Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management

vLex
Publisher:
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Publication date:
2021-02-01
ISBN:
1363-951X

Issue Number

Latest documents

  • Police officers’ assessments of factors that contribute to police corruption in Ghana

    Purpose: Police corruption – the use or misuse of entrusted power for personal, institutional or third-party advantage – is widespread in emerging economies. Encounters with justice officials in developing nations often involve the payment of bribes, which undermines justice delivery and impedes socioeconomic development. Efforts to tackle or address corruption are usually complex due to the secretive nature of corruption, its perceived benefit to both victims and perpetrators and a lack of consensus on the causes. This article investigates the causes of police corruption from the viewpoint of Ghanaian police officers. Design/methodology/approach: The study draws on data from a survey of police officers across three regions in Ghana. Descriptive, correlational and linear regression analyses are used to address the issues. Findings: The results show that factors contributing to police corruption are classified into financial, cultural, institutional and oversight/guidance. We found that police officers’ consideration of a factor as a cause of police corruption is influenced by their perceptions of other factors as causes of corruption. Practical implications: The results show that corruption causes should not be tackled in isolation as they depend on each other. This suggests that a holistic approach needs to be taken when developing strategies to address the causes of police corruption. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the debate on the causes of police corruption from an African perspective, where there is little quantitative research exploring the causes of police corruption. Control variables do not impact officers’ perceptions of causes of corruption, which contradicts previous studies and contributes to the debate, literature and theory development.

  • Navigating job demands and resources in policing: the role of self-efficacy in work burnout and engagement

    Purpose: This study examined the effects of job demands and resources specific to policing on work burnout and engagement, including self-efficacy’s role in expanding the job demands-resources model (JD-R model). Design/methodology/approach: The authors used survey data from 1,591 South Korean police by nationwide sampling officers in 2023. A moderation analysis was used to examine the relationships between each variable. Findings: Self-efficacy moderates the effects of job demands and job resources on work burnout but not on work engagement. The high self-efficacy group generally exhibits lower levels of work burnout than the low self-efficacy group. The high self-efficacy group is associated with higher levels of work burnout as job demands increase and lower levels of work burnout as job resources increase. The low self-efficacy group experiences higher levels of work burnout independent of job demands and job resources than the high self-efficacy group. In the low self-efficacy group, the reduction in job burnout is very gentle as job resources increase. Also, the increase in job burnout is steep as job demands increase. Originality/value: Job resources are generally considered helpful in reducing work burnout. However, the current study highlights the necessity for delicate interventions considering self-efficacy levels.

  • To activate, or not to activate? Officers’ decisions to turn on body-worn cameras during different police services

    Purpose: This study explores how various officer and event-level factors influence Milwaukee Police Department officers’ decision to activate their body-worn cameras (BWCs) across both community member-initiated services and officer-initiated activities. Design/methodology/approach: Across the 1,052 officers and 1,066,112 officer-events in the sample, we use descriptive and logistical regressions to assess differences in BWC activations across calls for service and officer-initiated activities. Findings: We found similar activation rates between calls for service (41.5%) and officer-initiated activities (44.1%). However, our logistic regression analysis results suggest the explanatory power of the event and officer-level variables was substantially better in models examining officer-initiated activities. Among calls for service, officers were more likely to activate BWCs during calls involving crimes against persons compared to other crimes or non-criminal incidents. Activation was more frequent during traffic stops than other self-initiated activities. Activation increased when the event resulted in an advisement, citation, detention or arrest. Originality/value: The success of police BWC programs hinges on whether officers activate their cameras when interacting with community members. Findings suggest that officers are more likely to activate their BWCs during activities that involve direct interactions with community members, especially in situations with a higher potential for volatility or serious criminal implications.

