Behavior Of Police Officers Research Articles

Opportunistic behavior in the principal–agent model of policing

Whereas the criminal justice system is designed to determine whether a police officer as an offender is guilty or innocent, the principal–agent model of policing can provide insights into police officer behavior in law enforcement. Agency theory suggests that the chief as a principal and the field officer as an agent may have different preferences, varying knowledge, and opposite risk willingness when it comes to policing. For example, goals may justify means. In this article, the case of a convicted police officer in Norway is discussed based on principal–agent theory.

Testing the impact of citizen characteristics and demeanor on police officer behavior in potentially violent encounters

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether citizen characteristics (race/ethnicity and attire) or demeanor predicted how officers interacted in simulation scenarios that could turn violent.Design/methodology/approachControlled-laboratory experiments were conducted during which police participants (n=50) responded to equivalent numbers of black, white, and Hispanic individuals in multiple branching video scenarios in a use-of-force simulator. Within these scenarios, the attire of on-screen individuals was varied (“street” or “business” clothing) as was their demeanor – individuals were either friendly or confrontational. Each scenario had the potential to end peaceably or turn violent, depending on how the officers treated people in the simulator.FindingsMulti-level modeling revealed that neither the race/ethnicity nor the attire of on-screen individuals predicted how officers interacted with them. However, the demeanor of on-screen individuals did – officers were significantly more likely to verbally escalate and end up with a deadly outcome when faced with confrontational individuals (f=3.96; df=1, 558; p<0.05).Research limitations/implicationsThese findings offer important new insight into how fairly officers interact with people during routine encounters that have the potential to turn violent, and what this means for perceptions of police legitimacy, procedural justice, and allegations of racial bias.Originality/valueThis is the first laboratory study to test the impact of citizen characteristics and demeanor on how officers escalate and de-escalate encounters.

Understanding Information-Seeking Behavior for Conducting Tasks: An Exploratory Study

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to investigate the information-seeking behaviors of police officers who work in police stations in the context of conducting tasks. In this study, Leckie et al.'s model of the information-seeking behavior of professionals is tested. The findings indicated that police officers initially consulted their personal knowledge and experience. However, contrary to the expectation, they rarely consulted informants. In addition to this, police officers rarely consulted printed journals, libraries, books, and conferences as information sources. Surprisingly, there were no significant differences in the information sources used by police officers based on their educational level. While bivariate relationships show significant difference for age, service years in police stations, and service years in policing, the same variables do not hold as significant when introduced into multiple regressions. Possible implications of the study were discussed in the conclusion section.

A field experiment of the impact of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on police officer behavior and perceptions

Amidst the backdrop of considerable citizen unrest in the U.S. stemming from perceived injustices within police-citizen interactions in recent years, many government leaders have relied on the use of body-worn cameras as a means of improving citizen relations. The promise of body-worn cameras is that they might improve officer and citizen behavior given the possibility of retrospective and independent determinations of the appropriateness of behaviors which occur within police-citizen encounters. While the emerging evaluation evidence of their usefulness have been generally promising, overall determinations remain incomplete. Using a partial randomized experimental design, this study evaluated the impact of a test pilot program of body-worn camera use by the Hallandale Beach, Florida Police Department in the U.S. to determine their impact on police officer behavior and perceptions. Findings revealed that officers with BWCs 1) relied on less intrusive methods to resolve incidents, 2) continued to be active rather than abstaining from community contact, and 3) officer perceptions of the usefulness of BWCs remained pessimistic. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Explaining Dosage Diffusion During Hot Spot Patrols: An Application of Optimal Foraging Theory to Police Officer Behavior

Drawing from the concepts of optimal foraging theory, this paper presents and tests the assumptions of a foraging theory of police behavior during hot spots patrols. The theory explains why, over time, officers involved in hot spots policing interventions would leave the hot spots they are assigned to police and begin working within other locations. We test what factors influence the amounts of activity that officers undertake outside of their assigned hot spots and at nearby streets using data gathered as part of the Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment. Officers performed more activity outside of their beats as the experiment progressed. Several theoretically relevant variables predict the level of activity that officers perform outside their beats, including the size of the target area and the amounts of crime occurring within and outside of the target area. “Dosage diffusion” might be one reason why hot spot interventions have diminishing effects over time. From an optimal foraging theory perspective, hot spots requiring police officers to constrain their actions to pre-defined areas can be perceived as counter-intuitive by the officers, especially over extended periods of time. The results of this study support the suggestion that hot spots patrols should be short-term and randomly rotated across hot spots.

