Robert E. Worden

Global and specific attitudes toward the police: Disentangling the relationship

Since the 1960s, a substantial body of research has focused on citizens attitudes toward the police. These studies tap a rather wide variety of outlooks: some ask about specific assessments of the police (e.g., satisfaction with the police in particular incidents), while others ask about more global assessments (e.g., satisfaction with the police in general, police in the community, or police in the neighborhood). Using data obtained through a panel survey of 398 residents of a large midwestern city, we compare specific assessments of police performance with more global attitudes toward the police. We also examine the effects of global and specific attitudes on one another. The results show that the two measures produce similar levels of support for the police. The results reveal further that global attitudes have substantial effects on specific assessments of police performance, and that the effects of specific assessments of police performance on global attitudes are modest by comparison.

Police culture, individualism, and community policing: Evidence from two police departments

According to the conventional wisdom, the police culture consists of a set of values, attitudes, and norms that are widely shared among officers, who find in the culture a way to cope with the strains of their working environment. Some research implies that the conventional wisdom is overdrawn, and recent research has begun to question it more directly. Changes in the composition (i.e., the race, sex, and education) of police personnel, as well as philosophical and organizational changes associated with community policing, could be expected to further fragment police culture and to shift the distribution of police attitudes. Here we examine variation in outlooks that, according to conventional wisdom, are part of the police culture, using survey data collected in two police departments. We also examine the relationships between these outlooks and characteristics of officers—sex, race, education, length of service, community-policing training, and community-policing specialist assignment—that are associated with the changes in policing. We find that officers outlooks do not conform to the pattern that we would expect on the basis of conventional wisdom. We also find that the variation in officers occupational attitudes is not patterned to a great extent by their characteristics. We conclude with directions for future research on police attitudes.

Further exploration of the demeanor hypothesis: The interaction effects of suspects' characteristics and demeanor on police behavior

Recent research has reexamined the hypothesis that suspects demeanor affects police behavior. Reanalyses have supported this demeanor hypothesis, but none have considered the possible interaction effect of demeanor with other extralegal variables. Utilizing systematic observational data collected in 24 police departments in three metropolitan areas, this research examines whether demeanor and suspects characteristics interact, and ultimately produce differential patterns of citation, arrest, and the use of force. These estimated interaction effects provide a clearer understanding of the effect of demeanor in different contexts; more important, they acknowledge that officers accept some forms of disrespect but not others, depending on factors outside demeanor alone.

POLICE ARRESTS IN DOMESTIC DISTURBANCES: A FURTHER LOOK

This study is a reexamination of the effect of situational characteristics on police arrests in domestic disturbances. Using observational data, we replicate recent research based upon official police reports. We also consider the implications of variables not available in the earlier study, especially the role orientation of the intervening officer. The results support the previous finding that the arrest decision turns on situational cues, but it suggests that the salience of such factors differs for officers whose role orientations differ.

A badge and a baccalaureate: Policies, hypotheses, and further evidence

Arguments for and against measures intended to raise the educational levels of police officers turn partly on the hypothesized relationships between college education and officers attitudes and behavior. The purpose of this analysis is to provide additional empirical evidence concerning these hypotheses. The results suggest that college education is weakly related to some attitudes and unrelated to others. The results also show that officers performance in police-citizen encounters, measured in terms of citizens evaluations, is largely unrelated to officers educational backgrounds.

POLICE OFFICERS' BELIEF SYSTEMS: A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS

No study has been made to identify systematically the elements of police officers’ belief systems. Most studies focus on one or more attitudes and ignore related findings. Recent research has shown that police are heterogeneous in their attitudes, i.e., officers have divergent views about the ends and means of their functions. This article digests previous research and describes those belief systems which directly affect officers’ behavior. Reviews the typologies of White, Brown, Muir and Broderick and synthesizes these into five types: professional; tough‐cop; clean‐beat crime‐fighter; problem‐solver; avoider. Examines the outlook of these of five types in terms of human nature (e.g. cynicism), processes or outcomes (e.g. job satisfaction), and coercive authority. Calls for better conceptualization and measurement of police officers’ outlooks.

CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT IN THE COPRODUCTION OF POLICE OUTPUTS

ABSTRACT It is often implied that citizens’ attitudes toward the police are a determinant of their willingness to engage in the coproduction of police outputs. This relationship, however, has been subjected to only limited empirical scrutiny. Using data from a three wave panel survey conducted in a large metropolitan area, this study examines the determinants of coproduction with particular emphasis on the causal role of citizens’ attitudes toward the police. The study provides little support for the hypothesis which links citizens’ attitudes to citizen willingness to engage in coproductive behaviors. Instead, a variety of other individual level variables appear to have a much greater effect on citizen willingness to engage in coproductive behaviors.

Here’s Looking at You An Evaluation of Public CCTV Cameras and Their Effects on Crime and Disorder

We examine the impacts of public surveillance cameras on crime and disorder in Schenectady, New York, a medium-sized city in the northeastern United States. We assessed camera impacts by analyzing monthly counts of crime and disorder-related calls for service that occurred within each camera’s 150-foot viewshed as an interrupted time series, with the interruption at the time that the camera in question was activated. We also analyzed counts of incidents between 150 and 350 feet of cameras to assess displacement effects and diffusion of benefits. We further estimated camera effects on counts of only incidents in public locations—street crimes. Our study suggests that cameras have had effects on crime, even more consistent effects on disorder, and that the visibility of cameras is associated with its impact on crime and disorder. We conclude by discussing the implications of the findings and discuss the questions to which future research should be directed.

The Effect of Sanctions on Police Misconduct

Police disciplinary systems are predicated on the notion of deterrence, particularly that officers more severely sanctioned for misconduct will be less likely to repeat those behaviors compared with less severely or unsanctioned officers. Using retrospective, longitudinal data from a large police department in the northeastern United States, we explore whether this fundamental assumption of police disciplinary systems is supported. Specifically, we examine both the likelihood and timing of complaints filed against officers who had obtained at least one complaint in their career that was sustained (i.e., upheld in an investigation), and compare outcomes of sanction severity on future sustained complaints. The results demonstrate that while a few demographic and complaint characteristics significantly affect the likelihood and timing of future misconduct in expected ways, officers who received more severe sanctions were actually more likely to obtain an additional sustained complaint when compared with nonsanctioned officers. Why this is the case is unclear from the data, but the most plausible explanation is that the perceived injustice of the disciplinary system may actually promote officer deviance.

Mirage of Police Reform

In the United States, the exercise of police authority—and the public’s trust that police authority is used properly—is a recurring concern. Contemporary prescriptions for police reform hold that the public would trust the police more and feel a greater obligation to comply and cooperate if police-citizen interactions were marked by higher levels of procedural justice by police. In this book, Robert E. Worden and Sarah J. McLean argue that the procedural justice model of reform is a mirage. From a distance, procedural justice seems to offer relief from strained police-community relations. But a closer look at police organizations and police-citizen interactions shows that the relief offered by such reform is, in fact, illusory. A procedural justice model of policing is likely to be only loosely coupled with police practice, despite the best intentions, and improvements in procedural justice on the part of police are unlikely to result in corresponding improvements in citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice. “Rigorous and thoughtful, this book’s careful methodology and provocative conclusions on procedural justice illuminate key challenges for political leaders, policy makers, and practitioners who strive to improve police-community relations in America. A must-read for police researchers!” STEVEN MASTROFSKI, George Mason University “This timely book challenges widespread assumptions about procedural justice. It provides a potent reminder that much remains to be learned about how people form perceptions of the police, and how police agencies can influence these perceptions.” EDWARD R. MAGUIRE, Arizona State University “Since Ferguson, the nation has been searching for solutions to the legitimacy crisis that has engulfed policing. Procedural justice was the number one reform put forward by President Obama’s commission. This book digs into this proposal and provides the best evidence to date on how it actually affects police behavior and public acceptance of being policed.” WESLEY G. SKOGAN, Northwestern University ROBERT E. WORDEN is Director of the John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University at Albany, SUNY. SARAH J. McLEAN is Associate Director and Director of Research and Technical Assistance at the John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety.