Participation community crime prevention: who volunteers for police work?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to identify the principal determinants associated with becoming a volunteer in crime prevention programs.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from citizen surveys in a medium sized city located in the West region of USA. The data contained 574 city residents and 264 volunteers. Binomial logistic regression analytical technique was employed to examine the relative contribution of three categories of explanatory variables – demographic background, neighborhood contextual factors, and political viewpoints – on becoming a police volunteer in community crime prevention.FindingsThe primary finding suggests that gender was a significant predictor of participation in police volunteer work. With respect to cognitive factors, the character of citizen perceptions of crime problems in their neighborhoods mattered considerably. Similarly, citizens' political orientation was another important variable among cognitive factors.Research limitations/implicationsStudy findings are based on surveys of citizen perceptions of police programs from a single mid‐sized city. Results cannot be generalized to all US cities.Originality/valueThis study provides police administrators and academic scholars with research‐based information on several unanswered questions associated with participation in police volunteer work.