Tension of interaction order: infringement and mobilization of the umbrella movement

Purpose This study aims at exploring the mobilization of the Umbrella Movement and examining how the interplay of emotion and meaning contribute to a mass occupation via the mass media and social media. It proposes a model of emotional mobilization and explains how and why the perception of eviction is capable of triggering the subsequent collective political action through moral shock on bystanders. Design/methodology/approach The paper is an exploratory study and adopts the method of semi-structured interview. It interviewed 31 participants of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. The data were complemented by discourse analysis of video clips and participation observation of conflict scenes between protestors and police. Findings This study provides insights on how a potential participant can be motivated to participate in a social movement, after perceiving violent behaviors of police on other people. It suggests that moral outrage can be generated when people realizes a dramatic difference between expected behaviors and perceived behaviors of police officers through watching live broadcast or video clips. It also suggests that the shared social identity between protestors, police and perceivers provides the ground for the perceivers to feel angry and believe they are obliged to response to the situation. Research limitations/implications Because of the method and approach, the study may lack generalizability. However, researchers can test the proposed propositions by applying the model to other unexpected mobilization of social movement in history, or expand the model by studying the mobilizing power of direct and indirect perception of eviction, and the examine responses of the same physical conflict from people with different social identities. Originality/value This study explains how the mobilization of a social movement is possible despite the failure of mobilization by activists. It also complements the idea of moral shock by grounding such process on interaction order.

Theoretical Applications of the MODE Model to Law Enforcement Training and Interventions

As discussed in the focal article, numerous research studies have supported the existence of automatic or implicit racial bias (Ruggs et al., 2016). In this commentary, we argue that examining implicit bias through the perspective of the motivation and opportunity as determinants (MODE) model (see Fazio &amp; Olson, 2014, for a review) offers a framework for industrial–organizational (I-O) psychologists to design and implement strategies that reduce the number of violent interactions between police and communities. The MODE model has been applied to areas such as interpersonal relationships (McNulty, Olson, Meltzer, &amp; Shaffer, 2013), effective treatment of mental disorders (Vasey, Harbaugh, Buffington, Jones, &amp; Fazio, 2012), and crafting of media messages (Ewoldsen, Rhodes, &amp; Fazio, 2015), as well as racial prejudice (Olson &amp; Fazio, 2004). Below, we elaborate on how the I-O-related strategies and interventions described in the focal article can be captured by the components of the MODE model and highlight which interventions may be most efficacious in reducing discriminatory police officer behavior.

Влияние зависимого поведения сотрудника полиции на уровень выполнения им должностных обязанностей

The article discusses in detail the problems of dependent behavior of police officers. The authors have updated the most pressing issues related to the specific content of the most common dependencies among law enforcement officers of the Interior Ministry. The authors suggest some conditionality of discipline and order in the police near the psychological characteristics of the profile of a police officer. The most acute forms of addictive behavior given the socio-psychological characteristics.

Современные аспекты антикоррупционного поведения сотрудников органов внутренних дел

The article deals with modern aspects of anti-corruption behavior of police officers. Unquestioning execution of governmental commitments, adherence to the principles of duty, oath of professional honor and dignity should be referred to such behavior. The author outlined the main factors that determine the relationships of corruption in the police department. Specificity of corruption in the system of internal affairs bodies is shown, which is reflected in the behavior of employees. The author assigns limitations of corruption component to control of power on the part of citizens and civil society organizations.

