Examining the relationship between the unique work experiences and cultural orientations of police officers

Somers, Logan J.; Terrill, William

doi:10.1080/1478601x.2021.2019032

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…6 The final independent variables, captured as dummy variables, indicate whether officers had “Prior Investigation Experience” or “Prior Specialized Unit” experience. Note that the coding decisions for current shift, current crime area, cumulative shifts and crime areas, and officer duty assignments have all been used in prior research (Brandl & Stroshine, 2013; Brandl et al, 2001; Somers, 2022; Somers & Terrill, 2021; Sun et al, 2008).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Confidence in Their Craft: Assessing the Relationship Between Officer Work Experiences and Their Perceptions of Self-Efficacy

Somers

Terrill

2022

Criminal Justice and Behavior

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The detailed study of officer experience has received relatively little attention within the policing literature despite it being integral to nearly every facet of their role. Drawing on survey data ( N = 691 officers), the current study examines how the unique work experiences of officers (i.e., shifts, crime areas, duty assignments, in-service trainings) are related to their perceptions of confidence (i.e., self-efficacy) in the ability to perform different job-related tasks. Results revealed that more tenured officers, having worked a greater number of shifts, and those who completed increased in-service trainings had significantly higher confidence in performing both law enforcement and order-maintenance/service-oriented duties. Several other officer characteristics were also found to have varying levels of significance in relation to their confidence. Overall, the findings support the inclusion of more nuanced measures of officer experience, as well as the potential applicability of self-efficacy theory within policing research moving forward.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Confidence in Their Craft: Assessing the Relationship Between Officer Work Experiences and Their Perceptions of Self-Efficacy

Somers

Terrill

2022

Criminal Justice and Behavior

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“…Many of the prior measures used in studies that aim to tap into officer perceptions of danger have mainly relied on aggregated assessments of their job overall. The items that are included typically ask some variation of whether the officer feels as though they work in a dangerous job, if they feel that policing is a more dangerous occupation than other professions, or whether they believe that an officer stands a good chance of being hurt while on the job (Paoline et al, 2021; Somers & Terrill, 2022). 2 Though this body of research has been informative in terms of police culture and occupational attitudes, it offers little insight into how officers view danger within specific types of encounters.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much of this is due to how danger has been operationalized in past studies. For example, measures used in the prior literature have frequently consisted of highly aggregated assessments of danger, such as the degree to which officers believe they work in a dangerous occupation, or whether they agree that their job is more dangerous than other professions (Cullen et al, 1983; Ingram et al, 2013; Paoline et al, 2021; Paoline & Gau, 2018; Somers & Terrill, 2022; Terrill et al, 2003). Further, the current discourse surrounding the danger of policing, especially in armed suspect situations, is largely being led by members of the public, media, and politicians.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viewing Firearm Danger Through the Lens of Police Officers

Terrill

Somers

2022

Homicide Studies

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Despite danger being an integral part of officer decision-making during potentially lethal encounters (see Graham v. Connor), the study of officers’ perceptions of danger is scarce. Using a survey of over 800 police officers located in a large metropolitan police department, this study assesses officers’ perceptions of danger in different types of armed citizen situations involving various levels of citizen resistance. It also identifies various contextual factors and officer characteristics in relation to danger. The findings are used to inform future research, departmental policy, officer training, and the “objective reasonableness” standard put in place by the Supreme Court.

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“…I tend to use years of service rather than age because of the well-documented relationship between tenure in the profession and a host of attitudinal measures. This decision may have to undergo changes in future surveys, as very recent research (Somers & Terrill, 2021) suggests that only using a measure of years for tenure is a problematic choice, due to heterogeneity in how officers experience those years through various roles within policing.…”

Section: Bivariate Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Officer Perceptions of Body-worn Cameras: A National Survey

Adams¹

2022

Preprint

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Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are a permanent, though not well understood, feature of modern US policing. As a technological solution to the perception that officers use force too often, BWCs have not fared well. This dissertation sidesteps questions of effectiveness, however, and instead investigates how the cameras are perceived by officers, and how variations in BWC policies affect perceptions of monitoring fairness. To do so, I use a national probability sample of officers (n = 529) drawn from a stratified sample of agencies across the United States.Theoretically, I draw primarily from two literatures. First, from the organizational psychology literature, which is where the vast majority of research on the individual-level effects of electronic workplace surveillance has been done. Second, I draw on the organizationaljustice literature, specifically elements related to how criminal justice employees form judgements of fairness regarding their workplace treatment. The results show how policy variation in BWC activation and footage review affect officer perceptions of fairnessboth on their own and interactively.

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Examining the relationship between the unique work experiences and cultural orientations of police officers

Cited by 8 publications

References 36 publications

Confidence in Their Craft: Assessing the Relationship Between Officer Work Experiences and Their Perceptions of Self-Efficacy

Confidence in Their Craft: Assessing the Relationship Between Officer Work Experiences and Their Perceptions of Self-Efficacy

Viewing Firearm Danger Through the Lens of Police Officers

Modeling Officer Perceptions of Body-worn Cameras: A National Survey

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