Police Cynicism Research Articles

IMPACT OF POLICE CYNICISM ON CRIME REPORTING: INSIGHTS FROM ANGELES CITY, PHILIPPINES

This research delves into the intricate relationship between police cynicism and crime reporting behavior in Angeles City, Philippines. It takes a comprehensive approach, aiming to identify both the factors that encourage and discourage crime reporting while examining the influence of police cynicism. The research utilizes a mixed-methods design, encompassing a descriptive survey and correlation research. The survey includes questions regarding individuals attitudes towards the police, their willingness to report crimes, and their perceptions of the polices effectiveness in combating crime. The correlation research specifically delves into the connection between police cynicism and crime-reporting behavior, hypothesizing that higher levels of police cynicism correlate with lower levels of crime reporting and vice versa. The findings of this study carry significant implications for improving crime reporting behavior, ultimately contributing to enhanced safety in Angeles City. The research underscores the existence of generally positive attitudes toward crime reporting, driven by an awareness of the seriousness of offenses, a sense of empowerment, and a shared responsibility for community well-being. This positive disposition emphasizes the need for law enforcement agencies and policymakers to consider community engagement strategies and initiatives that encourage reporting. The research also reveals that discouraging factors do exist, particularly concerning non-traditional crimes, where fears and distrust in the justice system play a significant role. While there is a prevailing trust in the local polices effectiveness, the weak correlation between positive police perceptions and actual reporting behavior highlights the need for a holistic approach in policy development. Furthermore, the positive correlation between discouragement and encouragement factors in reporting suggests potential policy implications, calling for in-depth research to further comprehend the intricate dynamics influencing reporting behavior. The findings collectively emphasize the multifaceted nature of public perceptions and reporting motivations, underlining the interconnectedness of these elements. Policymakers are encouraged to adopt comprehensive approaches that foster community trust and enhance reporting behavior, while researchers are urged to delve deeper into these nuanced relationships to inform evidence-based policies for public safety and more effective law enforcement in Angeles City. KEYWORDS: crime reporting, crime reporting behavior, police cynicism, encouraging and discouraging factors of crime reporting

‘They call us for everything’: cynicism, rural policing and youth justice

ABSTRACT While researchers have studied police cynicism in urban contexts, few have studied cynicism in relation to rural policing and even less in relation to police responses to young people in these settings. In the current article, we respond by addressing the complex ways cynicism manifests in the rural policing of young people. Based on 104 semi-structured interviews and focus groups (n = 31) with 134 rural police officers in Atlantic Canada, we demonstrate that cynicism manifests in rural policing as role confusion, in relation to recalcitrant young people, the lack of organisational support, inefficacy of youth justice systems, and insufficient support from parents of young people in conflict with the law. Our findings highlight the value of community and organisational support, resources, and trust that are particularly salient in rural settings.

Police cynicism in Serbia: prevalence, nature and associations with job satisfaction

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the results of the first research on prevalence, nature and correlates of the police cynicism in Serbia, with particular attention to the associations of cynicism with job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a paper-based survey, and obtained from 472 police officers from five police departments across the country. For the purpose of measuring of organizational and work aspects of police cynicism a new developed 24 five-level Likert-type items scale was used.FindingsThe results show that cynicism is normally distributed. No statistically significant gender, education or police rank differences were identified, and the length of service does not appear to influence cynical attitudes significantly. Cynicism scores statistically significantly varied across police departments and predicted job dissatisfaction. The underlying four-factor structure of police cynicism was identified. The factors include: general organizational cynicism; cynicism toward police hierarchy/superiors; cynicism toward public/citizen cooperation; and cynicism toward modernization of policing in the crime control field.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalizability of the sample is limited, giving that participants come from only five out of a total of 27 police departments in the country, while the female police officers and officers with education higher than high school were somewhat overrepresented.Originality/valueThis research provides some more evidence on the nature and determinants of police cynicism that might inspire future research in this important but under-researched area. It implies that the need to explore more deeply relations between police cynicism and stress, burnout and particularly contextual and departmental factors that might be influential to police cynicism. It might also incite future research on the internal structure of police cynicism.

