scholarly journals Confirmation bias: A barrier to community policing

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 162-167
Author(s):  
Michael D. Schlosser ◽  
Jennifer K. Robbennolt ◽  
Daniel M. Blumberg ◽  
Konstantinos Papazoglou
Keyword(s):  
Community Policing ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Confirmation Bias ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Effective Community ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
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This is a very challenging time for police–community relations, one characterized by a mutual lack of trust between police and citizens. But trust is an important tenet of effective community policing. Trust between police and communities can result in better problem solving, fewer legal violations by citizens, less frequent use of force by the police, less resistance by citizens during arrests, greater willingness to share information, less inclination to riot, and greater willingness of community members and police to cooperate. One key obstacle to fostering trust between the community and police is confirmation bias—the tendency for people to take in information and process it in a way that confirms their current preconceptions, attitudes, and beliefs. Recognizing and addressing confirmation bias, therefore, plays a critical role in fostering more productive engagement. If we are to improve police–community relations and co-create a way forward, learning to approach debates with open minds, an awareness of the lens of our own perspectives, commitment to considering the opposite, and the goal of listening with curiosity are essential.

Community perceptions: procedural justice, legitimacy and body-worn cameras

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-509
Author(s):  
Paige S. Thompson ◽  
Bryce E. Peterson ◽  
Daniel S. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Community Member ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Milwaukee Police Department ◽  
Police Community Relations

PurposeThis paper explores community members' perceptions of the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD)'s body-worn camera (BWC) program, examining knowledge and support of the program and its impact on views of procedural justice and legitimacy.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave, online survey was administered to Milwaukee-area residents in the fall of 2017 and summer of 2018, yielding 1,527 respondents. Multivariate regression analyses focus on overall relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, community member knowledge of the program, procedural justice and legitimacy and support for BWCs.FindingsCommunity members are supportive of BWCs and view officers as procedurally just and legitimate; however, perceptions were significantly lower among Black respondents. Respondents with knowledge of the BWC program were more likely to view officers as procedurally just, but program knowledge did not increase support for it.Research limitations/implicationsPolice agencies may benefit from improving community awareness of their BWC program as knowledge of the program is positively linked to the views of departmental procedural justice and legitimacy. However, education efforts alone are not sufficient in improving police–community relations. Future research should examine how policing stakeholders can engage the community to build views of legitimacy associated with BWC policies.Originality/valueFindings provide insight into community member perceptions of a large BWC program in a major US city. Results demonstrate the relationship between knowledge of a department's BWC program and views of procedural justice and legitimacy and support for BWCs.

scholarly journals How the interplay between organisational ‘culture’ and ‘climate’ shapes police officers’ perceptions of community policing

2021 ◽  
pp. 146135572110640
Author(s):  
Liam Fenn ◽  
Karen Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Police Work ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Discretionary Effort ◽  
Organisational Justice ◽  
Contextual Determinants ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Culture And Climate

This article draws on interview data and the concepts of organisational ‘culture’ and ‘climate’ to critically assess police officers’ perceptions of community policing in one English constabulary. In so doing, it considers the cultural, organisational and wider contextual determinants of officers’ alignment to this style of police work. With an emphasis on developing community partnerships and engaging in problem-solving, rather than enforcement of the criminal law, community policing has been seen a primary way of rendering officers more ‘responsive’ to the needs of citizens, improving police–community relations and driving down crime rates. An important reform movement in police organisations around the world, the success of community policing nonetheless depends on officers’ willingness and ability to deliver it. Accordingly, the generation of evidence about the ‘drivers’ of officers’ attitudes to inform strategies to promote the delivery of the approach is essential. Findings suggest that officers value community policing as an organisational strategy but that the approach maintains a low status and is undervalued compared with other specialisms within the organisation. This is born of an organisational culture that foregrounds law enforcement as the primary function of police work and an organisational climate that reinforces it. This has implications for community officers in terms of their perceptions of and attitudes towards the approach, self-esteem and sense of value and worth, perceptions of organisational justice, discretionary effort and role commitment. Recommendations for police managers are set out.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Luis Daniel Gascón ◽  
Aaron Roussell
Keyword(s):  
Community Policing ◽  
Community Partnerships ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Civil Disorder ◽  
Liberal Reform ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Community Meeting

This chapter opens with an exchange in a community meeting about the Rodney King riots, which raises questions about the nature of these meetings, the role of police in civil disorder, and the nature of police-community relations. The authors trace the origins of community policing as key liberal reform premised on the maintenance of legitimacy. They outline the “eyes and ears” function civilians are expected to play in meetings and explain how neighborhood disputes can limit the mobilizing potential of community partnerships. The authors also discuss the setting where this study takes place and outline their methods. This chapter ends with an outline of the rest of the book.

