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1 – 10 of over 15000Michael T.H. Lai, Emmy Yeung and Rosanna Leung
Policing activities aim to provide a safe environment for tourists. With the recent major protests that have erupted around the world, and the novel use of excessive police force…
Abstract
Purpose
Policing activities aim to provide a safe environment for tourists. With the recent major protests that have erupted around the world, and the novel use of excessive police force against protestors, people may wonder if the policing deployment is for destination safety or to deter tourists from visiting. This paper aims to investigate anti-police and pro-police attitudes and tourists' behavioural responses towards a popular destination experiencing an ongoing social movement.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected between December 2019 and January 2020 (during the social movement). An online survey with a snowball sampling method was adopted to reach international tourists who were aware of the social movement in Hong Kong.
Findings
The results revealed that an individual with an anti-police attitude was found to be related to cognitive and affective destination images and perceived risks while those holding a pro-police attitude were more concerned with destination images only. No significant correlation was found between attitudes towards policing and travel intention.
Originality/value
This research presents a first attempt to investigate the relationship between tourists' policing attitudes and their behavioural responses during an ongoing social movement in a popular destination city.
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Ivan Y. Sun, Jianhong Liu and Ashley K. Farmer
– The purpose of this paper is to assess factors that influence Chinese police supervisors’ attitudes toward police roles, community policing, and job satisfaction.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess factors that influence Chinese police supervisors’ attitudes toward police roles, community policing, and job satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from police supervisors in a major Chinese city. Multivariate regression was used to assess the effects of officers’ background characteristics and assignments on their occupational attitudes.
Findings
Ethnic minority supervisors were more likely to have a broader order maintenance orientation, a narrower crime fighting orientation, and supportive attitudes toward quality of life activities. Less experienced supervisors were more inclined to favor the order maintenance role. Supervisors with a stronger order maintenance orientation tended to support problem solving activities and have a greater level of job satisfaction. Officers with military service experience also expressed a higher degree of job satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
Survey data collected from a single Chinese city may not be generalizable to officers in other regions and departments.
Practical implications
Police administrators should screen all applicants on attitudes that reflect departmental work priorities and styles of policing during the initial selection process. Desirable attitudes can be further molded into officers during their academic training, field officer training, and in-service training. Police administrators should continue their recruiting efforts targeting former military personnel. With adequate training in fulfilling civilian tasks and displaying proper outlooks, these individuals could become effective members of the forces.
Originality/value
Despite a growing number of studies on crime and justice in China, empirical research on policing in general and on officers’ occupational attitudes in particular remains very limited. This study represents one of the first attempts to assess factors related to police occupational outlooks in China.
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Concerned with the pervasive unfriendly relationship between the Nigeria police and the public, and the need to improve upon this relationship, the present study was designed to…
Abstract
Purpose
Concerned with the pervasive unfriendly relationship between the Nigeria police and the public, and the need to improve upon this relationship, the present study was designed to examine the moderating roles of perceived organizational support and public recognition in the relationship between unethical attitudes and prosocial behaviour among a sample of Nigeria police officers.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a cross‐sectional survey design, data was collected from a total of 163 participants randomly drawn among officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force, Oyo State Command, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Findings
Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses reveal an inverse relationship between unethical attitudes and prosocial behaviour among police officers with high or average levels of perceived organizational support and public recognition, while among police officers with low perceived organizational support and public recognition there was a positive relationship between unethical attitudes and prosocial behaviour. The concepts of social exchange theory and the norm of reciprocity were used to explain these findings.
Research limitations/implications
Statements on causality with respect to the present findings must be made with caution because of the non‐experimental nature of the study. Furthermore, perceived organizational support and public recognition were used as global concepts; future studies could explore different facets of these constructs and see how they moderate the relationship between unethical attitudes and prosocial behaviour.
Originality/value
The results of the study suggest that the Nigerian police must be supported and accorded their due recognition if they must behave ethically and prosocially to the Nigerian public.
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Byongook Moon and Laren J. Zager
The increased contact that police have with citizens that characterizes community policing makes mutual trust and respect between police and citizens crucial to success. Despite…
Abstract
Purpose
The increased contact that police have with citizens that characterizes community policing makes mutual trust and respect between police and citizens crucial to success. Despite the importance of examining officers' perceptions of citizen trust and support, few studies have been conducted to examine officers' perspectives. The current research attempted to fill that void by examining the effects of individual, organizational and beat characteristic variables on officers' attitudes toward citizen support, using a sample of 434 Korean police officers.
Design/methodology/approach
The current research attempted to fill that void by examining the effects of individual, organizational and beat characteristic variables on officers' attitudes toward citizen support, using a sample of 434 Korean police officers. The results of OLS regression analyses indicate that individual and organizational factors such as seniority and the level of the officers' assigned police department were significantly related to officers' attitude toward citizen support.
