The impact of race/ethnicity, neighborhood context, and police/citizen interaction on residents' attitudes toward the police

The purpose of this study was to extend the current knowledge of public attitudes toward the police. Independent variables derived from three models, the demographic, the neighborhood context, and the police/citizen interaction models, were used to explain public perceptions of the police. More specifically, public attitudes toward the police was measured in two dimensions— General Attitudes toward the police and Specific Trust in the police. The data was obtained by a telephone survey of 756 respondents in Houston, TX in 2008. The primary findings suggested that race, gender, age, victimization, and satisfaction with police work were significant predictors. Hispanic respondents reported lower levels of General Attitudes toward the police than their White counterparts. In addition, there was no significant difference between Whites and Hispanics in terms of Specific Trust in police such as the use of Taser guns. These results and their practical implications for police agencies were addressed in discussion.     

Experience,quality of life,and neighborhood context: A hierarchical analysis of satisfaction with police

We test three different conceptual models—“experience with police,” “quality of life,” and “neighborhood context”—for directional accuracy and ability to explain satisfaction with the police. We also investigate whether these models help to explain the common finding that African-Americans are more dissatisfied with the police than are Caucasians. To do so, we use hierarchical linear modeling to simultaneously regress our outcome measure on clusters of citizen- and neighborhood-level variables. The analysis was conducted using recently collected information from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN). The data file consisted of survey responses from 5,361 citizens residing in 58 neighborhoods located in Indianapolis, Indiana and St. Petersburg, Florida. At the citizen level, the psychologically based “quality of life” model accounts for the greatest proportion of explained variance and provides the greatest directional accuracy. Also, residents of neighborhoods characterized by concentrated disadvantage express significantly less satisfaction with the police. In addition, neighborhood context reduces the negative effect of African-American status on satisfaction with police when a sparse citizen-level specification is used; racial variation in satisfaction with police persists, however, when citizen-level hierarchical models are specified more fully.     

Citizens' perceptions of police misconduct: Race and neighborhood context

One of the most controversial issues in policing concerns allegations of police abuse of members of minority groups. This article examines African Americans' and whites' perceptions and experiences of three types of police misconduct: unjustified street stops of citizens, verbal abuse, and use of excessive force. The study is based on in-depth interviews with residents of three neighborhoods in Washington, DC, which vary in racial and class profile. Findings support the thesis that neighborhood context conditions residents' attitudes and reported experiences with the police. Residents of both the white and the black middle-class neighborhoods were less likely to perceive or experience police abuse in their neighborhoods than were residents of the black lower-class neighborhood. Neighborhood class position thus may be an important, but often overlooked, factor shaping citizens' attitudes and experiences. In encounters with the police outside the neighborhood, however, individuals' race becomes salient. Implications are discussed for understanding the role of race, class, and neighborhood context in police-citizen relations.     

A career stage analysis of police officer work commitment

This study examined police officer attitudes toward their work in an effort to determine whether a three-stage model of career development has utility in broadening the understanding of police officers' commitment to their work. One-hundred-sixty-four officers were surveyed using a variety of measures of work commitment including: affective, continuance, and normative organizational commitment; job involvement; Protestant work ethic; and career commitment. Data were also collected on officer intentions to remain with—and their perceptions of conditions under which they might leave—their current agencies. Results showed support for a two-stage rather than the traditional three-stage model of career development, with the trial stage being uniquely different from later career stages. The findings are discussed in light of the applicability of career-stage research to the law enforcement profession.     

The impact of agency context, policies, and practices on violence against police

This study examined agency-level factors that impact the level of violence against police. The independent variables represented both agency context (e.g., violent crime rate, population characteristics) and agency policies and practices (e.g., backup and body armor policies) and were linked to constructs within routine activities theory. Information on agency policies and practices came from an agency survey. Data for the dependent variable―agency counts of officer killings and assaults over a three-year period―came from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Negative binomial regression was used to assess the impact of the independent variables on the dependent measure. Three of the independent variables—measuring body armor policies, agency accountability, and violent crime—had statistically significant relationships with violence against police.     

