Social control in the metropolis: A community-level examination of the minority group-threat hypothesis

Research on the minority group-threat hypothesis has often found that the percentages of black and Latino populations at the city level have predicted variations in municipal police resources, net of all measured control variables. To date, no study has linked changes in minority representation within a single city over time at the community level to changes in the allocation of police resources. This study tested the hypothesis in 74 New York City police precincts in 1975, 1982, and 1992. It found that increases in the percentages of Latino populations of precincts have predicted changes in police deployment, and the link between Latino populations and police deployment is nonlinear.     

Parole survival and legislated change: A before/after study of parole revocation decision making

Past studies of juveniles' attitudes toward the police suggest a single-cause model that implicates personal interactions with the police. We propose that attitudes toward authority and agents of social control develop in a larger, sociocultural context. Specifically we hypothesize that juveniles' attitudes develop as a function of socialization in their communities' social environment, of their deviant subcultural “preferences,” and of the prior effect of these sociocultural factors on juveniles' contacts with the police. We conducted analyses addressing these hypotheses with a population of males sampled within stratified populations of known delinquents. We found that social background variables, particularly minority status, and subcultural preferences, particularly commitment to delinquent norms, affected juveniles' attitudes toward the police both directly and indirectly (through police-juvenile interactions). We consider directions for improving police relations with juveniles in the context of apparent sociocultural and experiential contingencies to attitude development.     

EDITORIAL

Abstract

Guided by the theoretical framework of quality of life and social disorganization, this study combined data from three independent sources (4,469 community surveys, Census Bureau, and police crime records) to simultaneously examine the influence of contextual characteristics (concentrated disadvantage, social isolation, and violent crime) on residents' perceived incivilities across 10 city council districts in San Antonio, Texas, net of citizen-level covariates. Several findings emerged from the Poisson hierarchical analysis. At the citizen-level, Latino, age, homeowner, perceived safety, and quality of life rating were significantly related to perceived incivility. At the council district level, all the contextual variables were positively and significantly associated with the outcome. Implications from these findings are considered.     

Public preferences regarding police facebook posts: a macro-level analysis

ABSTRACT

Police agencies have adopted social media quite widely, but researchers have paid relatively little attention to the phenomenon. To date few studies have explored public reaction to police use of social media. The current study uses a purposive sample with 7,116 police Facebook posts collected from 14 different police agencies during a one-year period to answer two principal research questions: (1) with respect to the number of likes, number of shares, or number of comments regarding different themes present in police Facebook posts, are there differences among police agencies corresponding to differences in the thematic content in their postings? and (2) What factors are related to the public reaction (i.e., likes, shares, comments) to a police Facebook post? The findings from ANOVA and negative binomial regression models clearly indicate that citizens do have definite preferences on police Facebook posts – they are more likely to like and make comments on posts of police personnel and police-public relations, but less likely to share posts of Social Networking Sites. Also, they are more prone to like posts with narratives and pictures, but less likely to favor posts containing hyperlinks. Policy implications and practice guidelines, study limitations, and future research are also discussed.     

Driving While Black

Abstract

The phenomenon of “driving while black” has ignited a heated debate: Do the police use race to target drivers? Most research on the topic compares the number of police stops and searches for a racial group to that group's distribution in the population. This approach ignores sociological theories of law, the driver's social status, the combined influence of race and sex, and whether the driver carries drugs in the car. In addition, the police are aware of being observed. To address these limitations, we surveyed undergraduates (N = 1,192) at one of the most diverse universities in the nation about their experiences with the police and their personal criminal behavior. Drawing on Black's (1976) theory of law, we examine whether a driver's race, sex, and social status influence police behavior (stop, exit, frisk, search, ticket/arrest). We also examine which drivers are most likely to have drugs in the car. The results suggest that a driver's race, sex, and social status all shape police behavior: African American men and Hispanic men experience more social control than white men; all men experience more social control than women; and low status drivers experience more social control than high status drivers. But despite the police focus on minority males, white males were the most likely to report carrying drugs in the car.     

Crimestoppers: The legitimation of snitching

A recent addition to the U.S. crime-fighting arsenal is Crimestoppers, a program relying on anonymous citizens' informing to police—snitching—in return for cash rewards. Using a social constructionist perspective, this paper seeks to account for Crimestoppers' legitimation and rapid rise in popularity despite well-established moral opposition to snitching and snitches and despite a general public reluctance to become involved in police business. The analysis of conditions leading to this legitimation includes consideration of a general public pessimism and fear of crime, stereotypy of criminals, the instrumental and pragmatic nature of Crimestoppers, and the appeal of localism, as well as the roles of the media and the police. The paper concludes with questions about some potential long-range social psychological and sociopolitical consequences of this innovation in the “war on crime.”     