'Darker shades of blue': A comparison of three decades of South African Police Service culture

Research and thought on the public police have emphasized the value of police culture in comprehending the various aspects of policing. Recently a ‘contemporary police culture’ school of thought has risen, challenging prevailing traditional portrayals of homogeneity and universality. Aficionadas of this method argue that new developments in police and policing have dramatically changed police culture and conventional characterisations do not reflect the complex minutiae of the police character, and as such are antiquated, illogical and useless. This manuscript is an attempt to contribute towards this debate by gauging indicators evincing police culture solidarity, isolation, and cynicism amongst a representative sample of South African Police Service (SAPS) functional police officials with ten (10), twenty (20), and thirty (30) years SAPS experience.

An exploratory study of police cynicism in China

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to measure police cynicism in China.Design/methodology/approach– Using survey data collected from 382 Chinese police officers training in a Chinese police university, this research empirically described police cynicism and examined the effects of some police subcultural themes (crime fighting role orientation, traditionalism, solidarity, and isolation) and some demographic and work-related variables (gender, education experience, type of police force, and tenure) on police cynicism.Findings– Results suggest that most participants are not cynical. However, they seem to have less confidence in the trust and respect that citizens have for the police. Slightly more officers stated that they do not think that citizens will trust police to cooperate. Crime-fighting role orientation and isolation had significant positive associations with police cynicism. Officers with five to ten years of service were more cynical than were new officers and more tenured officers.Originality/value– This study is one of the first empirical attempts in Chinese policing. It extends the understanding on police perceptions in China. The findings may provide useful implications for Chinese police administrators and instructors to promote the successful implementation of community policing in China.

Influence of Riot Police Organization Silence and Cynicism on Turnover Intentions

Influence of Riot Police Organization Silence and Cynicism on Turnover Intentions

Analysis of the Structural Model of Police Officers' Emotional Labor, Emotional Exhaustion and Cynicism

Analysis of the Structural Model of Police Officers' Emotional Labor, Emotional Exhaustion and Cynicism

The social ecology of police attitudes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use Klinger's theory of negotiated order to examine whether district crime and deviance levels exert influence on levels of police cynicism towards district residents. A secondary purpose is to discuss the policy implications for the proposed relationship between district crime and police cynicism.Design/methodology/approachInterviews from the Project on Policing Neighborhood (POPN) and patrol district crime data were used to study whether crime and deviance levels exert influence on police cynicism of district residents (n=574). It was hypothesized that officers would be more cynical of citizens in districts with higher rates of violent crime compared with their colleagues assigned to districts with lower rates of violent crime.FindingsThe results of OLS regression analyses indicate that district violent crime rate was related to police cynicism and in the direction hypothesized, controlling for both individual and occupational covariates. Officers with more experience were also found to have lower levels of cynicism.Research limitations/implicationsItems used to construct the measure of police cynicism were adapted from the POPN survey data set which asked general questions about officer perceptions of district residents. Further research and better measures are necessary in order to examine the determinants of police cynicism with implications for explaining behavior. Findings from the study might be used by policymakers in terms of police assignment and deployment to high crime areas.Originality/valueThis is the first empirical attempt at examining Klinger's theory of social ecology. The study incorporates a policy argument based on the theoretical precepts and the results from the data analysis.