  • Technology utilization, self-legitimacy, and external procedural injustice: a study of Chinese police officers

    Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to examine the direct relationship between police officers' perceived technology utilization and their perception of external procedural injustice, as well as the indirect relationship through perceived self-legitimacy. Design/methodology/approach: This study used survey data collected from 1,944 police officers in a northern Chinese province. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to assess the direct and indirect associations between technology utilization and external procedural injustice. Findings: Technology efficacy was negatively associated with external procedural injustice and positively associated with both self-legitimacy and public-defined legitimacy. Furthermore, officers’ self-perceived legitimacy is negatively associated with their support for procedurally unjust behaviors, while officers’ perception of public-defined legitimacy, unexpectedly, is positively related to their endorsement of procedural injustice. Conversely, technology difficulty was positively related to external procedural injustice and negatively associated with public-defined legitimacy. Originality/value: The present study represents a first attempt to link technology utilization to external procedural injustice in the policing literature. This study provides needed evidence to support the importance role of technology utilization in shaping police officers’ occupational attitudes toward themselves and the public in an authoritarian country.

  • Social embeddedness and organisational justice in a UK police force

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe police officers’ workplace social networks and to examine how police officers’ social ties, in combination with organisational climate, affect their attitudes towards and willingness to report misconduct. Design/methodology/approach: Data were gathered from a vignette survey of 86 response police officers in an English county police force. Officers’ attitudes towards misconduct and likelihood of reporting were analysed using multivariable regression models. Findings: Descriptively, most officers have a small social network within the force, and police comprise about one-third of their total social networks. Officers were generally highly disapproving of misconduct and expressed they would challenge their peers in most scenarios, though reporting misconduct was somewhat less likely. Perceived peer disapproval of misconduct is a strong predictor of officers’ disapproval of misconduct and expressed likelihood of reporting misconduct. Organisational justice and social embeddedness were not usually associated with the challenging and reporting of misconduct. Originality/value: This study is one of only a handful to report information on police officers’ friendship networks in the workplace, and these results show that peer influence remains an important vector for police management to use in promoting prosocial police culture and preventing misconduct.

  • Programmes promoted on police service websites to safeguard autistic individuals in Ontario, Canada: an inductive content analysis

    Purpose: This study (1) explores what programmes police services promote for autistic individuals on their websites and (2) describes how autistic individuals are constructed in the information about these programmes. Design/methodology/approach: All 53 official police service websites in Ontario, Canada, were examined to determine which programmes were promoted for autistic individuals. Inductive qualitative content analysis was used to identify and describe how autism was constructed in the information about the programmes. Findings: About 64.8% of police services in Ontario, Canada, promoted at least one programme to autistic individuals and their caregivers. These programmes included Vulnerable Person and Autism Registries, MedicAlert™ and Project Lifesaver™. Autistic individuals were described as vulnerable using medicalised and tragic narratives of autism. Originality/value: Autistic individuals and caregivers have suggested several interventions to improve police-autistic individual encounters. Little is known about which interventions police services have adopted and which representations of autism are used to describe autistic individuals.

  • An exploration of the service and crime prevention performance of the municipal police departments of Taiwan’s counties: the perspective of broken windows theory

    Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the service and crime prevention performance of law enforcement agencies in Taiwan’s municipalities. By analyzing these performances, the study seeks to improve the efficiency of police services through appropriate resource allocation, ultimately achieving enhanced crime prevention. Design/methodology/approach: The study utilized a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) to construct performance metrics. In the first stage, the service performance of the police force was measured using the number of police officers and police stations as inputs and the number of patrols and temporary patrol boxes as outputs. In the second stage, crime prevention performance was assessed with the number of patrols and temporary patrol boxes as inputs and cases of violence, injury, intimidation and theft as outputs. Additionally, a truncated regression model was employed to analyze the impact of environmental variables such as per capita income, population density, proportion of the population with higher education and the unemployment rate on crime prevention performance. Findings: The study found significant variations in both service and crime prevention performance across different municipalities. By identifying the most efficient and inefficient units, the analysis revealed critical insights into resource utilization and areas needing improvement. The regression analysis indicated that environmental factors such as higher per capita income, population density, education level and unemployment rate significantly affect crime prevention performance. Originality/value: This research provides a novel approach to assessing police service efficiency and crime prevention effectiveness using a two-stage DEA model. By incorporating environmental variables through truncated regression, the study offers a comprehensive evaluation framework that can inform policy decisions and resource allocation strategies. This methodology not only highlights the performance metrics of law enforcement agencies but also underscores the influence of socioeconomic factors on crime prevention, contributing to the broader literature on public safety and resource management.

