NCJ Number
142585
Journal
Criminology Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1993) Pages: 203-242
Date Published
1993
Length
40 pages
Annotation
Survey data collected as part of the Police Services Study conducted in 1977 were used to examine four dimensions of police officer attitudes upon which differences between male and female officers have been predicted or observed: perceptions of the police role, perceptions of citizens, evaluations of colleagues and departments, and occupational integration.
Abstract
Gender failed to explain much or any variation in the array of attitudes examined even when potentially confounding variables were controlled. Overall, both female and male police officers were ambivalent about restrictions on their autonomy and the definition of their role, only mildly positive about their public clientele, complimentary of their colleagues, and unenthusiastic about working conditions and supervisors. Women were not significantly more likely than men to define their role in broad terms that legitimate involvement in personal problems and domestic disturbances. 16 notes, 4 tables, and 82 references