Hispanic Perceptions of Community Policing

Abstract

The two core elements of community policing are community partnership and problem solving (Rosenbaum, 1994). A major challenge that continues for proponents of community policing is developing and evaluating programs in areas with diverse ethnic groups. While many agencies have successfully developed community policing programs, empirical evaluations of community policing are scarce in areas that include a variety of minority groups. This research explores the effectiveness of community policing by examining citizen satisfaction with local police. Analyses are conducted with data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics on Criminal Victimization and Perceptions of Community Safety in 12 United States cities. The results indicate that Whites and Hispanics have the most positive perceptions of police, while Blacks, Eskimos, Asians, and Pacific Islanders have negative perceptions of police.     

City police and drunk driving: Baseline data

Public attitudes, social movement organizations, and criminal justice laws regarding drunk driving have undergone significant changes in recent years. These changes raise important questions about police, who act as gatekeepers for the rest of the criminal justice system. Very little, however, is known about what police did in the years when drunk driving was viewed as a less serious social problem or about what police do now. I attempt to answer the first of these questions using data collected in the early 1970s, an important, largely unexamined period in the history of city police and drunk driving. The data provide a baseline for contemporary research. City police did not give contacts with drunk drivers a high priority, preferred to avoid these encounters, and made arrests on the basis of both legal and extralegal factors; extralegal factors were more important than legal factors. I examine the implications of the baseline data for contemporary policing.     

Reassessing the impact of race on citizens' attitudes toward the police: A research note

This paper reassesses the relationship between race and attitudes toward the police. Using data obtained through a telephone interview survey of 560 residents of Detroit, the study contradicts previous research by finding that blacks hold more favorable attitudes toward the police than do whites. To explain these findings, we argue that as the social context of cities changes, so might the relationship between race and citizens' attitudes toward the police.     

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.     

Florida’s task force approach to combat human trafficking: an analysis of county-level data

Abstract

Since emerging in the USA during the 1990s, the multi-agency task force has become the preferred organizational structure for enforcing human trafficking laws and providing assistance to victims. These task forces often work across county lines and typically include law enforcement agencies, as well as social service and non-governmental organizations. The effect of collaborations with other types of agencies on law enforcement’s human trafficking arrests is unknown. County-level arrest data for human trafficking first became available through the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2014. In this paper, we present findings from county-level analyses with human trafficking arrests in the State of Florida as the dependent variable. Independent variables include the presence of a task force, sociodemographic characteristics, tourism measures, and police officers per capita. The strongest predictor of human trafficking arrests is the presence of a task force.     

The ‘Usual Suspects’

Abstract

A key issue in contemporary criminology is the role that social status, and particularly race, plays in legal processes. Previous research suggests that criminal justice proceedings-including arrest, conviction, and sentencing rates-are influenced by victim and offender race, but rarely examines the role of race in reporting events to the police. The following research uses data from the rape sub-sample of the National Crime Victimization Survey of households 1992-2001; logistic regression analyses are conducted to determine how victim and offender race influence reporting of rape to the police, controlling for other incident characteristics. The findings suggest that rapes with a Black perpetrator are much more likely to be reported to police, regardless of whether the victim is white or Black.     

Experimentally manipulating race: Perceptions of police brutality in an arrest: A research note

This study was designed to test, in a controlled setting, the effects of racial identity of the police on perceptions of police brutality. We produced three videotapes, each showing a black male suspect being arrested by two police officers whose racial identity was varied. One version of the tape then was viewed by each randomly assigned subject, 28 white and 33 black college students. Subjects' perceptions of violence and illegality were influenced by the officers' racial identity: Both black and white subjects were significantly more likely to see violence and illegality when both arresting officers were white. Implications for social policy and future research were discussed.     

The impact of license plate recognition technology (LPR) on trust in law enforcement: a survey-experiment

Objectives

We examine the extent to which individuals' knowledge of an advanced police technology (license plate recognition or "LPR") may impact perceptions of police. Technologies with the capacity to track individuals' movements are becoming increasingly common in police practice. Although these technologies may yield positive benefits, their use may also heighten community concerns about increased surveillance, data storage, and data security, thereby potentially negatively impacting community-police relationships.

Methods

We utilize a survey-based experiment with randomized assignment of participants (n=405) to investigate the impact of individuals' knowledge of LPR use on a variety of police perceptions, including trust in police, community approval, respect for citizens, and respect for individual rights.

Results

Most respondents were unaware of LPR use prior to the survey. When compared with a control group, respondents who encountered brief mentions of LPR functions on the survey expressed significantly lower levels of trust in police. Additionally, "strong agreement" with other positive statements about police also appears to have declined in this sample in response to LPR information. Notably, the sample contained high pre-existing levels of trust and support for police, factors which may have moderated the impacts of LPR information.

