Officer Preferences for Male Backup: The Influence of Gender and Police Partnering

Abstract

Much of the extant literature regarding women in policing focuses on job stress, perceptions of job performance, and inherent difficulties associated with their immersion in a traditionally male-dominated profession. Little attention, however, has been given to perceptions regarding gender and backup preferences among police officers. This study sought to examine the impact of professional and demographic characteristics of municipal police officers in a southern state on preferences for male police officers as backup. Multivariate analysis indicated that gender, partner status, race, and marital status significantly impacted officer preferences for male backup. However, further examination of the interaction effect between gender and partner status revealed a gap in the preferences for officers with no partners. Although officers with no partners reported lower overall preferences for male backup than officers with female or male partners, the disparity of preference between male and female officers with no partners was sizeable.

Self-described Attitudes and Difficulties Perceived in Mexican Police Officers

“…As observed in the ethnographic analysis, police is characterized by masculine representations in which women develop a more complex significance than men (Carlan, Nored, & Downey, 2011). Similar to other Latin-American countries, gender issues within this context are related to national realities and cannot be considered as isolated but as part of a national difference in representation although adapted to this particular context (Rodriguez, 2007).…”

Models for violence by Turkish police officers toward romantic partners and police partners

“…For example, violence received from the police supervisor was a significant predictor of violence reported by Turkish police to both their romantic partners and their police partners. One interpretation of these results is that when joining a police department, the Turkish officer becomes part of a new ‘family’ in which the police supervisor becomes the primary ‘father figure’ in his male-dominated profession (Archbold and Schulz, 2012; Carlan et al, 2011; Melgoza and Cox, 2009). Similarly, verbal aggression and violence modeled by the police supervisor were found to be the most consistent predictor of aggression displayed to romantic partners and police partners for a sample of American officers from Pennsylvania (Can and Hendy, 2013).…”

“…In support of this idea, research has documented that in male-dominated professions, male employees are more likely to hold gender stereotypes and to display aggression toward co-workers (de Hass and Timmerman, 2010), especially when supervisors display ‘destructive leadership’ as a management tool by bullying employees, who are likely to model this aggressive behavior toward co-workers (Ferris et al, 2007; Padilla et al, 2007). American police departments remain a largely male-dominated work environment with mostly male supervisors and co-workers (Archbold and Schulz, 2012; Carlan et al, 2011; Melgoza and Cox, 2009), as are Turkish police departments in a largely male-dominated society (Kocacik et al, 2007; Marshall and Furr, 2010; Yuksel-Kaptanoglu et al, 2012).…”

Models for Aggression by Police Officers towards Romantic Partners and Police Partners

“…One interpretation of present results for male police officers is that in terms of aggression used as a conflict resolution strategy in close relationships, police officers experience less of a 'fraternal order' than a 'paternal order', with 'father-figures' serving as the most significant models. Also, because the police supervisor's aggression was significantly associated with aggression shown in both their personal and professional close relationships, it may be that once the male police officer joins the department, he becomes part of a new 'family' in which the police supervisor becomes the primary 'father-figure' in a male-dominated profession (Archbold & Schulz, 2012;Carlan, Nored, & Downey, 2011;Melgoza & Cox, 2009). The predictors and consequences of aggression displayed within the workplace, also known as 'workplace bullying', have been studied in a wide variety of professions for over 20 years (Demir, Rodwell, & Flower, 2013;Ferris et al, 2007;Rayner & Hoel, 1997).…”

“…Research has documented that in maledominated professions, male employees are more likely to hold gender stereotypes and to display aggression toward co-workers (de Hass & Timmerman, 2010), especially when supervisors display 'destructive leadership' as a management tool by bullying employees, who are likely to model this aggressive behaviour toward co-workers (Ferris, Zinko, Brouer, Buckley, & Harvey, 2007;Padilla, Hogan, & Kaiser, 2007). Because police departments remain a largely male-dominated work environment with mostly male supervisors and co-workers (Archbold & Schulz, 2012;Carlan, Nored, & Downey, 2011;Melgoza & Cox, 2009), it might be expected that male models of aggression such as the police supervisor and the father would be more powerful models of aggression than would female models such as the mother, or peer models such as siblings or police partners.…”