Findings
The results of OLS regression analyses indicate that individual and organizational factors such as seniority and the level of the officers' assigned police department were significantly related to officers' attitude toward citizen support. As expected, beat characteristic variables (i.e. the perceived community income level and the perceived community crime problem) have significant effects on the officers' perceptions of citizen support.
Research limitations/implications
To better understand determinants of officers' perceptions of citizen support further research is necessary to examine the effects of personality traits, occupational socialization, and working environments, all features which were found to have significant effects on officers' attitudes and behaviors.
Originality/value
Overall, the current study augments our understanding of officers' perceptions of citizen support and factors affecting those perceptions.
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Noreen Shafiq, Ioan M. Ohlsson and Paul Mathias
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the predictors of punitive attitudes towards young offenders among police officers. This included an examination of variables such as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the predictors of punitive attitudes towards young offenders among police officers. This included an examination of variables such as officers’ coping styles, mental health, rank and age. It was predicted that indirect coping styles, mental health difficulties, higher age and higher rank would negatively impact on punitive attitudes towards young offenders. Officers reporting direct coping strategies, low levels of mental health difficulties, lower rank and lower age were expected to have less punitive and more rehabilitative attitudes towards young offenders.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 83 police officers and community support officers from the UK completed standardised self-report measures.
Findings
Indirect coping strategies, high levels of mental health difficulties and high rank were all associated with more punitive attitudes, whilst age had no impact.
Research limitations/implications
Results are discussed with regard to their research and real world implications. These include an impact of these findings on the job performance, community safety, approaches to policing, and the well-being of police officers. The importance of mental well-being, direct coping and positive attitudes towards young offenders is indicated in order for police officers to employ more proactive, consistent and fair behaviour with this group, leading to less punitive outcomes for young offenders, as well as improved police-youth relations.
Originality/value
The research findings link mental health, coping styles and rank to officers’ attitudes towards young offenders, which had not been fully examined in the literature previously. Results suggest that mental well-being and direct coping styles may serve as a protective factor against the development of punitive attitudes. This highlights the importance of providing support for mental well-being, as well as training in the areas of effective coping styles and issues surrounding young offenders.
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Samara McPhedran, Angela R. Gover and Paul Mazerolle
The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first goal is to conduct a cross-national examination of law enforcement officer attitudes about domestic violence (DV) by comparing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first goal is to conduct a cross-national examination of law enforcement officer attitudes about domestic violence (DV) by comparing officer attitudes in the USA to officer attitudes in Australia. The second goal is to examine law enforcement officer attitudes about DV using a gender lens to identify whether patterns in attitudes among male and female officers in the USA are similar to those among Australian male and female law enforcement officers.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study involves a comparative analysis of DV attitudes in two different countries (the USA and Australia). Officers in the USA were asked to indicate their level agreement with 28 attitudinal statements about DV. The Australian survey adapted the Gover et al. (2011) instrument by including 24 of the 28 attitudinal statements. The survey followed a mixed-methods design with both quantitative and qualitative components. Bivariate analyses were conducted to determine whether attitudes varied by country and gender of the responding officers. Analyses of attitudinal questions and categorical variables (e.g. gender) were conducted using t-tests.
Findings
According to survey data gathered from police officers in Colorado (USA) and Queensland (Australia), male and female officer attitudes within each country are more similar than different. When comparing the overall sample of American officer attitudes to Australian officer attitudes, they significantly differ about half the time.
Research limitations/implications
The Australian survey had a considerably low response rate, and therefore it cannot be stated with certainty whether the responses given are truly representative of the views of Australian officers as a whole, although the demographic characteristics of the sample were comparable with the overall police population demographics. Another limitation is that not all demographic and background variables were collected by both surveys. For example, the US survey asked about officers’ ethnicity, while the Australian survey did not, and the Australian survey asked about how many DV jobs officers attended per month, while the US survey did not.
Practical implications
Improving knowledge about police attitudes towards DV can help to inform future policy or practice implementation, as well as training programmes and better overall responses to the pervasive and ongoing problem of DV internationally.
Originality/value
This is a unique and original piece of research as it is a partial cross-national replication of an existing survey. This work does have the potential for great impact in understanding and developing innovative law enforcement responses to DV. In developing such responses officer attitudes need to be considered and integrated into the response, as their opinions will guide the support of future interventions.
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Olga Soares Cunha and Rui Abrunhosa Gonçalves
Police officers’ attitudes toward criminals are critical to the justice system’s response to crime. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes toward offenders…
Abstract
Purpose
Police officers’ attitudes toward criminals are critical to the justice system’s response to crime. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes toward offenders (ATOs) among police officers.
Design/methodology/approach
To assess police officers ATOs, the authors adapted the Attitudes Toward Prisoner scale to produce the ATO scale. The scale was completed by 431 male police officers in a Portuguese police institution.
