Search results

This study adds to the developing literature on how coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected policing. Unlike prior research, which focused on police agencies, the authors focus on the perceptions and experiences of police officers. Specifically, about changes in workload or activities during the peak of the pandemic compared to prior to the pandemic. Additionally, officers report on changes in potential second-order effects resulting in changes from the pandemic.

The data come from the survey responses of 167 police officers from seven police agencies of various sizes from around the USA. The authors assessed mean level differences between organizations using a general linear model/ANOVA approach and report a standardized effect size.

There is a considerable heterogeneity in police officers' perceptions of organizational and operational changes made by their police agencies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that perceptions of some changes were more strongly by the agency than were others. The study’s results show there are substantive differences in how police officers from different police agencies viewed these operational and organizational changes (i.e. between agency differences). Most of the variance was primarily explained by differences between police officers within the same agency (i.e. within organization differences).

This study moves beyond the monolithic approach to studying how the pandemic affected the police agency and moves to asking officers about their experiences with these changes and the second-order effects of these changes.

We explore the relationship between urbanicity and police officers’ perceptions of changes in their reactive and proactive work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using the 2021 survey of 1,262 Croatian police offices (436 police officers from a large urban community, 471 police officers from small towns and 155 from rural communities), we examine the perceived changes in their reactive activities (e.g. responses to the calls for service, arrests for minor crimes) and proactive activities (e.g. community policing activities, directed patrols) during the peak month of the pandemic compared to before the pandemic.

The majority of police officers in the study, regardless of the size of the community where they lived, reported no changes before and during the pandemic in reactive and proactive activities. Police officers from urban communities and small towns were more likely to note an increase in domestic violence calls for service. Police officers from urban communities were also more likely than the respondents from small towns and rural communities to report an increase in the responses to the disturbances of public order. Finally, police officers from small communities were most likely to observe a change in the frequency of traffic stops during the pandemic.

This study is the first one to explore the differences in perceptions of COVID-19-related changes in reactive and proactive police activities in a centralized police system.

There is widespread interest in moving beyond crime statistics to measure police performance in new ways, especially the quality of police-community interactions that influence police legitimacy and public trust. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Police-Community Interaction Survey (PCIS) developed by the National Police Research Platform.

The PCIS collected data from 53 police agencies around the USA in 2013-2014. The psychometric properties of the constructs measured are presented. This study also offers a preliminary test of the effects of an alternatively specified and expanded procedural justice model on willingness to cooperate with the police, mediated through perceptions of officer trustworthiness.

Scales were developed with good reliability and validity that measure various aspects of the police-community interactions. The authors find evidence that empathy is an important addition to the procedural justice model, and that the effects of procedural justice on willingness to cooperate with the police are partially mediated through perceptions of officer trustworthiness.

This is the first attempt to validate the measurement of police-community interactions on a large scale in the USA with policy implications at the local and national levels. The findings can help local police agencies incorporate new performance metrics at the individual, group, and agency levels. Nationally, the science of policing can be advanced by specifying the antecedents and consequences of respectful and empathic actions, including behavior that strengthens police-community relations.

The purpose of this study is to examine the nature of the code of silence among police recruits in an effort to provide recommendations to reduce its occurrence and harm to society.

Data analyses are performed on a multi-agency sample of 645 police recruits in the United States. Specifically, analyses are conducted on pre- and post-academy panel data to assess changes in recruits' perceptions of code adherence over time as they begin their immersion into the police culture.

Results demonstrate that police recruits' willingness to report a fellow officer is reduced by the end of the academy and that several individual and organizational factors impact recruits' code adherence attitudes over time.

This study contributes to the policing literature by exploring changes in recruits' code adherence attitudes over time.

The purpose of this paper is to review the extant published literature using traditional criminological theories in an effort to explain police misconduct.

This paper reflects a narrative meta-review of through a search of several academic databases (e.g. Criminal Justice Abstracts, Criminology: A SAGE Full Text Collection, EBSCO Host and PsychInfo). Twenty-nine studies, across six theoretical perspectives, were identified and reviewed.

The extant research generally suggests that traditional criminological theory is useful in explaining misconduct.

The findings call on agencies to continually strengthen their recruiting and hiring processes to select recruits with suitable characteristics, and to improve their early warning systems to detect officers with patterns of problematic behavior. Also, the findings call for multiple avenues of future scholarship, namely, in theory development/integration and in refining the measurement of police misconduct.

This paper will be useful for researchers who wish to further explore the etiology of misconduct, and for police administrators who wish to reduce the prevalence of such behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to replicate Engel’s (2001) styles of supervision using data from a new sample and including additional independent variables.

The data were collected from a sample of police supervisors (N=369) at three distinct locations throughout the USA. Bivariate analyses and ordinary least squares regression were used to analyze the data.

The authors find three of Engel’s four supervisory styles and find largely consistent results, with the exception of gender. Further, the authors find strong evidence for persistent agency-level effects.

Supervisory styles are important to consider, especially when trying to effectively control the behavior of subordinates. While this study cannot address the impact of organizational differences, the consistent agency-level effects suggest this as something that should be considered again in future research.

The purpose of this paper is to review the extant of the published literature on body-worn cameras (BWCs) in policing, specifically in the context of how BWCs affect both citizens and officers.

The current study is a narrative review of the impact of BWCs on police and citizens generated through a search of four repositories (Google Scholar, Criminal Justice Abstracts, EBSCO Host, PsychInfo).

The current narrative review identified 21 articles that matched the selection criteria. In general, this body of research demonstrates that: the police are supportive of BWC adoption; the evidence from BWC evaluations suggests that the use of BWCs can have benefits for police-public encounters.

The practical implications derived from this narrative review suggest police administrators that the adoption and effective implementation of BWCs are one mechanism that can strengthen police-community relationships and decrease police misconduct through enhanced legitimacy and accountability.

This study is useful for researchers who wish to further examine BWC issues in policing, for police managers/administrators who are currently utilizing BWC technology, and for those who are considering adopting BWC technology.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether homophily – whereby people are influenced by those perceived as similar to themselves – affects attitudes toward police misconduct. Specifically, whether demographic dissimilarity between police chief executive law enforcement officers (CEOs) and subordinates is related to differences in perceptions of misconduct.

The data for this research are drawn from the National Police Research Platform. Multilevel mixed-effects regression modeling is used to analyze data from 78 randomly selected US police agencies (78 law enforcement CEOs and 10,709 officers from those agencies).

The main finding is that demographic dissimilarity between the CEO and subordinates is associated with differences in attitudes about police deviance, net of other factors.

The results exemplify the need to diversify police agencies at all levels, not just the lower ranks. Because employees were found to be more similar to those one step (up or down) from one another on the organizational hierarchy, diversifying at all levels of the police organizations will help to reduce the social distance between those in closer ranks, which could ameliorate the dissimilarity effect. Likewise, police agencies may need to adopt new management strategies to compensate for a diversifying workforce.

This study builds on previous research and investigates an understudied topic in the policing literature by assessing the extent to which dissimilarity is related to attitudinal congruence about workplace deviance in police organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine organizational cynicism (OC) among new police officers. Specifically, this paper investigates what factors are predictive of baseline levels of OC among police recruits and the growth of cynicism over time in these young officers.

The data for this study are drawn from Phase I of the National Police Research Platform. Latent growth curve modeling is used to analyze data on 760 police recruits across five geographically diverse training academies within three distinct time periods (first day of academy, just before graduation, and six months post-graduation) to assess the development of OC in new police officers.

Several variables, including gender, race, and relations in policing exerted significant effects on a baseline level of OC and on growth in cynicism over time.

OC is an important topic for police administrators. Cynicism among employees can lead to undesirable organizational outcomes such as low job morale and satisfaction. Thus, it is important for police administrators to better understand the development and growth of OC in its personnel, particularly in new police officers.

This study builds on previous research and investigates an understudied topic in the literature by assessing the development and growth of OC among new police officers.