Contents

[close]

IJPSM 10 (2008) 2

Reasons for choosing a police career: changes over two decades
Pamela F. Foley, Cristina Guarneri and Mary E. Kelly

In recent years, police officers in the US have been under increased public scrutiny, which may have affected both the public perception of the police as well as the desire of individuals to choose a career in law enforcement. In particular, many police departments have been criticised for their treatment of racial and ethnic minorities. This study compared responses of 131 police recruits and graduates with the results of a study with an earlier cohort of this population conducted in 1983. The goals of the present study were (a) to determine whether the relative importance of reported reasons for choosing a police career had changed; (b) to evaluate how demographic variables may play a role in career choice; and (c) to replicate the factor structure of the original questionnaire to assess its ongoing utility. Results indicated that the relative importance of reasons changed slightly, with small but significant differences for women and minorities. The factor structure of the original study was essentially replicated, indicating that the factors motivating individuals to seek a police career have remained stable over time. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for career counsellors working with individuals considering a career in police work.

[close]

[close]

IJPSM 10 (2008) 9

Unpacking public attitudes to the police: contrasting perceptions of misconduct with traditional measures of satisfaction
Joe Miller and Robert C. Davis

Much research on public attitudes to the police in the United States has focused on perceptions of police effectiveness and responsiveness rather than police misconduct. This research has also tended to rely primarily on experiences of direct personal contacts with police and, more recently, neighbourhood to explain demographic differences in public opinion. This article uses data from a survey of five New York City neighbourhoods to extend this focus. It tests four hypotheses: (1) public attitudes about police misconduct are distinct from their attitudes about police effectiveness and responsiveness; (2) determinants of attitudes about police misconduct are different from those relating to police effectiveness and responsiveness; (3) negative experiences of police among friends, family and associates impact on personal attitudes to the police; (4) attitudes toward the police are affected by the character of news coverage to which members of the public are exposed. Using principal components analysis and ANCOVA models, the research finds support for all four hypotheses. The research underscores how perceptions of police misconduct are more sensitive to media influences, race and neighbourhood factors and police-initiated contacts, than traditional measures of public confidence.

[close]

[close]

IJPSM 10 (2008) 23

Sexual assault crisis centre workers’ perceptions of law enforcement: defining the situation from a systems perspective
Brian K. Payne and R. Alan Thompson

To date, the literature tends to be rife with research examining individuals’ perceptions of the police. Most of this research had focused on how members of the public perceived law enforcement. Missing from this research were two types of studies: (1) those examining how certain types of professionals perceive the problems they have collaborating with law enforcement; and (2) those examining the consequences of those perceptions. This study addressed that void by considering how 44 sexual assault crisis workers described their experiences in collaborating with law enforcement agencies. In the discussion, attention was given to the possible consequences of these perceptions. Implications are provided.

[close]

[close]

IJPSM 10 (2008) 36

A comparison of occupational attitudes between Taiwanese and American police officers
Ivan Y. Sun and Doris C. Chu

This study examines attitudinal differences between Taiwanese and American police officers. Data used in this research were collected from two Taiwanese cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung, and two American cities, Indianapolis and St Petersburg. Occupational attitudes are assessed along four dimensions: order maintenance, community building, selective enforcement and distrust of citizens. The results indicate that, compared with their American counterparts, Taiwanese officers are more likely to support community building and distrust of citizens and less likely to favour selective enforcement. Taiwanese and American officers, however, do not differ much in their attitudes toward order maintenance. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

[close]

[close]

IJPSM 10 (2008) 51

Why we trussed the police: police governance and the problem of trust
Stan Gilmour

The paradox running through this paper concerns the relationship between society and the police whereby, in order to trust that the police will not abuse their power, the public invariably ensure they are trussed. Central to this is the question of how, in thinking about police governance, can trust be acknowledged as a fundamental feature of police relationships, and how can trust be activated to ensure that the police are regarded as legitimate? This highlights a further paradox, whereby the institution charged with trussing the police, the government, is also a major beneficiary of the security which the police bring. At issue is a statement of the underlying principles which make for a more democratically responsive police service.