Stress and police officer performance: An examination of effective coping behavior

Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology -     

The effects of tenure on police officer personality functioning

The study compared pre-employment and current MMPI/MMPI-2 Basic Scale scores of small- and mid-size city Texas municipal police officers to assess longitudinal personality change. Participants had at least five years continuous, “street level” police experience. Twenty-three veteran police officers from a mid-size city and 19 small-city police officers volunteered to participate. Pre-employment MMPI/MMPI-2 information was obtained from police department records. Current MMPI-2 data was collected in small group or individual administrations. Significant increases in K-corrected T-Scores occurred on Scale F and eight of the Basic Scales; L and K decreased significantly. Mean scores remained within the normal range. Mid-size city officers produced higher K and 5 scores than small-city officers. Authors' Note: We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Rick Bradstreet, Ph.D., and E. S. Collins, Chief of Police, in the data collection process. The results of this study were presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Society in Denver, Colorado, in June 1999.     

Female officers and the ethic of care: Does officer gender impact police behaviors?

Most of the empirical literature on gender and policing has assessed gender differences in arrest levels and police use of force. While simple gender differences in police behavior are important for understanding skills men and women bring to the policing occupation, research must also determine under what conditions gender differences emerge and what factors impact the relationship between officer gender and behavior for this knowledge to be constructive. Although sexy, arrest and force decisions occur when police discretion is often limited, adding little to the knowledge of how gender affects everyday police-citizen encounters. Using data from systematic social observations of police-citizen encounters in St. Petersburg, Florida and Indianapolis, Indiana, this article replicates past analyses of gender differences in police utilization of controlling and supporting behaviors, but also extends the analyses by assessing the possible impact of intervening situational and organizational characteristics, determining under what conditions female officers utilize different behaviors from their male counterparts. The findings provide mixed support for the general hypothesis of gender-specific responses. Consistent with previous literature, this research suggests that women are much less likely than men to utilize extreme controlling behavior, such as threats, physical restraint, search, and arrest. Surprisingly, the findings do not confirm that women are more likely than men to use supporting behaviors, even when controlling for women's greater likelihood to hold community policing assignments. These findings, while unexpected, are important. Simply assuming female officers manifest stereotypically feminine traits in policing tasks is clearly an overly simplistic conceptualization of the meaning and impact of gender in policing. The implications for female officers, policing, and future research are discussed.     

The effect of school classroom characteristics on low self-control: A multilevel analysis

Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory has reaped a substantial amount of empirical support. Recently, attention has focused on the factors associated with the development of self-control. With few and isolated exceptions, most research has examined the ways in which parents contribute to the development of self-control in children. Gottfredson and Hirschi hypothesized, however, that other social institutions, especially schools, may play at least some role in inculcating self-control. The current study addressed this possibility by conducting a series of multilevel models that examined whether the characteristics of schools, and classrooms within schools, were salient to the development of self-control. Using a longitudinal sample of kindergarten and first-grade students, the results revealed that classroom characteristics influenced self-control.     

The impact of neighborhood crime levels on police use of force: An examination at micro and meso levels

Purpose

Neighborhood contextual factors have gained a considerable amount of attention, relating neighborhood crime levels to police force. Prior research mainly examined the relationship either at the police district level or at the city level. The current study intends to investigate the relationship at lower levels of geographic aggregation.

Methods

Using Geographic Information System techniques, the current study utilized four radial buffer zones around each use of force incident location to measure the impact of neighborhood violent criminal activities at the micro level on the level of police force used. In addition, hierarchical linear modeling using neighborhood crime rates within police command areas allowed for a comparison study to measure the impact of neighborhood criminal activities at the meso level on police force.

Results

The current study found that neighborhood crime levels have a significant and positive effect of increasing the level of police force used at the micro level.

Conclusions

The current study supports the work of Black and Smith, concluding that more training and supervision are required for officers working in high crime areas.     

Anxiety and cynicism: Companions of the police officer

The work of enforcing the law has inherently aerated anxiety and cynicism among police officers. Through the use of Neiderhoffer’s Police Cynicism Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the levels of anxiety and cynicism were measured in a random sample of peace officers from the Attanta area. The authors found, through the use of a single-factor analysis of variance, that when anxiety decreased, cynicism decreased. One conclusion, contrary to earlier studies, was that cynicism is higher among new police officers than among veteran officers.     

