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Measuring the impact of police representativeness on communities

Measuring the impact of police representativeness on communities PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether the representativeness of police departments, i.e. the extent to which the demographics of sworn police officers mirror their local constituency’s demographic makeup, has an effect on communities. The study seeks to explain whether community complaints about police use of force are related to the representativeness of the police department.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines the relationships between use of force complaints lodged against a police department and the representativeness of the police vis-à-vis their community using ordinary least squares regression and city fixed-effects models. The stratified sample of 100 large US cities uses data from the US Census Equal Employment Opportunity Survey and the Bureau of Justice Statistics Law Enforcement Management and Administration Statistics Survey from several points-in-time.FindingsThe analysis suggests that racial makeup and, to a lesser extent, local residency of police departments might matter in reducing community conflict with police, as represented by use of force complaints. However, the fixed-effects model suggests that unobserved community-level characteristics and context matter more than police departments’ representativeness.Originality/valueThis study seeks to provide a unique perspective and empirical evidence on community conflict with police by integrating the public administration theory of representative bureaucracy with criminal justice theories of policing legitimacy. The findings have implications for urban policing as well as law enforcement human capital and public management practices, which is essential to understand current crises in police-citizen relations in the US, especially in minority communities. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management Emerald Publishing

Measuring the impact of police representativeness on communities

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References (66)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
1363-951X
DOI
10.1108/PIJPSM-02-2016-0026
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether the representativeness of police departments, i.e. the extent to which the demographics of sworn police officers mirror their local constituency’s demographic makeup, has an effect on communities. The study seeks to explain whether community complaints about police use of force are related to the representativeness of the police department.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines the relationships between use of force complaints lodged against a police department and the representativeness of the police vis-à-vis their community using ordinary least squares regression and city fixed-effects models. The stratified sample of 100 large US cities uses data from the US Census Equal Employment Opportunity Survey and the Bureau of Justice Statistics Law Enforcement Management and Administration Statistics Survey from several points-in-time.FindingsThe analysis suggests that racial makeup and, to a lesser extent, local residency of police departments might matter in reducing community conflict with police, as represented by use of force complaints. However, the fixed-effects model suggests that unobserved community-level characteristics and context matter more than police departments’ representativeness.Originality/valueThis study seeks to provide a unique perspective and empirical evidence on community conflict with police by integrating the public administration theory of representative bureaucracy with criminal justice theories of policing legitimacy. The findings have implications for urban policing as well as law enforcement human capital and public management practices, which is essential to understand current crises in police-citizen relations in the US, especially in minority communities.

Journal

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management – Emerald Publishing

Published: Nov 21, 2016

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