NCJ Number
75514
Date Published
1978
Length
14 pages
Annotation
The impact of police officers' career expectations on cynicism and on police effectiveness was examined through a survey of New Orleans, Louisiana, officers.
Abstract
The study focused on determing whether cynicism characterizes only career-oriented officers and whether career-oriented police officers enforce the law any differently than do non-career-oriented officers. Data were obtained through the use of questionnaires administered to a random sample of 108 uniformed patrolmen in the New Orleans Police Department. Information pertaining to career expectations was obtained by questioning whether the officers planned a career with the department, and the degree of cynicism was determined by inquiring whether they would encourage a son to join the police force. In addition, performance data on arrest activity were collected from departmental daily activity reports. The results showed that those without expectations of a career in law enforcement were overwhelmingly noncynical, while those who were career oriented demonstrated a definite predisposition towards cynicism (66 percent). A weak and nonsignificant positive relationship between career orientation and felony arrest activity was discovered; the distributions of felony arrests were quite similar for those with and for those without career expectations. A weak and nonsignificant inverse relationship between career orientation and misdemeanor arrest activity was found, suggesting that career orientation is not important in this respect either. However, those without career expectations showed a lack in municipal arrest activity, while career-oriented officers were very active in this area. Generally, the data suggest that the cynicism which does exist is probably not indicative of occupational malaise with dysfunctional implications. Four tables, footnotes, and a 23-item reference list are included.