engleski

Does Community Policing Matter for Police Integrity

Purpose: This paper explores the nature of the relation between police integrity and community policing among the Croatian police officers. Design/methodology/approach: A stratified representative sample of 1, 315 Croatian police officers participated in the police integrity survey. The respondents evaluated the seriousness of police misconduct, assessed the appropriate and expected discipline, and expressed their willingness to report such behavior. In addition, the respondents provided their attitudes toward community policing. About one-quarter of the respondents were employed in community policing, while the rest performed more traditional policing roles. Findings: Our multivariate models of police misconduct seriousness show that police officers' assignment--whether they were employed in community policing or more traditional police roles--was not related to their level of police integrity. At the same time, their attitudes toward community policing were one of the key independent variables in the model of police misconduct seriousness. In particular, the respondents who were more supportive of community policing also expressed views consistent with higher levels of police integrity. In addition, supervisors were more likely than line officers to express views supportive of higher levels of integrity. Research limitations/implications: Although the sample is a stratified representative sample of police agencies and the overall response rate for individual police officers is 88 percent, not all police officers from the selected agencies participated in the survey. Practical implications: The methodology can be utilized by police administrators wishing to explore the contours of police integrity in their police agencies, as well as whether the attitudes and views of community police officers and traditional police officers differ with respect to police integrity. Originality/value: This research explores the relation between police integrity and community policing, an issue unexplored by prior studies.

police ; integrity ; misconduct ; community policing ; transition ; Croatia

nije evidentirano