Relationship Between the Operation of Community Policing and Citizens' Attitudes Toward the Police

• NCJ Number: 151557
• Journal: Reports of the National Research Institute of Police Science Research on Prevention of Crime and Delinquency Volume: 34 Issue: 2 Dated: (December 1993) Pages: 66-77
• Author(s): J Kobayashi; S Suzuki; S Okeda
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Country: Japan

Annotation

This study clarifies the relationship of several features of community policing in Japan to residents' attitudes toward the police.

Abstract

A questionnaire was administered to 1,249 adult citizens who were randomly selected from 100 points throughout the country. Respondents were asked questions about their social-demographic characteristics, past requests for police services, past contacts with community police officers, and their evaluations of police. The respondents who assessed the attitudes of police-box officers positively were more likely to express their willingness to report to the police than those who evaluated the attitudes of the officers negatively. This tendency was more conspicuous in the case of relatively minor problems, such as prank calls and loitering delinquents. Also, the residents who evaluated the attitudes of police-box officers positively were more likely to believe in problemsolving functions of the police. The more often residents experienced the absence of police officers at the police boxes when they needed police services, the less positively they evaluated the problemsolving functions of the police in the community. The more often residents experienced the home visits by community police officers, the more willing they were to report to the police in the future. Particularly, this tendency was more conspicuous in the case of relatively minor problems such as prank calls, loitering delinquents, and lost articles on the road. Further, the residents who were visited by community police officers often were more likely to believe in problemsolving functions of the police. The willingness to report to the police in the future was more conspicuous in the residents who reported that the visiting police officers had explained the purpose of their visit clearly, and introduced themselves clearly, had talked very softly, or listened to the requests of residents sincerely; however, at the same time, these kinds of police-officer demeanors were found to be related to wariness toward the police among a segment of residents. 9 tables