Police Chief Culture: A View From the Top

Ingram, Jason R.; Paoline, Eugene A.; Rockwell, Alexis R.; Azimi, Andia

doi:10.1177/10986111221114332

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Although police unions may affect reform efforts, police executives are arguably the most influential in deciding whether a CRB will be established or opposed in a community. Their decisions shape the agency's priorities, culture, and the behavior of its employees (Ingram et al, 2023). Police reforms in the twentieth century have achieved the most success when led by groups of police executives rather than by reformers from the Progressive Era (Uchida, 2020).…”

Section: Policing Executives and Crbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speaking of reform: Experimental insights into influencing police executives' perspectives on civilian oversight

Mourtgos,

Adams,

McCrain

et al. 2024

Criminology & Public Policy

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Research summaryThis study investigates how information about public opinion and peer practices influences police executives' views on civilian review boards. We applied structural topic modeling in an experimental paradigm, a novel approach diverging from traditional experimental survey methods, to the open‐ended responses of 1331 police executives collected in an original survey experiment. This technique enables the capture of subtle shifts in belief directly from the executives' own words. The experiment systematically varied the information provided to police executives, including state‐level public opinion data from a representative sample of 16,840 U.S. residents, and peer practices in major city police agencies. Our findings reveal that police executives, although generally aligned in their views, demonstrate a readiness to update their beliefs when presented with cohesive local public opinion and information about peer practices in policing.Policy implicationsIn a democratic society, the core policy beliefs of police executives critically shape the existence and efficacy of civilian oversight mechanisms. Our findings demonstrate the adaptability of police executives in updating their policy positions, reflecting their commitment to informed decision making in response to the dynamic nature of police governance. We find that police executives are willing to update their beliefs related to the public's ability to oversee policing in an unbiased and qualified manner when presented with information about reforms adopted by peer agencies. In contrast, information about public demand for more aggressive forms of oversight can lead to a backlash, increasing the likelihood of police executives to favor existing oversight mechanisms and to doubt the public's qualification. For executives, reformers, and scholars, these findings highlight the limitations of public opinion and benefits of peer influence as mechanisms for policy learning in policing.

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Section: Policing Executives and Crbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speaking of reform: Experimental insights into influencing police executives' perspectives on civilian oversight

Mourtgos,

Adams,

McCrain

et al. 2024

Criminology & Public Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While various actors (e.g., unions, municipal and state government leaders) may influence reform efforts, it is police executives who arguably play the most critical role in determining whether a CRB will be established or discouraged in a given community: Their decisions set the priorities, culture, and behavior of their agency and the employees within (Ingram et al, 2022). Indeed, twentieth-century police reforms have been most successful when spearheaded by cohorts of police executives rather than by Progressive-era reformers (Uchida, 2020).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Patrolling the Police: Experimental Evidence on Police Executives' Support for Oversight

Adams,

McCrain,

Schiff

et al. 2023

CrimRxiv

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The accountability of police to the public is imperative for a functioning democracy. The opinions of police executives-pivotal actors for implementing oversight policiesare an understudied, critical component of successful reform efforts. We use a preregistered survey experiment administered to all U.S. municipal police chiefs and county sheriffs to assess whether police executives' attitudes towards civilian oversight regimes are responsive to 1) state-level public opinion (drawing on an original n=16,840 survey) and 2) prior adoption of civilian review boards in large agencies. Results from over 1,300 police executives reveal that law enforcement leaders are responsive to peer adoption but much less to public opinion, despite overwhelming public support. Elected sheriffs are less likely to support any civilian oversight. Our findings hold implications for reformers: We find that existing civilian oversight regimes are largely popular, and that it is possible to move police executive opinion towards support for civilian oversight.

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“…In light of this sizable history of calls for reform, what accounts for the mismatch between demand for reform and the supply of CRBs? While various actors (e.g., unions, municipal government leaders) may influence reform efforts, it is police executives-chiefs and sheriffs-who arguably play the most critical role in determining whether a CRB will be established or discouraged in a given community: their decisions set the priorities, culture, and behavior of their agency and the employees within 17 . Indeed, twentieth-century police reforms were most successful when they were spearheaded by cohorts of police executives rather than by Progressive reformers 18 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Pressure or Peer Influence: What Shapes Police Executives' Views on Civilian Oversight?

Adams¹,

McCrain²,

Schiff

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Demand for democratic accountability in policing is accelerating, yet little is understood about how law enforcement executives engage in policy learning around civilian oversight. This paper shares the results of a novel survey experiment administered to all U.S. police chiefs and sheriffs. We assess whether police executives’ attitudes towards civilian oversight are responsive to 1) state-level public opinion (drawing on an n=16,840 survey) and 2) prior adoption of civilian review boards in large agencies. Results from over 1,300 police executives reveal that law enforcement leaders are responsive to peer adoption but much less to public opinion, despite overwhelming support amongst voters. Further, we find that agencies with an established oversight board are highly supportive of their existence, while elected sheriffs are much less likely to support civilian oversight. Our results indicate that policy learning and reform around civilian oversight are possible, though sources of reform are not themselves primarily democratic.

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Police Chief Culture: A View From the Top

Cited by 6 publications

References 42 publications

Speaking of reform: Experimental insights into influencing police executives' perspectives on civilian oversight

Speaking of reform: Experimental insights into influencing police executives' perspectives on civilian oversight

Patrolling the Police: Experimental Evidence on Police Executives' Support for Oversight

Public Pressure or Peer Influence: What Shapes Police Executives' Views on Civilian Oversight?

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