NCJ Number
204441
Journal
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Volume: 26 Issue: 4 Dated: 2003 Pages: 656-689
Date Published
2003
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Using data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods, two measures of community policing were developed, with social capital used as a theoretical framework for understanding police behavior within the community-policing era.
Abstract
In the sociology literature, "social capital" refers to relationships among individuals, networks of relationships, and people's "ability to mobilize a wide range of personal social contacts" (Newton, 1997, p. 577) to accomplish a particular objective. The study hypothesis was that officers with higher levels of social capital would achieve more community policing goals than their peers who had lesser amounts of trust, cooperation, group cohesion, and social support in their work relationships. The study used secondary data analysis from the Project on Policing Neighborhood, a large-scale study of police behavior. Data for the study were collected from the police departments in Indianapolis, IN, and St. Petersburg, FL. The study was conducted during the summer months of 1996 and 1997 and involved data from systematic social observation and structured interviews with police officers. Trained observers accompanied patrol officers during their scheduled shifts, taking notes on officers' behavior, as well as the behavior of peers, supervisors, and the citizens with whom the officers interacted. Of the three categories of independent variables (social capital, work environment, and officer characteristics), the study found that the social capital group did not have any explanatory power regarding community policing. The most consistent significant result, both statistically and substantively, was the organizational environment in which the officer worked. Officers in Indianapolis performed about half the amount of community policing compared with their counterparts in St. Petersburg. According to the community-policing literature, there are several explanations for this, including the nature of the organizational leadership and vision and organizational structure. Regarding the latter explanation, community policing officers in St. Petersburg worked with the general patrol officers in their assigned beats. In Indianapolis, on the other hand, community-policing officers were not encouraged to work with general patrol officers assigned to particular areas. Also, the St. Petersburg police achieved greater decentralization, such that individual officers developed and implemented community policing projects with the citizens they contacted daily. Suggestions are offered for future research. 4 tables, 17 notes, and 84 references