Improve Police-community Relations Research Articles

Is policing becoming a tainted profession? Media, public perceptions, and implications

SummaryStigmatized professions are those where physical, social, and/or moral taints are applied. Stigma theorists hold that stigma is socially communicated and changes over time, but it is unclear if stigma content can be applied to those who are seen as powerful. Two studies examined how the impact of sociopolitical discourses on policing, a profession that carries legitimate power, on the tainting of the profession and distrust in policing. In an examination of archival news media clips on policing (N = 200), results show that media coverage over time (between 2011 and 2016) has used a more negative tone in discussing police–citizen interactions, and these findings varied by conservative versus liberal media. Importantly, across media sources, taints were ascribed to policing. In a second survey study, individuals directly ascribed taints to policing (N = 169). Relative to other jobs, policing was categorized as a pervasively stigmatized job (i.e., high frequency and strong potency of taints were applied). It was also found that those who discussed media stories tended to distrust police more. Implications for efforts to recruit, select, and train officers and to improve police–community relations are discussed; findings may also generalize to other public and community facing professions.

Community perceptions: procedural justice, legitimacy and body-worn cameras

PurposeThis paper explores community members' perceptions of the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD)'s body-worn camera (BWC) program, examining knowledge and support of the program and its impact on views of procedural justice and legitimacy.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave, online survey was administered to Milwaukee-area residents in the fall of 2017 and summer of 2018, yielding 1,527 respondents. Multivariate regression analyses focus on overall relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, community member knowledge of the program, procedural justice and legitimacy and support for BWCs.FindingsCommunity members are supportive of BWCs and view officers as procedurally just and legitimate; however, perceptions were significantly lower among Black respondents. Respondents with knowledge of the BWC program were more likely to view officers as procedurally just, but program knowledge did not increase support for it.Research limitations/implicationsPolice agencies may benefit from improving community awareness of their BWC program as knowledge of the program is positively linked to the views of departmental procedural justice and legitimacy. However, education efforts alone are not sufficient in improving police–community relations. Future research should examine how policing stakeholders can engage the community to build views of legitimacy associated with BWC policies.Originality/valueFindings provide insight into community member perceptions of a large BWC program in a major US city. Results demonstrate the relationship between knowledge of a department's BWC program and views of procedural justice and legitimacy and support for BWCs.

Exploring the Duration of Police–Citizen Encounters

Abstract Modern policing policy and practices emphasize the philosophy of community-oriented policing and the principles of procedural justice to improve police–community relations. Using this theoretical framework, this study examines the duration of police–citizen encounters involving domestic and non-domestic conflicts. A sample of 262 encounters from the systematic social observations in Cincinnati was analysed. The multivariate models show that officers spent less time interacting with the citizens in the lower social class and spent more time on the encounters involving assaults. Community policing specialists spent more time interacting with citizens. Considering citizens’ voice is also associated with longer duration. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Kids, Cops, and Community: A Qualitative Assessment of Police, Youth, and Parent Perceptions of Each Other.

Police and communities alike have experienced many traumatic incidents over the last 4 years, prompting police departments across the country to rethink their approach to community programs. Aurora's Gang Reduction Impact Program (A-GRIP) launched "Kids, Cops, and Community" (KC&C) in Aurora, Colorado, as a community-based quality improvement project designed to improve community relations by better understanding Aurora police and community members' perceptions of each other and current A-GRIP and Aurora for Youth programs by assessing police, youth, and parents' perceptions of each other. After a review of current scientific literature on police-community relations, a KC&C advisory group oversaw the creation of key informant interview and focus group guides. A-GRIP recruited participants for 37 interviews (20 police, 8 youth, and 9 parents) and 3 youth focus groups. The community advisory group assisted in the development of salient themes and practical recommendations. The final report outlined 5 major themes (pros/cons of types of police interactions, respectful communication, false uniqueness effect, parenting and police as parents, and youth-police programming awareness) and 2 specific recommendations (sustain/increase opportunities for police-youth interactions and increase community awareness of youth programming). A-GRIP members had a rich discussion of the implications of these findings in which there was broad support for identifying a strategy to use these results to improve police-community relations. The coalition was challenged by identifying clear next steps because of turnover in administration and coalition leadership, but they have made progress in increasing information and resource sharing. This project provides the first model we are aware of that incorporates a systematic assessment of police, youth, and parent perspectives from the same community. Other communities may find value in adapting the KC&C process to identify promising approaches and refine programming elements of police-community engagement activities.

