scholarly journals "I realized that cops are just regular people" : changing youth attitudes toward the police through community policing programming.

Author(s):  
Elisabeth J. Leroux

Existing literature examining youth-police relations has consistently found that willingness to engage with the police is directly influenced by youth attitudes toward the police. Research findings suggest that increasing positive attitudes toward the police among adolescent populations will result in a subsequent increase in behaviours supportive of the police and law enforcement. The current study was a mixed-method evaluation (including survey data and qualitative interviews) of a community policing pilot program designed to increase positive contact between at-risk youth and police officers. The program was effective in positively changing youth attitudes toward the police. Interview results provide evidence of a direct mechanism for increasing trust and cooperation with the police. Survey results indicate that positive contact with the police can shift general attitudes toward the police and reduce perceptions of police discrimination. Further, survey findings support the program as a remedial intervention for youth with previous negative police contact.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth J. Leroux

Existing literature examining youth-police relations has consistently found that willingness to engage with the police is directly influenced by youth attitudes toward the police. Research findings suggest that increasing positive attitudes toward the police among adolescent populations will result in a subsequent increase in behaviours supportive of the police and law enforcement. The current study was a mixed-method evaluation (including survey data and qualitative interviews) of a community policing pilot program designed to increase positive contact between at-risk youth and police officers. The program was effective in positively changing youth attitudes toward the police. Interview results provide evidence of a direct mechanism for increasing trust and cooperation with the police. Survey results indicate that positive contact with the police can shift general attitudes toward the police and reduce perceptions of police discrimination. Further, survey findings support the program as a remedial intervention for youth with previous negative police contact.


Author(s):  
Graeme Dickson

Abstract This article examines how far special constables can act as the ‘bridge’ between police services and local communities, within the context of Scottish policing. I consider the literature around the core concepts of community policing, the condition of community policing Scotland, and the role that volunteer police officers can play in enhancing local policing. Then, I draw upon the findings from qualitative interviews and observations of special constables in one division of Police Scotland, to explore the nature of the special constabulary as a potential resource in community and local policing. Finally, I consider these findings in relation to the ongoing discussions of special constables’ contribution to community policing, and how policing organizations might seek to enhance that contribution. This article, I believe, provides a unique contribution to the currently small but emerging field of research within police volunteerism, and brings the perspective of Scottish special constables to these discussions which have been primarily Anglo-centric.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002580242199336
Author(s):  
Meron Wondemaghen

Ideological shifts in mental health-care policy such as deinstitutionalisation have meant police have had to make decisions about the care of persons with a mental-health crisis. This study examines how police in five English counties respond to crisis calls when employing the powers afforded in section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, and the effectiveness of the national Street Triage pilot scheme. Qualitative interviews with 30 police officers and mental-health nurses (MHN) were collected as data sources. The analysis shows that police have previously struggled with the significant number of crisis calls, whilst also finding mental-health services inadequately sourced, leading to some detentions in police cells as alternatives to health-based places of safety. However, the scheme has made positive changes in alleviating these issues when MHN are co-located with police, highlighting the need to strengthen their partnership by facilitating the sharing of information, responsibilities and decision making in order to ensure police cells continue to be avoided as alternative places of safety.


2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 808-838
Author(s):  
Daniel K. Pryce ◽  
Joselyne L. Chenane

The relationship between the police and African Americans has been beset by a lack of trust for decades. Improving this relationship is important to scholars, practitioners, and citizens; as a result, we examine in this study African Americans’ trust and confidence in the police. Using trust questions found in the literature, we interviewed 77 African Americans in Durham, NC, to assess their views about the police. We found that for the police to earn the trust of African Americans, the police should treat African Americans equitably, invest in community policing, and respect African Americans. Although some respondents do not believe that their relationship with the police could be repaired, this is a small percentage of respondents, less than 5%.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174889582110173
Author(s):  
Tobias Kammersgaard ◽  
Thomas Friis Søgaard ◽  
Mie Birk Haller ◽  
Torsten Kolind ◽  
Geoffrey Hunt