  • Leader controlling behaviors and proactive behavior among police officers: perceived powerlessness mechanism

    Purpose: This study explores how controlling leadership behaviors, such as authoritarian leadership and abusive supervision, affect police officers’ proactive behavior. Specifically, it examines how perceived powerlessness mediates the relationship between these leadership styles and officers’ proactive behavior. Design/methodology/approach: We employed structural equation modeling with partial least squares analysis to test our hypotheses, utilizing a sample of police officers employed within a regional police institution in Indonesia. Findings: The findings of this study indicate that both authoritarian leadership and abusive supervision have the potential to diminish or impede the proactive behavior of police officers by shaping their perception of powerlessness. Originality/value: This study contributes to the broader understanding of how leader-controlling behaviors, such as authoritarian leadership and abusive supervision, impact the proactive behavior of police officers within the specific context of Indonesia.

  • Law enforcement officer perceptions of the Good Samaritan law and their role in the opioid epidemic in the United States

    Purpose: Good Samaritan laws were enacted to reduce overdose deaths by lowering the barriers to reporting for victims and witnesses and allowing law enforcement officers to carry and administer Narcan to those suspected of an opioid-related overdose The purpose of this study is to understand how officers perceive the impact of opioid overdose reduction initiatives in the United States and their role in the opioid epidemic. Design/methodology/approach: Mixed methods were used in two phases to examine perceptions among law enforcement officers in a Massachusetts police department. First, qualitative methods were used to interview nine patrol officers during participant observations in the form of ride-alongs. Second, patrol officers and officers who volunteer with the department opioid outreach program were surveyed. Findings: Officers generally held mixed feelings about the state’s Good Samaritan law. They saw the importance of saving the lives of those experiencing an overdose and keeping other first responders safe, but also in enforcing laws against possession of illegal drugs that presents a public safety threat, including the accidental exposure to fentanyl. Despite mixed feelings, officers still believed it to be important that they are trained and able to administer Narcan since they are often the first to arrive on scene. Originality/value: This study adds to the research on officers’ perceptions of their role in the opioid epidemic, their ability to administer Narcan and the impact of Good Samaritan laws on their community.

  • The status of co-responders in law enforcement: findings from a national survey of law enforcement agencies

    Purpose: In response to calls for police reform, agencies and researchers have turned their attention to alternative responses to mental health crisis calls. Jurisdictions across the United States are adopting co-responder teams that bring qualified mental or behavioral health professionals into emergency responses by the police. The current study aims to estimate the prevalence and use of these teams in the United States and to document their varieties and features. Design/methodology/approach: We developed and administered a first-of-its-kind survey to a nationally representative sample of local and state law enforcement agencies. A total of 568 agencies completed the survey. The current analysis provides a descriptive account of the use and practices of co-responder programs and crisis intervention among the responding agencies. Findings: We find there is wide variation in the staffing, operations, qualifications, characteristics and beliefs about the effectiveness of co-responder programs across the country. Additionally, there is a lack of consistent programmatic guidance for these programs that can inform their future development. Consequentially, agencies face personnel and funding challenges in implementing and maintaining these programs. Originality/value: This study showcases findings from the first national survey of co-responder teams that investigates the prevalence, characteristics and operation of these teams. This information is the first step in evaluating the effectiveness of co-responder programs and, in turn, developing evidence-based guidelines and protocols for their implementation.

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