The effect of socio-demographic characteristics on the information-seeking behaviors of police officers

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to determine the information-seeking behaviors of police officers who work in police stations in the context of staying current. Leckieet al.’s (1996) model of the information-seeking behavior of professionals is tested.Design/methodology/approach– A quantitative research design was employed for data collection. The sample includes 642 cases. It is both descriptive and exploratory.Findings– Police officers first rely upon their personal knowledge and experience, then their colleagues and then official documents. On the other hand, they rarely consulted informants, libraries, journals, books, and attendance at conferences as information sources. There were significant differences in the information sources used by police officers based on their gender in the context of staying current. Lastly, the results of this study indicated that service years in policing and the roles in police station were significantly correlated with the information sources used by police officers regarding staying current.Originality/value– This study, being the first, provides a huge theoretical base for future studies. It contributes to the discipline of information science by validating a theoretical model in a different context. In addition, it contributes to public safety by understanding the frontline police officers’ information needs and information-seeking behavior.

Enforcing order: an ethnography of urban policing

Acknowledgements Preliminary Remarks Preface to the Engish Edition Prologue - Interpellation In which the author comes to understand that it is sometimes dangerous to wait for a bus in the outer city on New Year s Eve. How policing practice provides the language for a philosophical theory, and how a philosophical theory supplies the meaning of policing practice. That this is not a testimony, and that indignation is not rage. Introduction - Inquiry How the present research was authorized and then forbidden, and that this censorship is revelatory of petty exceptions in a democratic regime. That an ethnography of the police requires resisting the dual temptation of exoticism and culturalism. That a study is often the result of the converging effects of chance and necessity. Chapter 1 - Situation How an imaginary of war came to be established in the relations between the police and the projects. That a brief history of the social question and security issues is essential in order to understand the context in which law enforcement faces classes reputed to be dangerous. That the creation of more aggressive special units was judged necessary to deal with the alleged disorder in the outer cities. Chapter 2 - Ordinary How the daily work of police officers is far removed from the image they had of it when they joined the force, and the illusion they continue to maintain of it. That evaluation of the work of urban patrols yields such unexpected results that it is not taken into account by government. That inaction generates action, and what this phenomenon of spontaneous generation means for the residents of the projects. Chapter 3 - Interactions How stops and frisks serve purposes other than those they are supposed to serve, and prove more effective in perpetuating a social order than in maintaining public order. That the way police officers speak about the individuals with whom they deal throws light on their way of operating in the outer cities. That the theater of police intervention sometimes plays comedies in which not all spectators laugh at the same moment. Chapter 4 - Violence How a criminal court can offer valuable lessons on excessive use of force by the police in the outer cities. That by not reducing violence to its physical aspect and not limiting the definition of it to the legal sense, one can gain a different understanding of it. That there are many ways of preventing police brutality from being prosecuted Chapter 5 - Discrimination How police officers and sociologists challenge the existence of discriminatory practices that the rest of the French population is convinced prevail. That racist ideas do not automatically lead to discriminatory practices, but that the two are far from incompatible. That institutions show more tolerance toward institutional racism than toward its victims. Chapter 6 - Politics How some signs are not deceiving, but may nevertheless be surprising in a democratic regime. That local practices enjoy great autonomy with respect to national guidelines, but that government policy has some influence on the everyday work of law enforcement. That the corollary of the increasing criminalization of behaviors is an unprecedented casting of the police as victims. Chapter 7 - Morality How police officers disappointed by the justice of the courts began to practice street justice. That jokes in the precinct can prove more serious than is customarily maintained. That a code of ethics is not enough to interpret the ethical forces at work in the behavior of police officers and the moral impasse in which the police find themselves. Conclusion - Democracy How the French police preferred the model of the cop in the United States to the style of the British bobby, and what was the result. That the imposition of the rationale of security has a high social cost for contemporary societies. That the interests of ethnography are intimately bound with those of democracy. Epilogue - Time In which the author looks back to a not-so-distant past, observes that the more things change the more they do not stay the same, wonders about the present as it is experienced by certain segments of French society and ignored by the others, and expresses concerns about the future. Notes Bibliography

The “Guarding the Guardians” Problem: An Analysis of the Organizational Performance of an Internal Affairs Division

