future research. Moreover, it was found that global satisfaction with police crime prevention was an important predictor of public SWPD in their immediate neighborhood.     

The effect of education on police attitudes

This paper examines the effect of education on police attitudes. Although the literature seems to suggest that college-educated policemen will be more tolerant than their non-college counterparts, studies to date are highly ambiguous. The present study examines the attitudes of the members of one police department. Findings from the correlation analysis indicate that the educational level of the police does not significantly affect their attitudes. It is suggested that this is due, in part, to the vocational orientation of many police college students and to be pervasive effect of the police role     

Police response to domestic violence: making decisions about risk and risk management

Assessing and responding to risk are key elements in how police respond to domestic violence. However, relatively little is known about the way police make judgments about the risks associated with domestic violence and how these judgments influence their actions. This study examines police decisions about risk in domestic violence incidents when using a risk assessment instrument. Based on a sample of 501 risk assessments completed by police in Australia, this study shows that a limited number of items on the risk assessment instrument are important in police officers' decisions about risk. Statistical analyses show that the victim's level of fear contributes to police officers' judgment on the level of risk and their decisions on which risk management strategy should be used. These findings suggest that research on police responses to domestic violence needs to pay greater attention to situational dynamics and the task requirements of risk-based decision making.     

Protection orders protect against assault and injury: a longitudinal study of police-involved women victims of intimate partner violence

The objective of this study was to measure the efficacy of protection orders (POs) in reducing assault and injury-related outcomes using a matched comparison group and tracking outcomes over time. This study was a retrospective review of police, emergency department, family court, and prosecutor administrative records for a cohort of police-involved female IPV victims; all events over a 4-year study period were abstracted. Victims who obtained POs were compared with a propensity-score-based match group without POs over three time periods: Before, During, and After the issuance of a PO. Having a PO in place was associated with significantly more calls to police for nonassaultive incidents and more police charging requests that were of multiple-count and felony-level. Comparing outcomes, PO victims had police incident rates that were more than double the matched group prior to the PO but dropped to the level of the matched group during and after the order. ED visits dropped over time for both groups. This study confirmed the protective effect of POs, which are associated with reduced police incidents and emergency department visits both during and after the order and reduced police incidents compared with a matched comparison group.     

ST. LOUIS POLICE RECRUITS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Police consultants throughout the twentieth century have advocated improvement in recruitment as a key component of their campaign for police “professionalization.” Not until after World War II, however, did most major urban police forces substantially alter entrance standards. Unfortunately, scholars have not undertaken the research necessary to document the diachronic dimension of police recruitment, particularly in light of these changes in requirements. Quantitative analysis of the social backgrounds of officers in the St. Louis Police Department, which is widely considered to be one of the nation's most professional forces, provides the first accurate answer to the question of who policed the city. This examination reveals marked shifts in the education, ethnic identification (including race), military experience, age, and length of residence of recruits, but that modifications of entrance standards were clearly responsible only for changes regarding the latter two factors. More important is the finding that such developments did not disturb the great continuity in the social background of St. Louis police recruits. Thus officers in 1970, like their predecessors at the turn of the century, were predominantly married men from blue collar backgrounds, with checkered occupational histories and a high proportion of prior unemployment and incidence of previous arrests.