NCJ Number
168254
Journal
Police Studies Volume: 18 Issue: 3 & 4 Dated: (1995) Pages: 93-95
Date Published
1995
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Three police research studies are summarized that concern community policing in the United States, law enforcement and community policing, and police department bias crime units.
Abstract
The first study sought to determine the extent of organizational change involved in adopting community-oriented policing (COP), to examine COP training, and to identify obstacles to achieving organizational changes necessary for COP. It was found that most of the 228 municipal police departments surveyed had initiated some type of COP strategy, such as block watch, foot patrol, or public education program. Three main areas of COP training encompassed overall performance skills, middle manager coping, and cultural diversity training. Police departments reported three primary obstacles to implementing COP: organizational barriers, external/community impediments, and difficulties associated with the transition from a paramilitary organization to COP. In the second study, researchers hypothesized police officer attitudes toward COP would affect whether legal versus extralegal factors exerted the greatest influence on arrest decisions. Data were obtained from over 400 suspect encounters with police officers in Richmond, Virginia, to analyze offense seriousness, evidence strength, and whether the victim requested arrest. It was determined that legal factors related to offense seriousness and victim preference greatly increased the likelihood of arrest and that legal variables accounted for most variations in arrest decisions. Police officer attitudes toward COP also affected arrest decisions. The third study examined the level of awareness of and commitment to enforcing bias crime laws in 16 police departments. Researchers observed three levels of bias crime unit implementation: (1) police departments with a special bias crime unit; (2) police departments with either designated police officers or written policies concerning bias crimes; and (3) and police departments with no special bias crime unit, no designated police officers, and no written policies.