Public administration scholars have proposed that efficient monitoring and accountability are key performance elements in public services. We contribute to this debate by focusing on the so-called “guarding the guardians” dilemma: monitoring commissions made up of public officials who may refrain from punishing their peers and turn a blind eye to certain deviations. In the police, this is the case of internal affairs divisions (IADs), which are organizations crafted to monitor the behavior of police officers. We expand the existing literature by proposing a set of hypotheses that are tested using a distinct data set containing detailed information on investigations against police officers performed by an IAD. We assess the organizational performance of the IAD by examining how various factors influence competing hazards of acquittal, mild and harsh punishment of the implicated officers. We find that high-ranking, high-tenured officers are less harshly punished with termination of duty, whereas the opposite effect is found with respect to cases with extensive media coverage. We also find that cases judged by specialized investigation officers increase the likelihood of punishment compared to cases assigned to temporary, rotating commissions, especially for cases with a long time span.

Police Officer Perspectives on Higher Education: Is the Degree a Necessary Ingredient for the Performance and Behavior of Police Officers?

In efforts to better understand the relationship between higher education and police performance in the United States, qualitative data from 61 police officers of all ranks and educational backgrounds from the Midwest examine attitudes pertaining to the necessity of a college-educated force. Explanations are offered as to why officers do or do not believe a college education is an essential ingredient to police work. Overall views express the significance of a college education with incongruences in the amount of education officers should attain. Accounts and opinions related to officers’ respective motivations and impetuses for choosing their profession are scrutinized. Career roles, future goals and aspirations are identified.

The relevance of marketing logic and marketing philosophy in the police as a citizens' service

This paper deals with the relevance of marketing logic and marketing philosophy in the police as a citizens' service. The research was conducted by analysis of domestic and foreign literature relevant to the topic of the paper - largely that in scientific journals (articles) in the field of social sciences, which are in the Serbian Citation index base and the Serbian Library Consortium for Coordinated Acquisition (Kobson) and articles published on the Internet as well. It has been found that the police as a citizens' service implement the key postulates of marketing philosophy, while the satisfaction of citizens with the service provided by police in cooperation with citizens and other organizations in strategic partnership represents the most important one. However, measuring the efficiency of police perfo­rmance by the parameters based on marketing philosophy is not that common in practice. Up to the 20th century, the focus of the research was the analysis of factors which affect behavior of police officers and application of traditional indicators of the efficiency of their performance. Thus, future research should be concerned with the research of the needs, attitudes and behavior of citizens in order to create adequate strategies of their sati­sfaction, while the satisfaction of police officers should be of consequential character. The aim of the paper was to encourage domestic and foreign professionals to get involved in the research of performances which determine the quality of relations between police and citizens, the factors which affect behavior of citizens, their satisfaction and encourage police officers to adhere to the principles of marketing philosophy in their work with citizens.

Examining the Effects of Agency Accreditation on Police Officer Behavior

The policy of accreditation of criminal justice organizations has grown over the last four decades. Some advocates for accreditation claim that it facilitates organizational change at all levels of the organization. To date, however, little empirical research has examined these claims, especially within criminal justice agencies. While accreditation leads agencies to adopt formal policies, the previous literature on street-level bureaucrat behavior would suggest rank-and-file employees are unlikely to follow these formal policies as intended. The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) is the accrediting body for law enforcement agencies in North America, and part of the formal policies CALEA accreditation requires regard engagement in community oriented policing. The present study examined whether officers on CALEA accredited agencies differed from officers with agencies not seeking accreditation, with regard to their engagement in community policing activities. The findings revealed that agency accreditation was not associated with the degree to which officers engaged in community oriented policing activities.

The Work Ethical Behaviour of Nigerian Police Officers as a Function of Self-Esteem, Gender and Age

This study investigated the influence of self-esteem, gender and age on work ethical behaviour of police officers. 200 Police Officers comprising of one hundred and six (106) males (53%) and ninety four (94) females (47%) with their ages ranging from 1851 from the Imo State Police Command in the South Eastern region of Nigeria were selected using convenience sampling technique. They were administered with a self developed work ethic questionnaire and index of self-esteem questionnaire developed by Hudson (1982). Three hypotheses were tested; (i) Self-esteem will not be a statistical significant factor affecting work ethical behaviour of police officers; (ii) Gender will not be a statistical factor affecting work ethical behaviour of police officers. (iii) Age will not be a statistical significant fac tor affecting work ethical behaviour of police officers. A cross sectional survey was adopted, while F-test for 3-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Results showed that self-esteem and gender influenced adherence to work ethics (P<.05) while age did not. Officers with high self-esteem in

What Influences Perceptions of Procedural Justice Among People with Mental Illness Regarding their Interactions with the Police?

