Policing-an International Journal of Police Strategies & Management 

About: Policing-an International Journal of Police Strategies & Management is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Law enforcement & Community policing. Over the lifetime, 1505 publications have been published receiving 35065 citations.

Perceptions of the police

Abstract: This research updates and expands upon Decker’s article “Citizen attitudes toward the police: a review of past findings and suggestions for future policy” by summarizing the findings from more than 100 articles on perceptions of and attitudes toward the police. Initially, the value of research on attitudes toward the police is discussed. Then the research pertaining to the impact of individual level variables (e.g. race) and contextual level variables (e.g. neighborhood) on perceptions of the police is reviewed. Studies of juveniles’ attitudes toward the police, perceptions of police policies and practices, methodological issues and conceptual issues are also discussed. This review of the literature indicates that only four variables (age, contact with police, neighborhood, and race) have consistently been proven to affect attitudes toward the police. However, there are interactive effects between these and other variables which are not yet understood; a finding which indicates that theoretical generalizations about attitudes toward police should be made with caution.

Procedural Justice, Trust, and Institutional Legitimacy

Abstract: This paper summarizes ‘procedural justice’ approaches to policing, contrasting these to the more politically dominant discourse about policing as crime control. It argues that public trust in policing is needed partly because this may result in public cooperation with justice, but more importantly because public trust in justice builds institutional legitimacy and thus public compliance with the law and commitment to the rule of law. Some recent survey findings are presented in support of this perspective.

Militarization and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police

Abstract: This work examines the blurring distinctions between the police and military institutions and between war and law enforcement. In this article, the author asserts that understanding this blur, and the associated organizing concepts militarization and militarism, are essential for accurately analyzing the changing nature of security, and the activity of policing, in the late-modern era of the 21st century. Simplicity is comforting. Modernity's basic dichotomies such as fact/value, private/public, and national/international simplify our think- ing and lull us into intellectual complacency. Police academics in the United States, with only a few exceptions, have been quite com- fortable with the military/police dichotomy. The US military handles external security through the threat and practice of war. The civilian police handle internal security through the enforcement of federal and local laws. Most assume that studying the police and military is a mutually exclusive undertaking. Taking this dichotomy for granted is understandable given that the clear demarcation between the police and military has been considered a pre- eminent feature of the modern nation-state (Giddens, 1985). The failure of a government

Physical evidence of police officer stress

Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to identify common stressors and the magnitude of stress reactivity in police officers during the course of general duty police work. Using heart rate as a primary indicator of autonomic nervous system activation, coupled with observed physical activity data collected through 76 full shift ride‐alongs, this study differentiates between physical and psycho‐social stress. The results, confirming previous research based on self‐report data alone, demonstrate that police officers experience both physical and psycho‐social stress on the job, anticipating stress as they go about their work, while suffering anticipatory stress at the start of each shift. The results demonstrated that the highest levels of stress occur just prior to and during critical incidents, and that officers do not fully recover from that stress before leaving their shift. Overall, the results illustrate the need to consider stress reactivity and repressors in the assessment of police officer stress while clearly demonstrating the need for debriefing after critical incidents and increased training in stress management and coping strategies.

The Delphi method: a powerful tool for strategic management

Abstract: The Delphi method can be a powerful tool to help police organizations forecast the future for the purposes of strategic management, and policy and program development among other potential applications for police management. The paper describes the characteristics of the method, including criticisms of the method, and steps in conducting a Delphi study as well as pitfalls to avoid.