Search results

The article first examines whether police hiring decisions represent a zero-sum game where hires from one under-represented group (e.g. White women) reduce the number of hires made from other under-represented groups (non-White men and/or non-White women). Second, we explore whether agencies that hire more members of underrepresented groups achieve more diverse applicant pools in future hiring cycles. Negative binomial regression techniques are used in both analyses.

Data for this study come from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEAs) from 2011 to 2016. These data are divided into two periods: Period A (2011–2013) and Period B (2014–2016). The two periods are combined to assess a zero-sum effect. Then, Period A data on hiring decisions is used to estimate the diversity in applicant pools in Period B.

Results from this study provided little evidence of a zero-sum effect. It does not seem that agencies that hire from one under-represented group are less likely to hire from others. Instead, agencies that have shown a commitment to diversification are more likely to make additional hires from under-represented groups. We also found evidence of a relationship between Period A hires and Period B applicant pools for Hispanic women, but not for other groups. Broadly, we found that agencies where a larger share of officers are women were more likely to hire more women applicants.

Previous research examining zero-sum effects in hiring rely on officer rosters rather than specific applicant and hiring data. The data used in this study allows for a more precise examination of hiring decisions, and allows us to link hiring decisions to future applicant pool composition.

Policing scholars have largely ignored the workgroup dynamics of police command staffs. These officers work closely at the top of police organizations, promoting strategic objectives and overseeing significant changes. As leaders, emotional regulation is critical to the maintenance of internal and external relationships. Only a few research studies address emotional intelligence (EI) among police leaders. The current study combines these two issues to examine whether emotionally intelligent leaders report better perceptions of workgroup fit with their respective command staffs.

Using a survey of 304 United States (US) command staff officers attending the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy (NA), the authors apply person-environment fit theory and test several hypotheses using structural equation modeling.

Command staff officers with better EI report significantly better perceptions of workgroup fit, suggesting that they may be better equipped to navigate the command staff workgroup dynamics in this complex environment that demands high emotional regulation. Workgroup fit was also significantly higher among higher ranking officers and among officers racialized as White.

Few studies have addressed perceptions of workgroup fit among command staff officers, and little attention has been given to the concept of EI. The authors add to these two important areas of research and provide evidence that emotional intelligence is an important characteristic for leaders when considering how well command staffs work together. This finding may have implications for the efficacy of agencies to facilitate change efforts or to carry out daily operations.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impacts coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had on US police academies’ production of police recruits.

The study used a national online survey of police academy directors in the USA, followed by purposive, semi-structured interviews of select academy directors. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data is combined in a mixed methods approach.

The findings suggest that academies experienced a range of impacts related to COVID-19. These impacts lead to more questions concerning how academies and state-level governing boards responded not only to pandemic-related challenges, but also to their willingness to accept more online and alternative curriculum delivery strategies.

Police academies are a required step in the production of new police recruits in the USA, but researchers have paid little attention to how academies operate. While exploratory, this study provides some insights into how this aspect of policing weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers suggestions for future research, as well as policy implications.

Cyberbullying – using technology to intentionally and repeatedly engage in bullying behaviors – has gained considerable public attention over the last decade. Parents and educators regularly instruct students about appropriate online behaviors and threaten consequences for misbehaviors. The role and responsibility of law enforcement officers in preventing and responding to cyberbullying incidents remains uncertain. While clear violations of the law (e.g. threats of physical harm) most directly implicate the police, other – more common behaviors – such as rumor spreading or hurtful online commenting do not. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The current study surveyed 1,596 law enforcement supervisors attending the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy (NA) program. The survey instrument assessed perceptions of law enforcement responsibility in cyberbullying incidents. Data were collected in three waves over a nine-year period, allowing the measurement of attitudinal changes over time.

The authors find that certain officer characteristics are associated with a greater interest in responding to different types of cyberbullying (including having children at home and having previous experience dealing with cyberbullying) and that these perceptions have evolved over time.

The data are specific to law enforcement leaders who participated in the NA and are therefore not generalizable to all officers. Nevertheless, implications for explaining variance and law enforcement involvement in cyberbullying incidents are discussed.

This is the first study to survey law enforcement leaders over time to assess their evolving perceptions of law enforcement’s role in addressing cyberbullying among youth.

Police officer perceptions of their own legitimacy can be important in shaping aspects of their performance and other organizational outcomes. The current study uses person-environment fit theory to assess the effects of value congruence with top managers, immediate supervisors and coworkers on officers' perceptions of self-legitimacy.

The study used a cross-sectional survey of nearly 250 front-line police officers from seven municipal police departments in Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky to examine the effects of perceived value congruence on officers’ self-legitimacy. A hierarchical model of fit is assessed using structural equation modeling.

Findings demonstrate that value congruence positively relates to officers’ reported self-legitimacy, suggesting that officers who perceive greater similarity in values with others in the organization will express more confidence in their authority.