Dell P. Hackett and John M. Violanti, Police Suicide: Tactics for Prevention

Police Suicide: Tactics for Prevention is a superior text for anyone who shares an interest in the prevention of police suicide. In addition, the book serves a wide audience, including generic suicide mental health care specialists. While addressing police suicide specifically, suggested sensitive intervention strategies may transfer to the general population. However, it remains important to acknowledge that police officers have distinctive suicide prevention and intervention needs. Police Suicide: Tactics for Prevention recognizes that police officers, and their families, endure unique social and psychological pressures that set them apart from the general population. Police officers live in an environment that is structurally conducive to considering suicide a conceivable option for relieving themselves from the grips of depression, loss, post-traumatic stress or divorce, etc. The authors address those special needs by examining the social dynamics of police culture and related role requirements. Death positions itself continuously in the path of a police officer and beckons at their heels. Consequently, police officers often become disillusioned, and many fall into despair. Unrecognized police cynicism, helplessness, and hopelessness may quickly spiral downward to suicide. Police Suicide: Tactics for Prevention acknowledges that police suicide is a police community concern; officers and leaders at every command level remain vigilant and train to reduce untimely officer deaths. Police officers go where others would not venture. Policing does not allow for retreat, only the fight syndrome. Therefore, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder always remains a possible hidden partner. Courting emotional disaster has its price tag, and eventually demands payment. An officer’s close relationship with a deadly weapon, which they come to regard as their salvation, may eventually serve as their demise. In police jargon, suicide is described as: “Eating your gun or weapon.” A lethal weapon always waits nearby. Recognizing its lethality, police officers know that retreat from the world is only seconds away. Easy accessibility to a weapon, alcohol, and depression makes a lethal brew for possible police suicide. A despondent officer attracted to alcohol is like the proverbial “moth to the flame.” Police choir practice, the after shift drinking party for venting war stories, serves as the conduit for self-medication. Many police officers have distain for drugs, pills and legitimate prescriptions, but alcohol serves as a celebration of survival of the last tour of duty. Police Suicide: Tactics for Prevention and additional research suggests we really do not have a realistic statistical count on police suicide. The general estimates suggest that police officers take their own lives at a rate significantly more frequently than criminals do. One of the major obstacles is the under-reporting of police suicide. For example, the reverse of suicide by cop, is the officer who may deliberately position himself as the victim of “perpetrator suicide/homicide.” This action avoids the suicide stigma, providing a hero’s funeral and remembrance. Generally, life insurance and “death in the line of duty”may serve as the incentive of behaving carelessly and placing oneself in harm’s way. Police Suicide: Tactics for Prevention presents a complete snapshot of intervention and prevention strategies. The crisis proportion of police suicide requires everyone’s attention. The quest must continue for viable training and solutions. We must continue the research journey and stop this American tragedy of police suicide. Moreover, we must remove the stigma that blocks police officers from seeking J Police Crim Psych (2009) 24:66–67 DOI 10.1007/s11896-008-9037-4

‘Venus versus Mars’: An Attitudinal Comparison Made at the Start of South African Police Service Basic Training

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, demands a fundamental reassessment and transformation of the nature and style of policing in South Africa. Based on a representative sample ( N=1453) of newcomers in the South African Police Service, this article compares the presence of police culture thematic attitudes of male and female newcomers upon their arrival for basic training. The results indicate that female newcomers arrive for training with stronger attitudes in support of police culture solidarity, isolation and cynicism compared with their male counterparts who militate against the effective adoption of a community policing philosophy in South Africa.

Work and health outcomes among police officers: The mediating role of police cynicism and engagement.

Work and health outcomes among police officers: The mediating role of police cynicism and engagement.

Career Stage and Police Cynicism

This study examined the relationship of police tenure and career stage and cynicism among 766 Norwegian constables and managers. Constables with less tenure and in an early career stage, but not managers, scored lower on cynicism.

The validity of Niederhoffer's cynicism scale

Arthur Niederhoffer's (1967) Behind the Shield is widely regarded as a classic in the policing literature, yet problems associated with measurement of the key latent trait, cynicism, have limited the extent to which conclusions may be drawn from Niederhoffer's work, as well as some subsequent police cynicism research. In this article, Niederhoffer's research is revisited using survey data recently collected from a random sample of 499 Philadelphia police officers. The analysis begins by examining the validity of Regoli's (1976) modified cynicism scale from the perspective of Item Response Theory (IRT), using Rasch modeling techniques in an effort to more fully understand the scale's measurement properties. Then, Niederhoffer's primary research hypothesis is revisited. Three main findings are drawn: (1) the Likert response categories are being used by respondents as intended; (2) some of the scale items exhibit gender and race bias; and (3) the scale can be improved by dropping several items. Once the scale is adjusted, the findings indicate that the relationship between officer cynicism and years of service is slightly stronger than when the scale is used in its original form. Further, regression analyses yield theoretically consistent findings for the relationship between cynicism and one job-related measure (departmental disciplinary charges).

The Effect of Work Environment on Levels of Police Cynicism: A Comparative Study

The police are popularly characterized as the “thin blue line,” a cynical group alienated from their administration and the community they serve. Cynicism is seen as arising out of the conflict between what constables are expected to do by their administration and what they can realistically be expected to accomplish in the field. In this study, the authors develop an explanatory model using eight constructs from the cynicism literature and three constructs relating to the constables' working environment. Data for the analysis of the model are obtained from police archives, a survey of constables, and 9 months of field observation. The findings suggest that the model does not adequately account for variations in level of cynicism. Analysis of the observational data suggests that the inclusion of variables tapping the organization's internal and external political environments would provide substantial insight into constables'cynicism.

