Police Role Survey: A Tool for Comparing Public and Police Perceptions of the Police Role

• NCJ Number: 177328
• Author(s): N Boni; J Packer
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 83 pages
• Corporate Author: Australia National Police
• Sale Source: Australia National Police
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

This Australian study reports on the development and testing of a survey that allows for direct comparisons of the views of the public and the police about the police role within Australia.

Abstract

On the basis of previous research, parallel forms of the Police Role Survey (PRS) were developed for use with public and police samples. In both the public and the police forms, the role of the police is described in terms of 45 tasks. Respondents are asked to rate the priority they believe is currently being given to each task (i.e., current priority), the priority they believe should be given to each task (i.e., preferred priority), and whom they believe should perform each task (i.e., police and/or other organizations). Various demographic items are also included. To demonstrate the use of the PRS, it was administered to samples of the public and the police in Perth, Western Australia, and Brisbane, Queensland, using a mail-out, mail-back procedure. The findings presented in this report highlight some similarities and differences in public and police perceptions of the police role; there was more disagreement between public and police views than there was agreement. Perhaps the most obvious disagreement was related to the survey question about the consistency between public and police views about current and preferred priorities. The public believed that police placed more priority on traffic- related tasks and dealing with offenders than did the police. In contrast, the police reported that they placed more priority on a wide range of tasks, including reactive tasks, community service tasks, criminal investigation tasks, and administrative tasks. The public reported that they would prefer the police to give higher priority to a wide range of tasks; whereas, the police reported they would prefer to give higher priority to criminal investigation tasks. These results are consistent with previous research that has shown the public prefers the police to be more than a crime-fighting body. The report concludes that the PRS is a simple tool of practical benefit to police, as it provides information about public and police views of the police role; the scope for its adaptation and use at a local, jurisdictional, and national level is considerable. 45 references and appended supplementary data