Police Officers as Warriors or Guardians: Empirical Reality or Intriguing Rhetoric?

Policing experts have suggested that shifting from a warrior mindset – officers viewing themselves as warriors fighting crime – to a guardian mindset – officers valuing working with the public to reduce crime – is a valuable method for improving police-community relations across the United States. However, little empirical evidence has been used to inform this debate. To address this gap, we examined survey data from two U.S. police departments to assess the validity of the Warrior/Guardian framework. Factor analyses suggested that the warrior and guardian mindsets are distinct, but related concepts. Furthermore, these mindsets are associated with different attitudinal outcomes (e.g. the guardian mindset was associated with greater prioritization of communication during citizen encounters). Thus, the Warrior/Guardian framework is supported empirically. Overlap between the Warrior/Guardian framework and existing police culture literature is discussed and police culture is offered as a potential explanation for variation in warrior and guardian orientations.

Are College-Educated Police Officers Different? A Study of Stops, Searches, and Arrests

A study of more than 60,000 police traffic stops found that college-educated officers were more likely than other officers to stop drivers for less serious violations, perform consent searches, and make arrests on discretionary grounds. These results are consistent with those of prior research indicating that college-educated officers are more achievement-oriented and eager for advancement based on the traditional performance criteria of stops, searches, and arrests. The results raise questions regarding the recommendation of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing to improve police-community relations by hiring more college-educated police officers, especially in urban communities where concerns about over-policing are widespread. If community engagement were to become a primary basis for professional advancement, however, the current results suggest that college-educated officers may adapt to the new standards as diligently as they have to the traditional criteria for reward and promotion in U.S. police departments.

Modest beginnings, high hopes: The Western Cape Police Ombudsman

In 2013 the Western Cape legislature passed the Western Cape Community Safety Act (WCCSA) to improve monitoring of and oversight over the police. One creation of the WCCSA is the Western Cape Police Ombudsman, which became operational in 2015. This article reviews its history and context, as well as results from its first year. The Police Ombudsman, the only one in the country, must be seen as one of the results of efforts by the opposition-held province to carve out more powers in the narrowly defined constitutional space, and in so doing to exercise more effective oversight and monitoring of police performance, and improve police–community relations. The Ombudsman must also be seen against the backdrop of poor police–community relations in Cape Town and the subsequent establishment of a provincial commission of inquiry into the problem, a move that was opposed by the national government, contesting its constitutionality. Results from the Ombudsman’s first 18 months in operation are modest, but there are promising signs. Nonetheless, the office is small and it did not do itself any favours by not complying with its legally mandated reporting requirements.

Modest beginnings, high hopes: The Western Cape Police Ombudsman

In 2013 the Western Cape legislature passed the Western Cape Community Safety Act (WCCSA) to improve monitoring of and oversight over the police. One creation of the WCCSA is the Western Cape Police Ombudsman, which became operational in 2015. This article reviews its history and context, as well as results from its first year. The Police Ombudsman, the only one in the country, must be seen as one of the results of efforts by the opposition-held province to carve out more powers in the narrowly defined constitutional space, and in so doing to exercise more effective oversight and monitoring of police performance, and improve police–community relations. The Ombudsman must also be seen against the backdrop of poor police–community relations in Cape Town and the subsequent establishment of a provincial commission of inquiry into the problem, a move that was opposed by the national government, contesting its constitutionality. Results from the Ombudsman’s first 18 months in operation are modest, but there are promising signs. Nonetheless, the office is small and it did not do itself any favours by not complying with its legally mandated reporting requirements.

Urban Upheaval and the Enduring Appeal of Law and Order

Urban Upheaval and the Enduring Appeal of Law and Order

“Losing the Humanity of the Street”: Retired Police Officer Narratives of the Evolution of Low-level Enforcement in New York City

Low-level enforcement activities such as pedestrian and traffic stops, the issuance of criminal court summonses (tickets or citations), and misdemeanor arrests comprise the vast majority of police-citizen encounters relative to the policing of more serious, felony-level offenses. The complexities of these activities—particularly from the perspectives of the police officers who carry them out—have received relatively little scholarly attention. In an effort to more fully understand the nuances of low-level enforcement, in particular how such activities have changed over time and how police officers have experienced such changes, in-depth interviews were conducted with a small sample of retired New York Police Department (NYPD) officers. Findings shed light on how officers understand and experience proactive policing tactics and the pressures associated with data-driven accountability. The implications of this research for improving police-community relations are explored.

