No abstract

Police departments are increasingly becoming the primary entity for managing incidents involving persons with mental illness, thereby leading to calls for additional research. Drawing on a multicity use-of-force research project, the current inquiry examines whether citizens displaying signs of mental illness are subjected to higher levels of police use of force, and whether they are more likely to be injured, controlling for a host of relevant predictors. The findings show that officers use higher levels of force on persons with mental illness, but such citizens are not at an enhanced risk of injury. The policy and research implications of the findings are discussed.

Policing as an institution has been under immense pressure to increase the representation of women as police patrol officers. As the representation of women in policing has plateaued, increasing research has focused on barriers to women entering patrol work but has not examined the salience of these barriers with respect to males or reliably determined which barriers are most influential to desire to enter a police patrol career prior to employment. Drawing upon survey responses from more than 640 students enrolled in criminal justice courses across five universities (i.e., University of Southern Mississippi, Illinois State University, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Indiana University-Purdue University Indiana, and Missouri State University), the current inquiry examines the degree to which female and male students differ in their perceptions of barriers to entering a patrol career frequently listed in the literature. The findings indicate that female students view many of these obstacles differently than male students and that these perceptions influence interest in patrol careers.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether black and African-American criminal justice students perceive barriers to a police patrol career differently than white students, and whether the perceptions of these barriers impact desire to enter a police patrol career. Design/methodology/approach-The current inquiry uses a self-administered survey of over 630 undergraduate students in criminal justice classes across five public universities. Findings-Findings suggest that African-American students differ significantly from white students in perceived social disapproval of patrol careers, respect for police and perceptions of whether the police engage in racial profiling. These perceptions display a significant indirect relationship indicating lower patrol career interest for black and African-American students compared to all other races. Research limitations/implications-Research limitations of the current inquiry include the lack of a nationally representative sample, the use of four-year university students as a sample to represent the potential police patrol applicant pool, and the use of a survey instrument to gauge respondent beliefs about patrol careers as opposed to actions they would take in pursuit of a police career. Practical implications-Findings from the current inquiry indicate that departments may need to focus more on improving global perceptions of the police and discussing the nature of the career with recruit social support structures. Police recruiters should focus on techniques such as addressing social isolation experienced by the police rather than on decreasing standards for background checks or simply increasing awareness of police careers. Originality/value-The current inquiry is one of the first to explore perceptions of barriers to entering a patrol career among CJ students. It is also among the first to examine the impact these perceptions have on patrol career interest. The findings may also help criminal justice instructors more fully discuss these barriers with students of color.

Policing research has generally focused on easily measured outcome factors such as response time, force usage, and arrest. Empirical studies examining outcomes important to public legitimacy, such as police responsiveness, are less prevalent in the literature. Using observational and interview data from two medium sized cities (Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida), the present inquiry examines how officers respond to noncoercive citizen requests for service during encounters, and the impact that situational and officer characteristics have on their willingness to comply with requests. Results indicate that officers comply with a majority of citizen requests, and even when they do not comply they often provide an explanation why. Encounters involving respectful citizens, wealthier citizens, White officers, and St. Petersburg officers were all more likely to result in compliance, while officers were less likely to comply with requests from younger and older citizens. Moreover, encounters involving White citizens, a greater number of citizen bystanders, and officers with a higher level of education all reduced the likelihood that officers would provide an explanation for denying citizen requests. Policy implications and recommendations for future research and theoretical development are discussed.