NCJ Number
187246
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 2001 Pages: 45-56
Editor(s)
Kent B. Joscelyn
Date Published
February 2001
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article examines career choice behavior of police students in Taiwan to help police departments develop recruitment strategies.
Abstract
Policing has long been thought of as a job with high danger and pressure. The question of why and what kinds of people join the police force is becoming one of the important issues of police career choice behavior research. It is important to understand the perceived attractiveness of the job. The article examines the relationship between the reasons and the backgrounds in order to discover what kinds of people and with what motives do these people join the force. The study offers important implications on police career choice behavior research and provides meaningful suggestions to police recruitment. The results indicate that, for students at the police school in Taiwan, the salary or benefits, and parents’ influence are both important reasons when deciding to join the police force. There were some differences between male and female students in the reasons for joining the force, and the socioeconomic background did not cause major impact on the reasons. These factors are important variables and have implications for police recruitment. Police authorities should offer good salary and fringe benefits for police work, enhance the attractiveness of the promotion to the parents in order to encourage their children to join the force, and adopt different recruitment strategies for males and females to help attract people to join the force. References