Exploring the Duration of Police–Citizen Encounters

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengyan Dai ◽  
Xiaochen Hu
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Multivariate Models ◽  
Community Oriented Policing ◽  
Lower Social Class ◽  
Police Community Relations

Abstract Modern policing policy and practices emphasize the philosophy of community-oriented policing and the principles of procedural justice to improve police–community relations. Using this theoretical framework, this study examines the duration of police–citizen encounters involving domestic and non-domestic conflicts. A sample of 262 encounters from the systematic social observations in Cincinnati was analysed. The multivariate models show that officers spent less time interacting with the citizens in the lower social class and spent more time on the encounters involving assaults. Community policing specialists spent more time interacting with citizens. Considering citizens’ voice is also associated with longer duration. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Police-Community Relations in Times of Crisis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross Deuchar ◽  
Vaughn J. Crichlow ◽  
Seth W. Fallik
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis

The deaths of Michael Brown and George Floyd at the hands of white police officers have uncovered an apparent legitimacy crisis at the heart of American policing. Drawing on interviews with officers, offenders, practitioners and community members, this book explores policing changes in the 'post-Ferguson' era and informs future policing practice.

scholarly journals ‘There’s Gonna Be Bad Apples’: Police–Community Relations through the Lens of Media Exposure Among University Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Levan ◽  
Kelsey Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Television News ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
Police Community Relations

Recently, increased media attention has been given to tensions between law enforcement officers and the communities they police. An individuals’ opinions of law enforcement agencies may be formed from various areas, including their exposure to various forms of media. Here, we are interested in the types of media students are exposed to (particularly social media, television news, crime-related television shows). Through interviews with undergraduate students, we seek to understand how both an individual’s demographic characteristics and their media consumption contribute to how perceptions are formed on issues related to violence perpetrated by law enforcement, as well as against law enforcement. Future studies can build on the initial findings and be conducted on a broader range of community members.

scholarly journals Can Community Policing Improve Police-Community Relations in an Authoritarian Regime? Experimental Evidence from Uganda

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Blair ◽  
Guy Grossman ◽  
Anna Wilke
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Core Outcomes ◽  
Scale Field ◽  
Large Scale Field ◽  
Police Community Relations

Throughout the developing world, citizens distrust the police and hesitate to bring crimes to their attention -- a suboptimal equilibrium that makes it difficult for the police to effectively combat crime and violence. Community policing has been touted as one solution to this problem, but evidence on its efficacy in developing country contexts is sparse. We present results from a large-scale field experiment that randomly assigned a home-grown community policing intervention to police stations throughout rural Uganda. Drawing on administrative crime data and close to 4,000 interviews with citizens, police officers, and local authorities, we show that community policing had limited effects on core outcomes such as crime, insecurity, and perceptions of the police. We attribute these findings to a combination of turnover, treatment non-compliance, and resource constraints. Our study draws attention to the limits of community policing's potential to reduce crime and build trust in the developing world.

Immigration and Integration: Perceptions of Community Policing Among Members of Six Ethnic Communities in Central Queens, New York City

2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Davis ◽  
Joel Miller
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Political Empowerment ◽  
Recent Immigrants ◽  
Police Community Relations

There is some evidence, based on past research, that community policing has not been as successful (in terms of awareness, participation, and impact) in Black and Latino communities as in White communities. We believed that there may be even less awareness of community policing in ethnic communities containing high proportions of recent immigrants. We conducted an investigation into the extent to which awareness of community policing had penetrated immigrant communities. From a multi-ethnic neighborhood in Queens, New York with a high proportion of foreign-born residents, we surveyed representative samples from six different ethnic groups. Two of the communities were well established and integrated into the city's political structure. The other four communities were composed largely of recent immigrants and had not yet developed a strong sense of political empowerment. Respondents were asked about awareness of community policing, sources of awareness, participation in community policing activities, and suggestions for improving police—community relations. Respondents from the long-etablished ethnic communities were far more likely to be aware of community policing than respondents in the recently established communities. The former respondents were also more likely to have participated in community policing activities. Increasing foot patrols and holding more meetings with the community were seen as the most effective means of improving police—community relations, especially among recently established Hispanic communities.

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