Our findings add to research on police officers’ self-legitimacy, and the use of a hierarchical model of person-environment fit might offer implications for future research on police culture.

Purpose – This chapter provides an overview to the challenges of policing both natural and man-made disasters. Questions surrounding police preparedness to respond to large-scale disasters as well as the causes of failure are likely one of the single biggest system threats faced by police today.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter starts out with a short discussion about the important impact the 9/11 attacks as well as both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had on policing in the United States. The materials presented also provide a conceptual framework for understanding the meaning of “disasters,” as well as making sense of the effectiveness of the police response. Finally, this chapter provides an overview of the role of police in disasters, and more importantly, their role in “creating order out of chaos” (Punch & Markham, 2000).

Findings – After more than 10 years of substantial attention to problems associated with responses to natural and man-made disasters, significant barriers remain in the level of communication and coordination among first responders. These barriers are best understood as cultural and not technical in nature.

Originality/value of paper – The conceptual role of police in both pre-disaster planning and post-disaster responses has been largely ignored in the literature. This chapter provides a strong framework for conceptualizing these roles. We argue that police, as core members of the first responder system, must continue to break down cultural barriers that diminish their capacities to effectively serve communities in the wake of disasters.

Leadership plays a key role ensuring the achievement of desired outcomes in both formal and informal groups. Insufficient leadership in policing can result in significant negative consequences for agencies and their personnel. Despite the importance of effective leadership within police organizations little is known about the process of developing effective leaders and leadership behaviors. The paper contributes to the limited available empirical knowledge using data collected from police supervisors. The intent is to assess supervisors' perceptions of how leadership abilities might best be developed and to identify the barriers inhibiting such efforts.

Open‐ended surveys are administered to students attending the FBI's National Academy, a career development program for mid‐career police supervisors. Respondents report their experiences with and perceptions of leadership development. The purposive sample of respondents provides insights from supervisors representing police agencies of various sizes and types from around the world.

Respondents indicate leadership skills are best developed through a combination of education, experience, and mentorship. Developing more effective leadership is dependent on the ability to overcome barriers, both within the profession and within individual officers. Finite resources, macro and local aspects of police culture, and failures of leadership by current executives are all viewed as working against the growth of effective leadership practices.

Given the dearth of empirical research considering dimensions of police leadership, myriad implications for future research are identified and discussed.

The findings provide important preliminary insights into the experiences and beliefs of police supervisors.

Community policing has been the focus of considerable research attention and financial support in recent years. Despite extensive inquiry, there are still many unanswered issues surrounding this philosophy of policing. In addition, many studies of community policing have occurred in agencies which have specialized it as a program, rather than broadly generalizing it as a philosophy. This study seeks to overcome limitations in existing research by examining aspects of police attitudes toward community policing and testing the extent to which such attitudes are predicted by demographic and experiential variables. Data are drawn from a Midwestern police agency which was implementing generalized community policing. Results suggest that there is a distinction between global and specific perceptions, however different measures predict such attitudes. The implications of these findings for future research considering community policing attitudes among police officers are also discussed.

Police leaders and leadership remain understudied within existing criminal justice scholarship. Using data derived from police supervisors participating in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy program, the purpose of this paper is to examine effective leaders and leadership. Specific consideration is given to the traits and habits of effective and ineffective leaders, the assessment of leadership efficacy, the development of leaders, and the barriers to the expansion of more effective leaders and leadership in contemporary policing.

Surveys were administered to over 1,000 police supervisors. Respondents ranked the traits and habits of effective and ineffective leaders, methods to evaluate leadership efficacy, and barriers to the expansion of more effective leaders and leadership. Though a convenience sample, the supervisors represent a diverse mix of police agencies of various sizes and types from around the world.

Ratings suggest respondents saw effective and ineffective leaders as expressing nearly opposite sets of traits and habits. Efficacy was most strongly linked with integrity, work ethic, communication, and care for personnel; ineffective leaders were characterized as failing to express these traits. Respondents cast leadership development as a process best‐achieved through a mixture of training/education, experience, and feedback. Surprisingly, the most highly‐rated barriers to the expansion of effective leaders and leadership practices were not fiscal, but cultural, structural, and political.

Findings suggest key policy implications for police organizations and the policing profession. Many highly‐rated traits and habits may be linked with personality traits; this could complicate the capacity of leadership development initiatives to enhance these behaviors. Results suggest development programs need to do more than simply expose students to a diverse set of theories and perspectives of leadership; mentoring and guided experience were also rated as helpful. Major barriers to the expansion of effective leadership were not issues easily or quickly overcome, complicating the long‐term prospects of enhancing the quality of leadership within policing.

Given the paucity of systemic and large‐scale studies of police leadership, the findings offer important parameters to guide future research efforts. Though some results validate what might be assumed about police leadership, that validation is largely absent from the extant literature. The results provide a starting basis to guide subsequent research assessing the outcomes, evaluation, and development of police leaders.