Recent years have seen trends within police to use different forms of “community policing” strategies that aim to foster closer relationships and trust with citizens, as well as an orientation toward “procedural justice” in law enforcement practices. Based on 25 interviews with police officers in two different police precincts in Denmark, this article explores the policing of ethnic minority youth in so-called “ghetto” areas from the perspectives of police officers. In doing this, we describe the specific challenges and strategies in implementing such policing methods in neighborhoods where some residents display low trust or even hostility toward the police. The article sheds light on the emotional, organizational, and practical challenges involved in doing community policing in marginalized neighborhoods and the way in which this shapes how community policing is being organized in practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 272-283
Author(s):  
Paul D Reynolds ◽  
Richard C Helfers

Previous research has argued that disciplinary matrices should increase positive attitudes toward the administration because this form of disciplinary practice allows for more salient, consistent, and predictable outcomes; however, no research has examined the influence of disciplinary actions on police officers’ attitudes, particularly among officers working in smaller agencies. Therefore, this exploratory study assessed the relationship between a department having a disciplinary matrix and perceived organizational support (POS) among police officers. Data were collected via a self-reported anonymous online survey administered by a state-wide police officer association in the southern USA. The findings suggest that the presence of a disciplinary matrix, a policy consisting of organizational justice components, has a positive association with officers’ POS and it also moderates disciplined officers’ POS. Thus, providing support that police administrators may be able to enhance organizational attitudes through the development and implementation of policies that adhere to organizational justice principles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 237437352110496
Author(s):  
Ethan G. Lester ◽  
Paula J. Popok ◽  
Victoria A. Grunberg ◽  
Alejandro Baez ◽  
Farahdeba Herrawi ◽  
...  

Introduction: Psychosocial care for people with neurofibromatosis (NF) is challenging to access. Therefore, we sought to develop a self-guided web-based treatment platform for people with NF based on the live video relaxation response resiliency program for NF (3RP-NF). Here we report on qualitative interviews with adult patients who participated in the 3RP-NF to: (a) understand participant perceptions of the 3RP-NF program and (b) gather feedback for a self-guided web-based treatment platform (i.e., NF-Web). Methods: We conducted individual semistructured interviews ( N = 23; videoconferencing). We utilized both the Framework method and a hybrid deductive and inductive approach to analyze qualitative data. Results: We examined findings within the following themes for both 3RP-NF and NF-Web: (a) general attitudes, (b) barriers and facilitators, and (c) program-specific factors. Participants endorsed positive attitudes towards the 3RP-NF and NF-Web and described unique barriers and facilitators to each and provided suggestions regarding technology, NF-specific needs, and ways to promote social support virtually. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of gathering participant feedback when designing novel, illness-specific interventions. In future studies, we aim to provide people with NF effective and efficient access to psychosocial support that matches their needs and life context. Results are informing NF-Web development.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Marianne Bevan

<p>This thesis investigates how New Zealand and East Timorese police officers involved in United Nations’ police reform understand and conceptualise masculinities. It explores how these conceptualisations compare to how masculinities are defined and outlined in United Nations’ gender policies. The United Nations have increasingly attempted to address gender in their policing work; however, within these policies, gender has continued to be equated with women and women’s issues while men’s gender identities remain invisible. My research contributes to emerging discussions about how an understanding of masculinities could be better incorporated into gendered police reform. I explore this through the case of the New Zealand Police Community Policing Pilot Programme (CPPP), a capacity building programme carried out within the wider United Nations Police mission in Timor-Leste. By speaking to New Zealand and East Timorese police officers, this research articulates how police officers themselves conceptualise policing masculinities and interpret how masculinities are framed in gender policy. My research finds that within both the East Timorese Police and the New Zealand Police involved in the CPPP, there is evidence of a variety of policing masculinities. These findings highlight the fluidity of masculinity and the processes that police officers can go through in order to challenge problematic constructions of masculinity. This provides important theoretical and practical insights into how positive masculinities can be promoted through gendered approaches to police reform. By investigating the ways in which the police interpret the United Nations’ approach to gender, this research finds that the continued framing of gender as a women’s issue in policy acts as a barrier to the police seeing masculinities as part of gendered reform.</p>


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