NCJ Number
180095
Journal
Policing Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: 1999 Pages: 120-132
Editor(s)
Geoffrey P. Alpert,
Lawrence F. Travis III
Date Published
1999
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examined the impact of perceived community alienation on levels of self-reported mastery and motivation for proactive law enforcement for 272 police officers from 11 law enforcement agencies in a large southeast Michigan county; it also investigated the impact of three highly publicized "anti-police" judicial verdicts (Rodney King, Malice Green, and O.J. Simpson) on the predicted alienation-mastery-proactive enforcement relationship.
Abstract
The agencies surveyed ranged in size from 15 to 850 officers and included 9 city police departments, 1 county sheriff's department, and 1 university public safety department. The survey instrument developed by the authors measured police officers' level of perceived alienation, sense of mastery, and willingness to respond proactively both before and after "anti-police" judicial verdicts. Motivation for proactive enforcement was measured with five Likert scale items on which officers rated the degree to which (assuming total volition) they were willing to respond proactively to various criminal activities in the community. They were then asked to rate the degree of change in this proactive willingness following the "anti-police" judicial verdicts. Results support the study's major hypothesis that as officers' perceived level of alienation increases, they will report less mastery and express less willingness for proactive enforcement efforts. One regression model confirms the study's second hypothesis that the inverse relationship between alienation and motivation for proactive enforcement increased significantly following the "anti-police" judicial verdicts. 3 tables, 5 notes, and 45 references