Steven G. Brandl

An Examination of the Workplace Experiences of Police Patrol Officers: The Role of Race, Sex, and Sexual Orientation:

Reform efforts in many police departments have diversified the workforce, especially with regard to race, sex, and sexual orientation. Research, however, has demonstrated that the assimilation of these officers has not been problem-free. Using data collected from a large, municipal police department, this article examines the workplace experiences of patrol officers and a potential consequence of those experiences: stress. We find that being female and being a racial/ethnic minority brings with it substantially different experiences on the job compared to male and White officers. Our findings also confirm previous research that workplace climate has an effect on workplace stress.

Toward an Understanding of the Physical Hazards of Police Work

Most of the existing research on the hazards of police work concludes that policing is a dangerous occupation. The operationalization of dangerousness used by most researchers, however, fails to account for injuries and deaths that occur as a result of accidents, relying instead on the analysis of assaults and homicides. Defining dangerousness in this manner not only provides an incomplete picture of the dangers associated with the job but also precludes the comparison of policing to other occupations. Using injury report data from a police department and fire department in a large Midwestern city, this study contributes to knowledge in this area by (a) expanding the conceptualization of dangerousness to include injuries that occur as a result of accidents, (b) comparing accidental injuries to those that result from felonious acts, and (c) comparing injury incidents of varying natures and causes across occupations.

The content of community policing: a comparison of the daily activities of community and “beat” officers

States that proponents of community policing contend that implementation of this strategy should substantially change the nature of police work. Unfortunately, there remains only limited knowledge about what community policing officers actually do, and in fact, many researchers suggest that community policing is merely a new name for traditional forms of policing. Using observational data collected in a medium sized municipal police department, examines the work of community officers and compares it to the work of traditional “beat” officers. Discusses the activities of community officers in light of existing literature which has examined the workload of police officers.

In the line of duty: A descriptive analysis of police assaults and accidents

Common in the literature are discussions of the dangerousness of the police occupation. In particular, numerous studies have examined the circumstances surrounding the murder and assault of police officers. Relatively little is known, however, about how these dramatic events fit into the larger context of police injury incidents. This article reports the results of analyses based on 2,073 officer injury incidents (reports) gathered from a large U.S. midwestern municipal police department. Findings and implications are discussed.

Race, Gender, and Tokenism in Policing: An Empirical Elaboration

According to tokenism theory, “tokens” (those who comprise less than 15% of a group’s total) are expected to experience a variety of hardships in the workplace, such as feelings of heightened visibility, isolation, and limited opportunities for advancement. In the policing literature, most previous studies have defined tokenism narrowly in terms of gender. The current research extends prior research by examining tokenism as a function of gender and race, with an examination of racial/ethnic subgroups. Particular attention is paid to Latino officers as this study represents the first known study of tokenism and Latino police officers. Quantitative analyses reveal that, for the most part, token police officers do experience the effects of tokenism as predicted by tokenism theory. Although all minorities experienced some level of tokenism, Black males and Black females experienced greater levels of tokenism than Latino officers, suggesting that race is a stronger predictor of tokenism than gender.

On the measurement of public support for the police: a research note

Since the 1960s, many studies have analyzed citizens’ attitudes toward the police. These studies have used a variety of items to measure citizens’ attitudes ( items which vary in their referent (e.g. “the police,” “the police in the neighborhood”) and in their focus (e.g. assessments of overall police performance, assessments of police performance in dealing with specific conditions). Using data obtained through a survey of 298 residents of a midwestern city, compares responses to various questions designed to measure attitudes toward the police. The results show that regardless of the referent or focus, there are few differences in response patterns across questions. Discusses the implications of these findings.

Aggregation bias and the capacity for formal crime control: The determinants of total and disaggregated police force size in Milwaukee, 1934–1987

Recent longitudinal analyses of total police force size, both cross and within jurisdictions, raise serious questions about the explanatory power of the rational choice and conflict theories of crime control. Generally the empirical literature suggests that current levels of police force size are explained well by previous manpower levels and are relatively unresponsive to changes in the social structure of macro social units. This study explores the possibility that the failure to decompose police force size into its component parts may be masking the influence of structural conditions on crime control bureaucracies. We examine changes, over time, in the size of the total and disaggregated (patrol, detective, and civilian) police force in Milwaukee from 1934 to 1987. The findings suggest that police administrators may have more discretion to make adjustments to specific units than to total manpower levels. We discuss the implications of these results for rational choice and conflict theories.

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.

The Physical Hazards of Police Work Revisited

This study examines the extent to which injuries to police officers have changed from 1996-1998 to 2006-2008. Data were obtained from injury reports filed by sworn officers of the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Police Department. Results indicated that the frequency and rate (injury incidents per officer) of officer assaults, other suspect-related injuries, and accidents declined during the study period. While the specification of the reasons for these changes remains a topic for future research, the decline in assaults and suspect-related injuries may well be a function of the increased availability and more routine use of less lethal technology, enhanced training, and the more common use of protective equipment.

The Role of Officer Attributes, Job Characteristics, and Arrest Activity in Explaining Police Use of Force

While numerous studies have examined the causes, correlates, and control of police use of force, many questions remain. This study contributes to the literature on police use of force by examining the role of officers’ background characteristics, job characteristics (patrol area and shift assignment), and arrest activity in explaining variation in the frequency with which officers use force. Analyses were conducted on 1,084 police officers employed in a large municipal police department. Use of force data were obtained from 477 official departmental reports from 2010. Results suggest that a small proportion of officers are responsible for a large proportion of force incidents, and that officers who frequently use force differ in important and significant ways from officers who use force less often (or not at all). Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.