Black Men Down: An Assessment of Experts’ Quotes on Deadly Encounters with Police

There is growing concern about conflict between police and black urban residents. Police-involved shootings of African American males have become a hot topic in the national discourse on race and policing. Despite this concern, there is still a paucity of research on the depiction of such incidents in the news and the implications for media and crime research. To address this gap, this study presents an exploratory content analysis of experts’ quotes from newspaper articles based on three separate incidents involving the death of unarmed black men at the hands of police. The findings show that articles quoted state managers much more frequently than intellectuals. Quotes were generally not favorable toward the actions of the police (most were neutral). However, they contained very little regarding evidence-based strategies for improving police–community relations in communities of color. The implications for research on media and crime are also discussed.

Dreams of Accountability, Guaranteed Surveillance: The Promises and Costs of Body-Worn Cameras

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Global perspectives on preventing violence and upholding justice

The prevention of violence and the pursuit of justice are two fundamental aims of civil society that have long been recognized and supported across the globe [1]. Far too often, however, they are addressed independently: one initiative focused on preventing violence and another on upholding justice. This is also the case in criminological research and scholarship, but there are some exceptions. Perhaps one of the best examples is the U.S. National Research Council’s report on fair and effective policing [2]. The report called for more concrete action to integrate these two principles in addressing crime and violence: greater use of effective policing strategies coupled with improved police fairness and legitimacy can produce better outcomes for the community [3, 4]. If society places more emphasis on the prevention of violence—in communities, schools, and families—might we be able to reduce some of the need for formal social control as well as inculcate a greater sense of justice for individuals and the community at-large? This is what Meares [5] refers to as an overt curriculum, which is rooted in democracy and fairness. If law enforcement as well as other branches of the criminal justice system exercise greater fairness toward suspected and convicted offenders, might we be able to improve police-community relations and help to reduce future acts of violence by these groups? It is these questions that guided the development of this special issue of Crime, Law and Social Change. We recognize that these are big picture questions and we do not pretend to answer them in full. Through a series of thoughtful, scholarly articles, we Crime Law Soc Change (2015) 64:205–209 DOI 10.1007/s10611-015-9594-2

Stop, Question, and Frisk in New York City: A Study of Public Opinions

New York City’s Stop-and-Frisk program has been a contentious police practice for more than 40 years. There is extensive research that examines attitudes toward the police; however, empirical research has yet to analyze citizens’ perceptions of stop-and-frisk. This study uses data from pedestrians to uncover their opinions of stop-and-frisk. Results demonstrate that several demographic characteristics predicted attitudes toward stop-and-frisk; minorities and younger citizens had less positive views, and unfavorable opinions were linked to living in New York City; having less education; being unemployed; having lower income; not married; no children; having been previously frisked by police; and vicarious experiences of others with stop-and-frisk. The results provide insights into demographic and experiential factors that influence attitudes toward stop-and-frisk. As perceived unfairness often undermines police authority, identifying factors that predict unfavorable attitudes toward police practices can aide in allocating resources to further efforts to improve police–community relations.

Training police for procedural justice

This paper reports the findings of an evaluation of a police training program on the principles of procedural justice. This training was part of a larger organizational change strategy aimed at improving the relationship between the police and the public in Chicago. The paper reports on the findings of two studies. The short-term effects study was a quasi-experimental test of the immediate effectiveness of the training conducted at the police academy. A longer-term effects study examined the subsequent views of trainees and a comparison group, officers who had not yet been to training. Statistical controls were used to increase confidence in the findings of the second study, which was based on observational data. In the short term, training increased officer support for all of the procedural justice dimensions included in the experiment. Post-training, officers were more likely to endorse the importance of giving citizens a voice, granting them dignity and respect, demonstrating neutrality, and (with the least enthusiasm) trusting them to do the right thing. All of the effects of training were strong, with standardized effect sizes ranging from 1.2 to 1.6. Longer-term, officers who had attended the procedural justice workshop continued to be more supportive of three of the four procedural justice principles introduced in training; the effect of training on trust was not statistically significant. There has been little systematic research on police training. This paper concludes that it can play a role in improving police–community relations. It also presents a discussion of some of the limitations of a training-based organizational change strategy.

The Effect of Police Contact

Current police policies are based on assumptions that proactive policing strategies will not only deter crime but will also improve police–community relations. Deterrence theorists argue that general and specific deterrence can be achieved through such policing strategies. Labeling proponents, however, maintain that juveniles stopped and/or arrested by the police, rather than be deterred, will actually engage in more delinquency as a result of this contact. Research to date has provided mixed evidence. The current study seeks to inform this debate by examining the effect of being stopped or arrested on subsequent delinquent behavior and attitudes. Relying on three waves of data from a multisite sample of youth, we use propensity score matching to control for preexisting differences among youth who have and have not experienced police contact. Our findings reveal that being stopped or arrested not only increases future delinquency but also amplifies deviant attitudes.

A realistic look at Latin American community policing programmes

Since the 1990s, every proclamation for police reform in Latin America leads to the launching of a community policing programme designed to improve police-community relations. Each of these programmes has a different name and format; some have lasted a long time, while others have been ephemeral. Community police as a proposal, strategy or philosophy for police activities is without a doubt quite popular. At various moments, police forces that are otherwise divergent in nature have all launched programmes to improve their community relations. Those agencies include The Guatemalan National Civil Police, the Panamanian National Police, the Nicaraguan Police, preventative police in various Mexican Municipalities, the Carabineros in Chile, various Argentine provincial police, the Colombian National Police, the Dominican Republic National Police, the Police of Buenos Aires Province, among many others. The fact that both politicians and police leadership constantly invoke the need to improve relations between police and the communities they serve is undoubtedly a positive step. There is recognition that the police owe something to citizens and that they should consider public demands and expectations. But beyond these aspects, we have to ask if the various practices carried out under the auspices of community policing express a similar understanding of the community policing model, the likelihood that this model might become established within the region and the necessary institutional adaptations to make that feasible.

Latino Youths' Experiences with and Perceptions of Involuntary Police Encounters

Research has consistently shown that African American youth report less favorable evaluations of the police than their white counterparts. The literature on police-citizen relations in Latino/a communities is scant and narrowly focused on Mexicana/os and Chicana/os in southern and midwestern U.S. cities. Therefore, we know little about the experiences of Latino/a populations in other parts of the country. This article uses a Latina/o critical theory (LatCrit) perspective to examine thirty Afro-Caribbean youths' experiences with and perceptions of New York City police. Study findings highlight respondents' views that aggressive policing tactics are intended to restrict and criminalize Latino/a youths' use of public space. The authors conclude with recommendations for improving police—community relations with this population.

Early Intervention to Reduce Complaints: An Australian Victoria Police Initiative

’Complaints profiling’, ‘early warning’ or ‘early intervention’ systems are currently seen as vital mechanisms for reducing police misconduct and improving police–community relations. This paper reports on the introduction of an early intervention system for police in the State of Victoria, Australia. The findings support the contention that such systems have a demonstrable utility in reducing complaints. A sample of 44 individuals profiled showed that interventions resulted in a 71.07 per cent reduction in complaints, from an expected 121 down to 35 over a two-year period. Additionally, the study showed that the financial cost-benefit effects were very positive, with reduced complaints resulting in an estimated saving of AU$3.2 million over the two years. A study of a sample of nine locations showed a 58.6 per cent reduction in complaints, from a projected number of 60.6 down to 25 over a one-year period, with an estimated saving of AU$1.4 million. The paper also describes the types of interventions used and a number of issues that arise from complaints profiling.

Race and Officer Decision Making: Examining Differences in Arrest Outcomes between Black and White Officers

Since the 1960s, one of the major reform efforts in law enforcement has been to increase the number of Black Americans within police agencies and on patrol in the streets. The general premise behind these efforts has been that increased diversity will improve police–community relations and will decrease biased police behavior, particularly against Black citizens. Policies seeking to reform policing through increasing the numbers of African American officers have been implemented with little empirical evidence that an officer's race (or ethnicity) is actually related to their behavior towards citizens, in particular arrest decisions. Using data from systematic social observations of police–citizen encounters in Cincinnati, OH, this study examines the influence of officer race on arrest outcomes, focusing on the behavior of Black officers. Findings suggest that officer race has direct influence on arrest outcomes and there are substantive differences between White and Black officers in the decision to arrest. In general, White officers in our study were more likely to arrest suspects than Black officers, but Black suspects were more likely to be arrested when the decision maker was a Black officer.