Conclusions

These results support the hypothesis that awareness of LPR use may negatively impact perceptions of police, including trust in police. More generally, although technologies like LPR represent technological innovations, they may also yield unintended consequences, including the potential to undermine police-community relations if adoption decisions are not accompanied by sufficient transparency or community support.

     

Teaching police ethics: analysis of an increasingly complex teaching context

ABSTRACT

The importance of ethics in policing and, therefore, in police education and training, is widely acknowledged. Nonetheless, disagreement often exists about the ways in which police ethics subjects should be taught and who should teach them. In this paper, three areas of debate will be critiqued, with the aim of arriving at principled responses to the underlying issues. The first issue will be whether police ethics subjects should include any ethical theory and, if so, to what extent. Related to this, but also a distinct issue in itself, is the question of whether standalone police ethics subjects should be valued over dispersing ethics learning throughout a police curriculum (e.g. as a ‘golden thread‘ running through every subject). Finally, the question of who should teach police ethics subjects will be considered. Here, the issues largely revolve around the relevant significance of philosophical expertise, knowledge and critical analysis as compared to policing expertise. Importantly, the principled responses developed in the paper will not only be theoretically sound. They will also take account of the real-world conditions in which many police ethics subjects are delivered, particularly situations where agreements in place require police ethics subjects to be taught by both police officers and academics.     

Police interviewing techniques at two south london police stations

Abstract

This paper analyses the techniques used by police officers at two South London Police Stations: Orpington and Peckham. Audio tapes of 161 police interviews were analysed with regard to their duration, type of techniques employed, suspects' reactions, and the number of confessions obtained. The findings reveal that the great majority of the interviews are short, non-confrontational, and that exchanges are conducted with polite and compliant suspects. The Orpington suspects were significantly more ‘co-operative’ than their Peckham counterparts which may reflect quite different social and demographic conditions. In only a fifth of the cases did the police employ any challenging tactics to question the suspect's version of events. Overall, there were fewer coercive or manipulative tactics employed compared with earlier studies although the number of confessions or admissions obtained has remained relatively constant. Recommendations are made for police interview training to reflect these findings.     

Situational and officer-based determinants of police coercion

Using data collected as part of an observational study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this article examines police use of force to gain a better understanding of why the police resort to force. Like analyses from previous observational studies, the present inquiry borrows from both sociological and psychological theoretical orientations to explore various determinants of force. Unlike previous examinations, the universe of behaviors considered is substantially expanded to include numerous types or levels of force, ranging from verbal commands and threats to the use of impact methods. An ordered probit analysis of 3,116 police-suspect encounters shows that officers often respond to legal stimuli (e.g., suspects' resistance, safety concerns) when applying force. Countering previous findings, it found that officers were not more coercive toward disrespectful suspects. However, the analysis revealed that officers were also influenced by extra-legal factors. Male, nonwhite, poor, and younger suspects were all treated more forcefully, irrespective of their behavior. In addition, encounters involving inexperienced and less-educated officers resulted in increased levels of police force. The implications of these findings, for both policy and future research, are considered.     

On creating ethical,productive, and durable research partnerships with police officers and their departments: a case study of the National Justice Database

ABSTRACT

Translational policing science must begin with explicitly communicated research aims and a shared vision for promoting safety. For researchers to approach police departments without first considering the concerns held by officers and their departments at large, is unethical, unproductive, and undermines efforts to secure longstanding mutually useful researcher-practitioner partnerships. In presenting a case study analysis of the multi-method National Justice Database’s recruitment practices, this article highlights some of the challenges that emerge when articulating study aims that hold relevance for public safety; defining theoretically- and solution-oriented research questions; administrative police data collection, analysis, and dissemination; and bolstering human research subject protection protocols for sworn officers who may be justifiably reluctant to participate in social science research endeavors. Implications for ethical policing research practice, fostering collaborative researcher-practitioner partnerships, and leveraging the benefits of data science are also discussed.     

General strain theory,exposure to violence,and suicide ideation among police officers: A gendered approach

PurposeA wide body of research has demonstrated that police officers are profoundly affected by their exposure to violence and the traumatic events viewed commonly as part of their job duties. Faced with stress, officers learn to adapt by incorporating coping techniques.MethodsThe current study utilizes Agnew's general strain theory to explain occurrences of the most dangerous maladaptive coping technique: suicide ideation. Male and female police officers from three large cities in Texas were surveyed (n = 1,410).ResultsThe present study utilizes logistic regression techniques, finding that strain has a positive and direct effect on male officers suicide ideation risk, but not for female police. Moreover, depression has a mediating effect on strain and suicide ideation for both genders.ConclusionsSome critical differences in suicide ideation outcomes between male and female police officers are reported. Policy implications concerning retention and recruiting are also discussed.