Effects of Traditionalism on the Navajo Police Officer

• NCJ Number: 92120
• Journal: Police Studies Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1983) Pages: 57-62
• Author(s): D Wachtel
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

The purpose of this study is to show the influences on the decision-making process of patrol officers employed by the Navajo Indian Police Department.

Abstract

The study focuses on the traditionality of the individual police officers and its impact on their decision-making processes. The decision to arrest is influenced by many variables. External variables are outside the individual police officer's control. They come from the police department and the community. A second set of variables comes from the background of the individual police officer. These are internal and are composed of the attitudes, biases, prejudices, and values unique to each officer. It is these variables that are the focus of the present research. The degree of adherence to tradtional Navajo cultural values is measured through a questionnaire and the results are used in the analysis of the use of discretion by police officers of the Navajo Nation. (Publisher abstract)