Findings
The results revealed that police officers hold more negative ATOs than correctional officers and graduate students. Moreover, the results revealed significant differences in average ATO scores according to police officers’ age, years of service, marital status and education; namely, police officers who were older, married, less educated, and with more years of police service had more positive ATOs. However, the results revealed that these demographic factors had a limited value in predicting attitudes, as none of them emerged as a predictor of ATOs.
Originality/value
Nonetheless, considering the relevance of attitudes in law enforcement procedures, the implications for training police officers are provided, specifically using critical incident technique strategies.
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Steven Chermak, Edmund McGarrell and Jeff Gruenewald
The purpose of this paper is to examine how celebrated cases affect attitudes toward police, controlling for key demographic, police contact, and neighborhood contextual variables.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how celebrated cases affect attitudes toward police, controlling for key demographic, police contact, and neighborhood contextual variables.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents two waves of public opinion data measuring attitudes toward police, police services, police harassment, and officer guilt before and after a celebrated police misconduct trial. Data were collected by telephone from residents living in three areas.
Findings
The findings in the paper suggest that news consumption of this celebrated case had no significant effects on general attitudes toward police, police services, and concerns about police harassment. Media coverage, however, did effect citizen evaluation of the guilt of the officers involved in the case. The more a citizen read a newspaper or read about the case, the more likely she was to think that the officers were guilty. Concern about crime in the neighborhood was an important predictor of attitudes toward the police, and race effects were much more pronounced after media coverage of the case.
Research limitations/implications
This paper highlights the need to examine more closely media coverage of celebrated cases and the effects of such high profile cases. In addition, it illustrates that public opinion research must be careful of contextual variables when conducting a study at a single point in time.
Practical implications
These findings also have critical implications for law enforcement agencies. The findings highlight the importance of police departments being prepared to respond to crisis events.
Originality/value
This paper is valuable to scholars and police practitioners because of its close examination of the effects of a celebrated case on various measures of public opinion of the police. Although there have many studies examining this general topic, research has ignored the impact of media coverage generally and coverage of high profile incidents.
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Amy M. Alberton and Kevin M. Gorey
This scoping review thoroughly scanned research on race, contacts with police and attitudes toward police. An exploratory meta-analysis then assessed the strength of their…
Abstract
Purpose
This scoping review thoroughly scanned research on race, contacts with police and attitudes toward police. An exploratory meta-analysis then assessed the strength of their associations and interaction in Canada and the USA. Key knowledge gaps and specific future research needs, synthetic and primary, were identified. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A germinal methodological framework for conducting scoping reviews was used (Arksey and O’Malley, 2005). The authors searched for published or unpublished research over the past 15 years and retrieved 33 eligible surveys, 19 of which were included in a sample-weighted meta-analysis.
Findings
The independent association of contact with attitudes toward police was estimated to be three times larger than the independent race association. Three large knowledge gaps were identified. Almost nothing is known about these associations among specific racial groups as they were typically aggregated into visible minority groupings. The authors have essentially no knowledge yet about specific racial group by a specific type of contact interactions. There is also a lack of generalizable knowledge as research has been largely restricted to locales.
Originality/value
This is the first research synthesis of race and attitudes toward the police that incorporated contacts with the police. Its observation of the relative importance of contacts suggested a great preventive potential. This scoping review identified needs for a full systematic research review and a formal meta-analysis to plan future primary research including large national studies that are truly representative of Canada and America’s diversity. Such will be needed to advance more confident knowledge about the factors that would support more trusted relationships between police and people in the communities they aim to serve.
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Matthew J. Hickman, Zachary A. Powell, Alex R. Piquero and Jack Greene
Relying on a moral development theoretical framework, the purpose of this paper is to argue that the perceived seriousness of a particular behavior is a reflection of one’s…
Abstract
Purpose
Relying on a moral development theoretical framework, the purpose of this paper is to argue that the perceived seriousness of a particular behavior is a reflection of one’s broader attitudes toward ethical behaviors. Attitudes toward ethical behavior should provide both an elaborated explanation for the relationship between the perceived seriousness of a behavior and the likelihood of reporting a fellow officer for that behavior, as well as an alternative approach to the measurement and assessment of police integrity outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from a sample of 499 Philadelphia police officers, the current study uses a modified fifteen item ethics scale first developed by Hyams (1990) and used by others, in order to examine its relation to integrity outcomes. The paper provides a full descriptive and measurement analysis of the scale and then explores its utility in understanding integrity outcomes through a variety of hypothetical scenarios.
Findings
While the perceived seriousness of a behavior is strongly predictive of the likelihood of reporting a fellow officer who engages in that behavior, the findings suggest that seriousness may be a proxy for attitudes toward ethical behaviors.
Originality/value
While Klockars et al.’s approach to the measurement of police integrity has been an important contribution to integrity research, other measures of police integrity such as attitudes toward ethical behavior are also useful as they move us conceptually from assessing attitudes toward ethical behavior to their antecedents – the strength of underlying value premises shaping subsequent attitudes.
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