[close]

[close]

IJPSM 10 (2008) 65

The ‘economic activities’ of Russian police
Deborah G. Wilson, Olga Kolennikova, Leonid Kosals, Rozalina Ryvkina and Yu Simagin

This research is an analysis of the ‘economic activities’ of Russian police officers. ‘Economic activities’ include acts defined as police corruption and police misconduct. Some of the activities are those which, if pursued in police agencies in the United States, would be defined as ‘moonlighting’. The Russian Law of the Militia defines not only police corruption and other forms of misconduct but defines and limits police participation in what would be considered legal economic activities. This law limits police ‘moonlighting’ to teaching, research or the arts. Other legitimate work such as private security, sales, etc comes to be defined as ‘misconduct’. The findings are based on surveys from 2,209 police officers stationed in eight regions of Russia during 2002. The surveys solicited self-report information on a variety of forms of police misconduct and corruption as well as attitudes concerning police misconduct and corruption and public attitudes toward police. In addition to the survey, interviews were conducted with police to gather qualitative information. The results showed that Russian police are highly involved in ‘economic’ activities in addition to their regular responsibilities as police. Many of the economic activities involve corruption. Many are those prohibited by the Law of the Militia. In fact, most of the reported activity was police misconduct created through the application of the Law of the Militia. It would not be considered illegal, immoral or unethical if the individual involved were not a police officer. This Law of the Militia plays a significant role in the institutionalisation of corruption and the creation of secondary deviance within this police force.

[close]

[close]

IJPSM 10 (2008) 76

Knowledge management in law enforcement: knowledge views for patrolling police officers
Stefan Holgersson, Petter Gottschalk and Geoff Dean

This paper describes and classifies different types of knowledge that are a part of police patrol officers’ practice. Even though an intervention usually forces a police officer to apply several different knowledge types, this paper discusses different forms of professional knowledge separately to enable categorisation. In general, a large part of police officers’ professional knowledge, as well as professional knowledge in many other contexts, is complex and difficult to describe and explain in words. The police profession is distinguished by the broad range of knowledge types that are required and by the time pressure under which actions often must be taken. This paper presents a polarisation into two knowledge management perspectives: the theoretical knowledge view and the street-level knowledge view respectively.

[close]

[close]

IJPSM 10 (2008) 89

Suspicion and traffic stops: crime control or racial profiling
Gennaro F. Vito and William F. Walsh

Suspicion is an understudied factor in police discretionary decision-making. This study presents an analysis of traffic stop data from Louisville, KY that focuses upon factors that led police officers to note that they had ‘pre-existing knowledge’ about certain persons who were stopped. Factors related to this designation with specific emphasis upon race are considered.

[close]

[close]

IJPSM 10 (2008) 101

The behavioural analysis interview: clarifying the practice, theory and understanding of its use and effectiveness
Frank Horvath, J. P. Blair and Joseph P. Buckley

The Behavioural Analysis Interview (BAI) is the only questioning method that has been developed specifically to help investigators sort those who are likely to be ‘guilty’ from those who are not. In its typical application the BAI is a pre-interrogation interview that is used to focus interrogational effort; however, it also can be used independently in order to circumscribe investigative efforts in those cases in which there is a fixed and relatively large number of ‘suspects’. In this paper an overview of the BAI process is provided and the findings and limitations of the extant bodies of field and laboratory research on the BAI are discussed. The paper concludes with suggestions to guide future research on the BAI.

[close]

[close]

Links to other issues

Volume 4 (2002) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 5 (2003) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 6 (2004) :   1   2   3

Volume 7 (2005) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 8 (2006) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 9 (2007) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 10 (2008) :   1

[close]