Officer Orientations toward the Community

Abstract

This study examines why police officers have positive or negative orientations toward the communities they serve. Orientations are measured by respondent agreement or disagreement with two statements: "I often encounter situations where my professional standards are in conflict with the expectations of the community" and "The people in this city don't seem to appreciate, on the whole, what good police services are all about." The hypothesis is that officer orientations are much more affected by factors related to their memberships in a department than by their direct, off-duty community involvements and their personal histories. Data were obtained in a survey of rank-and-file officers in two urban departments.