Relational State Building in Areas of Limited Statehood: Experimental Evidence on the Attitudes of the Police

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (2) ◽  
pp. 536-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
SABRINA KARIM
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
State Building ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
State Expansion ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
State Agents ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Relational State

Under what conditions does state expansion into limited statehood areas improve perceptions of state authority? Although previous work emphasizes identity or institutional sources of state legitimacy, I argue that relationships between state agents and citizens drive positive attitude formation, because these relationships provide information and facilitate social bonds. Moreover, when state agents and citizens share demographic characteristics, perceptional effects may improve. Finally, citizens finding procedural interactions between state agents and citizens unfair may adopt negative views about the state. I test these three propositions by randomizing household visits by male or female police officers in rural Liberia. These visits facilitated relationship building, leading to improved perceptions of police; shared demographic characteristics between police and citizens did not strengthen this effect. Perceptions of unfairness in the randomization led to negative opinions about police. The results imply that relationship building between state agents and citizens is an important part of state building.

The Effect of a Narrated Video of an Arrest on Civilians’ Perceptions of Police

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Giaimo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Perceptions Of Police

Trust of the police is at a 22-year low in the United States (Jones, 2015). Many police departments hold community discussions in an attempt to educate civilians and increase trust in the police (Star, 2017). This research explores whether an in depth, play-by-play explanation of force used during a video of a violent arrest can increase civilians’ perceptions of the police. Participants either watched a video of a violent arrest with narration or the same video with no narration. The narrator explained the tactics used by the police officers and how the tactics were used to avoid escalation of the violence during the arrest. After viewing one of the videos, both groups filled out the Perceptions of Police (POP) scale to indicate the participants’ feelings about the police. The type of video watched did not influence POP scores, however two interactions were significant. These results suggest that the police should focus on other methods of gaining the trust of Americans.

Investigating Corruption in the Afghan Police Force

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny Singh
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Police Corruption ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Political Economic

This book provides a unique study on the lower ranks of the Afghan police force due to the lack of empirical evidence of what attributes to the causes, practices and consequences of corruption in this institution. The book is divided into a number of sections. It commences with an understanding of how corruption, and narrowly police corruption, impact on the police force, state legitimacy and the strategies in place to mitigate such problems as part of broader security and post-conflict reconstruction initiatives. The theoretical framework comprises political, economic and cultural drivers of police corruption by drawing on semi-structured interviews with elites and a survey and structured interview conducted with street-level police officers. The findings infer that weak oversight and low pay are causes of police corruption which intensify bribery and roadside extortion. The lack of professionalism, partly due to short and unclear training, and patronage are deemed as meanings of police corruption. In terms of motivation, there is no sense of pride in Afghan policing to fulfil a clear mandate. Moreover, non-meritocratic recruitment is prevalent which exacerbates local influences, loyalties and job buying in either high-drug cultivating or urban areas. To curb patronage, police officers are rotated to distant provinces but economic hardship is further increased when catering for large families with fewer breadwinners. The book concludes that the problems with police corruption and failure to combat it results in low public confidence and state illegitimacy which can support violent opposition groups to create further instability in war-torn societies.

How Do the Components of Procedural Justice and Driver Race Influence Encounter-Specific Perceptions of Police Legitimacy During Traffic Stops?

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1200-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Starr J. Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Treatment Quality ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Influence Perceptions

Procedural justice is often recognized as the key antecedent of police legitimacy. However, less is known about how the components of procedural justice, treatment and decision-making quality, influence perceptions of police legitimacy. This study utilizes a 2 × 2 × 2 survey experiment to explore the direct effects of the components of procedural justice, and the moderating effects of driver race, on perceptions of encounter-specific fairness and legitimacy. Results indicate that treatment quality is a more salient predictor of encounter-specific fairness and legitimacy than decision-making quality. In addition, simple effects analyses reveal that driver race moderates perceptions of encounter-specific fairness but not encounter-specific perceptions of legitimacy. The findings imply that police officers should emphasize respectful treatment during encounters with the public.

scholarly journals Police Officers’ Attitudes Toward Citizens in China

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Liu ◽  
Ivan Y. Sun ◽  
Jianhong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Police Attitudes ◽  
Role Orientations ◽  
Officer Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes Toward The Police ◽  
Chinese Police

Although a substantial number of studies have examined public attitudes toward the police, a relatively thin line of research has assessed police attitudes toward the citizenry in China. Using survey data collected from a sample of approximately 200 Chinese police officers, the current study examined the effects of police officers’ demographic characteristics, socialization and experience factors, and role orientations on officers’ attitudes toward citizen virtue, citizen cooperation with the police, and citizen input in police work. Results indicated that background and experience characteristics were ineffective in predicting the three aspects of officer attitudes toward citizens. Crime-fighting and service orientations were found to be related to officers’ attitudes toward the citizenry. Findings of this study enhance our understanding of police occupational attitudes in China and provide valuable implications for policy and future research.

Police Officer Job Satisfaction

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Task Characteristics ◽  
Organizational Environment ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Principal Source ◽  
Job Task

The literature on police officers’ job satisfaction to date has focused primarily on individual officers’ demographic characteristics, while a few recent studies have demonstrated that officers’ job task characteristics are a principal source of job satisfaction. The present study expanded on this prior research by simultaneously analyzing three dimensions of correlates of job satisfaction: officers’ demographic characteristics, officers’ job task characteristics, and officers’ organizational environment characteristics. This was the first such study to include the dimension of organizational characteristics in the study of police officer job satisfaction. The analysis of survey data from a sample of patrol officers from 11 law enforcement agencies in the southwestern United States suggested that the officers’ job task characteristics were a principal source of job satisfaction. Organizational environment characteristics also played an important, but weaker, role in the shaping of officer job satisfaction.

scholarly journals Book review: Leenco Lata Peacekeeping as State-Building: Current Challenges for the Horn of Africa. Ewing Township, USA: The Red Sea Press. 2012. 160 p.

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-370
Author(s):  
Bewuketu Dires Gardachew
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations

The review of Leenco Lata's1 book “Peacekeeping as State-Building: Current Challenges for the Horn of Africa” examines the theory and practice of state-building on the example of African countries. The central premise of this monograph is the assumption that state-building requires rethinking of the factors and attributes traditionally associated with the state. The book consists of nine chapters, each of which is analyzed by the reviewer. The monograph focuses on the problems of state-building, state legitimacy, and the role and specifics of peacekeeping operations in the horn of Africa.

Police Perceptions of Police-Involved Overdose Outreach Program Effectiveness

2021 ◽  
pp. 002204262110163
Author(s):  
Laurie T. Becker
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
New England ◽  
Substance Use Disorder ◽  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Program Effectiveness ◽  
Outreach Program ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Outreach Programs ◽  
Perceptions Of Police

This study surveys police officers from three New England states to examine the perceptions officers hold toward the effectiveness of police-involved overdose outreach programs, the variables that serve as significant predictors for perceptions of program effectiveness, and the extent to which attribution theory can explain these perceptions. The majority of officers displayed positive perceptions of program effectiveness, and eight significant predictors were identified, including attribution theory which showed significance in explaining why police officers perceive these programs as effective. As an increasing number of police departments take a service-centered approach to working with individuals with substance use disorder, police-involved overdose outreach programs are becoming more commonplace. From the results of this study, practitioners are able to identify variables that predict officers’ views of program effectiveness. Equipped with this knowledge, increasing the support of these related concepts will help to subsequently increase the likelihood of officers viewing these programs as effective.

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