Constructing crime: Neighborhood characteristics and police recording behavior

It has long been acknowledged that police officers have substantial levels of discretion in their day-to-day activities. There is a well developed body of literature that considers how this discretion is exercised across a broad array of situations including the decision to arrest, use force, and grant citizen requests for official action. Using both social disorganization and conflict theories as conceptual models, the purpose of this study was to determine if neighborhood characteristics affect police reporting behavior across a wide cross-section of reported call types. The findings indicated that reporting behavior widely varies across crime types with a greater percentage of more serious crimes translated into official crime. Neighborhood characteristics did affect reporting practices, but surprisingly only for more serious forms of disorder where discretion was perceived to be less. The findings lent support for both social disorganization and conflict theories. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Assessing the relationship between individual characteristics, neighborhood context, and fear of crime

The purpose of this study is to examine citizens’ fear of crime based on the neighborhood in which they live. Integrating individual characteristics, citizens’ perceptions, and neighborhood structure provides a more complete perspective on understanding fear. Individuals were asked to report on proximate level of fear, social cohesion, neighborhood disorder and level of police/citizen satisfaction. Neighborhood structure emerged as a predictor of citizen's fear even after controlling for race, age, gender and education. Results indicated that perceived disorder neighborhood structure was strongly associated with citizens’ fear of crime. Considering individual characteristics, perceptions of disorder, and neighborhood context simultaneously provides an opportunity to develop a more comprehensive understanding of fear and policies to reduce fear.     

Race, gender, and motivation for becoming a police officer: Implications for building a representative police department

Police departments have come under increasing pressure from community groups, professional organizations, and their constituents to hire more female and minority officers. Although prior research suggested that there might be both gender and racial differences in the factors influencing the decision to enter police work, much of the work was dated and findings were mixed. The current research, conducted in spring 2002, examined motivations for entering police work among a sample of 278 academy recruits in the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Findings indicated that motivations for becoming a police officer were similar regardless of race or gender, and the most influential factors were altruistic and practical, specifically the opportunity to help others, job benefits, and security. Minor differences did emerge among male and female recruits, as well as among Whites, Hispanics, and African Americans, but the practical implications of those differences seemed limited. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for recruitment efforts as police departments seek to draw more diverse applicant pools and build more representative law enforcement agencies.     

Policing the beat: The impact of organizational scale on patrol officer behavior in urban residential neighborhoods

Analysis of police organization and activity in 42 urban residential neighborhoods shows some support for the hypothesis that small-scale police organization is more likely to engender service-style policing is more ambiguous in high violence neighborhoods than low violence neighborhoods, and the effects in all cases are modest.     

The impact of race, police experience, and feeling of safety on attitude toward the police

This study surveyed 393 citizens who were either crime victims or complainants in the jurisdiction of the Marietta, GA Police Department in 2004. In addition to examining their local attitudes toward police demeanor and police performance, the study also evaluated the impact of race, police experience, and perceived neighborhood safety. Important findings included that overall (1) the majority of respondents felt safe in their neighborhood and were satisfied with the police who handled their case; (2) the same amount of blacks and whites reported negative experiences with the police; and (3) although all three factors greatly affected attitudes, contact experience with the police was the most influential.     

Community influence on prosecutorial dismissals: A multilevel analysis of case- and county-level factors

Researchers have recently recognized the importance of social context for developing a more complete understanding of the sentencing process where community characteristics help to account for variation in sentencing practices from one legal jurisdiction to the next. Similar developments, however, have been nearly absent in the study of prosecutorial decision making; this is particularly important given the substantial authority afforded prosecutors throughout the criminal justice process. To address this considerable shortcoming, the current study used multilevel modeling to test the effects of several theoretically relevant community-level measures on the prosecutor's decision to dismiss criminal charges. Findings indicated that multiple measures of social context influence prosecutorial decision making, but not always as specified by the examined theoretical frameworks. Implications of the current study are discussed with regard to theory, research, and policy.     

Relational demography and officer occupational attitudes: The influence of workgroup context

Purpose

Researchers have long held an interest in understanding what role officer demographics play in explaining occupational attitudes. Despite this interest, evidence has consistently shown such relationships to be inconsistent. Using a relational demography framework that is based on the notion that demographic effects are contextual rather than universal across all officers, the current study examines the extent to which officer demographics influences their occupational attitudes when viewed in relation to other officers in their assigned workgroup.

Methods

Surveys of 1,022 patrol officers assigned to 187 workgroups were used to examine demographic effects across a number of occupational attitudes. A series of multilevel modeling techniques were used to test the viability of the relational demography framework.

Results

Certain demographic effects changed or were attenuated after accounting for workgroup membership. Demographic effects were also found to differ across workgroup contexts. Finally, results for job satisfaction indicated that gender and experience effects were dependent upon the demographic and cultural context of the workgroup.

Conclusions

Demographic-attitudinal relationships are influenced by the broader workgroup environment. The results also highlight the importance of taking into consideration non-independence issues associated with attitudes and demographics from both theoretical and analytical perspectives.