Authoritariansim as indicated by measures of acceptance of authority and directiveness among police officers, students and townspeople

Recently theory and scales measuring authoritarianism and cynicism of police have come into close scrutiny. In particular, Langworthy (1987:28,33) has concluded from his review of 21 empirical studies that police cynicism appears to have several different dimensions and that the “failure to detect cynicism or a factor closely related to it is a product of reliance on a very flawed instrument the Niederhoffer index.” To address that criticism of a faulty instrument, this research has utilized scales measuring directiveness and proauthority.

Using composite measures in police cynicism research: An application of canonical factor regression

In this paper, a “new” analytical strategy, the canonical factor regression method (CFRM) is introduced as a tool for constructing indices and measuring reliabilities of those indices from items derived from Niederhoffer's police cynicism index. Data for the project were derived from the survey responses of 574 Illinois police chiefs. Analysis of the data in the present project suggests that CFRM is a useful tool for constructing composite indices. CFRM allowed us to provide a more powerful test of hypothesized relationships between dimensions of cynicism and theoretically salient predictor variables than has previously been possible.

The Construction and Implementation of an Alternative Measure of Police Cynicism

Research on police cynicism is beset by two limitations. First, research aimed at identifying latent dimensions within the Niederhoffer 20-item scale has resulted in a surfeit of subscales that appear to be unique to the research setting. Second, no job-related consequences of police cynicism have been identified. The present research focuses on both issues. First, a police cynicism scale that is purposefully multidimensional was constructed. Second, the impact of the cynicism subscales on three areas of job performance—work relations, hostile police-citizen encounters, and arrests—was assessed. Data were derived from questionnaire responses of 110 police officers who represented two departments in Colorado. An analysis of latent structure identified four dimensions of cynicism. Composite indices constructed from these indices were found to affect all areas of job performance.

Cynicism and job satisfaction in policing: Muddying the waters

Since Niederhoffer’s (1969) pioneering work, police cynicism has been a staple in research on police officers and police work, various typologies of police officers and definitions of the police subculture or police personality rely to a greater or lesser degree on conceptions of cynicism and suspicion. More recent research has questioned both the validity of measures of cynicism and typologies of police officers. The present study examines the link between cynicism and job satisfaction which is implicit in the literature. Findings indicate not only that these two factors are correlated, but also that relationships reported between cynicism and other factors in policing are mirrored by correlations between those factors and a measure of job satisfaction. The question which arises is, to what degree are correlations reported in the literature spurious, resulting not from cynicism, as was thought, but from a more generic measure of job satisfaction?

Police cynicism in transkei

This study examined the nature and extent of police cynicism in Transkei, a country located in southern Africa. Data were derived from questionnaire responses of 393 of a random sample of 400 Transkei police. Once more the Niederhoffer cynicism scale was shown to be multidimensional, consisting of three independent subscales: POLICE IDEALS, which describes an offider's cynicism toward idealistic notions of police work; FAIR PLAY, a measure that taps the degree to which an officer is cynical about how he or she is treated by the police organization; and PUBLIC, a measure of an officer's cynicism regarding citizens. External validity was assessed by regressing theoretically meaningful predictor variables in each cynicism subscale, using rank as a specification variable. Important differences between commissioned and noncommissioned officers were detected. Finally, the relationship between police cynicism and length of service was modest and linear. The article concludes with a discussion of the relationship between the structure of the Transkei National Police system and the emergence and maintenance of cynicism.

Police Cynicism, Job Satisfaction, and Work Relations of Police Chiefs: An Assessment of the Influence of Department Size

Abstract In this project the interrelationships among three attitudes — police cynicism, job satisfaction, and work relations — for police chiefs have been examined. Chiefs were contrasted along the dimension of department size. Data were derived from survey questionnaire responses of 574 of 771 Illinois police chiefs (74.4 percent). Our findings point to important differences with regard to these attitudes for rural and urban chiefs. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for future research.