According to procedural justice theory, a central factor shaping perceptions about authority figures and dispute resolution processes is whether an individual believes they were treated justly and fairly during personal encounters with agents of authority. This paper describes findings from a community-based participatory research study examining perceptions of procedural justice among sixty people with mental illness regarding their interactions with police. The degree to which these perceptions were associated with selected individual (e.g., socio-demographic characteristics), contextual (e.g., neighborhood, past experiences), and interactional (e.g., actions of the officer) factors was explored. The results of regression analyses indicate that the behavior of police officers during the interactions appears to be the key to whether or not these interactions are perceived by people with mental illness as being procedurally just. Implications of these findings for improving interactions between the police and people with mental illness are discussed.

A Novel Training Program for Police Officers that Improves Interactions with Mentally Ill Individuals and is Cost-Effective

Police and law enforcement providers frequently come into contact with individuals who have psychiatric disorders, sometimes with tragic results. Repeated studies suggest that greater understanding of psychiatric conditions by police officers would be beneficial. Here we present a novel approach to training police officers to improve their interactions with those who might have a mental illness. This approach involved developing a carefully scripted role-play training, which involved police officers (n = 663) interacting with highly trained actors during six realistic scenarios. The primary goal of the training was to improve empathy, communication skills, and the ability of officers to de-escalate potentially difficult situations. Uniquely, feedback was given to officers after each scenario by several individuals including experienced police officers, a mental health professional, and by the actors involved (with insights such as “this is how you made me feel”). Results showed that there were no changes in attitudes of the police toward the mentally ill comparing data at baseline and at 6 months after the training in those who completed both ratings (n = 170). In contrast, there were significant improvements in directly measured behaviors (n = 142) as well as in indirect measurements of behavior throughout the police force. Thus, compared to previous years, there was a significant increase in the recognition of mental health issues as a reason for a call (40%), improved efficiency in dealing with mental health issues, and a decrease in weapon or physical interactions with mentally ill individuals. The training cost was $120 per officer but led to significant cost savings (more than $80,000) in the following 6 months. In conclusion, this novel 1-day training course significantly changed behavior of police officers in meaningful ways and also led to cost savings. We propose that this training model could be adopted by other police agencies.

Experiences of Environmental Justice and Injustice in Communities of People Experiencing Homelessness

People experiencing homelessness have a particular vulnerability to environmental hazards, yet there is little attention paid to the issue of homelessness in environmental justice literature. The current study is a phenomenological inquiry into the experiences of environmental justice and injustice in a community of people who are experiencing homelessness. To understand how people who experience homelessness in the Waterloo Region, Ontario, community conceptualize and experience their environment in terms of cleanliness, healthfulness, safety, and justice, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with people experiencing absolute homelessness in Kitchener and Cambridge, Ontario. Analysis shows that although knowledge of systemic environmental injustices is all but absent in this community, particular phenomena do stand out as critical issues, such as substandard rooming houses, drugs and alcohol, litter and pollution, and the behavior of police officers and city officials. Analysis also unveiled a significant dissatisfaction with municipal decision-making processes.

Race-Sensitive Choices by Police Officers in Traffic Stop Encounters

This study introduces a statistical estimator that can be used to examine disproportionate traffic stop behavior of police officers. This estimator can be employed in concert with internal benchmark data and a tree diagram algorithm to identify and classify disproportionate behavior. These methodologies are multilevel and can be used (a) at the macrolevel to examine disproportionality of a police department as an organization and (b) at the microlevel to draw inferences about reasons for individual officers’ disproportionate behavior. These statistical routines were tested using data from a medium sized midwestern community. Results suggest that the models are effective in detecting disproportionality in both a police organization and an individual officers’ traffic stop activity. Moreover, the methods may serve as an initial step in pointing toward the sources of the officers’ behavior.