Role Conflict and the Psychological Impacts of the Post-Ferguson Period on Law Enforcement Motivation, Cynicism, and Apprehensiveness

Torres, Jose; Reling, Timothy T; Hawdon, James

doi:10.1007/s11896-018-9284-y

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Even the most generous assessment-looking at the largest before-and-after difference within 95% confidence intervals-suggests, at most, an increase of just .118 points on a 4-point scale of officers who believe that "the media treat the police unfairly." The lack of evidence found in these data for the demoralization hypothesis contradicts several retrospective studies that asked officers to report how their attitudes changed after protests (Deuchar et al, 2020;Deuchar et al, 2019;Torres et al, 2018). The inconsistency between the present study and prior studies suggests that findings may be related to study methods, an issue addressed in more detail in the following section.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 96%

“…There are research implications of these findings. This study seems to contradict several previous studies of the Ferguson Effect, which suggested substantial worsening of attitudes among post-Ferguson officers (Deuchar et al, 2020;Deuchar et al, 2019;Nix & Pickett, 2017;Nix, Wolfe, & Campbell, 2018;Torres et al, 2018;. This raises the possibility that the contradictory findings are a result of differences in research designs.…”

Section: Theoretical and Empirical Implicationscontrasting

confidence: 95%

“…Furthermore, statistically significant differences appear between pre‐ and post‐Ferguson officers on several measures of cynicism—but two of five measures demonstrate improved rather than worsened attitudes, and the magnitude of change is insubstantial for each item. The combination of small effect sizes and opposing directions suggests that statistical significance may have more to do with sample size than with true “Ferguson Effects.” Even the most generous assessment—looking at the largest before‐and‐after difference within 95% confidence intervals—suggests, at most , an increase of just .118 points on a 4‐point scale of officers who believe that “the media treat the police unfairly.” The lack of evidence found in these data for the demoralization hypothesis contradicts several retrospective studies that asked officers to report how their attitudes changed after protests (Deuchar et al., 2020; Deuchar et al., 2019; Torres et al., 2018). The inconsistency between the present study and prior studies suggests that findings may be related to study methods, an issue addressed in more detail in the following section.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

“…A limited body of empirical research has supported the demoralization hypothesis; some studies have suggested that officers’ morale worsened after Ferguson (Deuchar et al., 2020; Deuchar et al., 2019; Torres, Reling, & Hawdon, 2018). Another small body of research suggests that post‐Ferguson antipathy may have been associated with de‐policing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2017, Torres et al. conducted a survey of more than 2,600 officers from all over the United States and reported that the “post‐Ferguson psychological impacts continued to affect current levels of cynicism, motivation, and apprehensiveness” (2018, p. 358).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Demonstrations, demoralization, and de‐policing

Marier

Fridell

2020

Criminology & Public Policy

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This study examined relationships between public antipathy toward the police, demoralization, and de-policing using pooled time-series cross sections of 18,413 surveys from law enforcement officers in 87 U.S. agencies both before and after Ferguson and contemporaneous demonstrations. The results do not provide strong support for Ferguson Effects. Post-Ferguson changes to job satisfaction, burnout, and cynicism (reciprocated distrust) were negligible. Although Post-Ferguson officers issued fewer citations and conducted less foot patrol, effect sizes were minimal in magnitude. Cynicism, which was widespread both before and after Ferguson, was associated with reduced officer activity. Policy Implications: Post-Ferguson protests in 2014 did not appreciably worsen police morale nor lead to substantial withdrawal from most police work, suggesting that the police institution is resilient to exogenous shocks. Low job satisfaction, however, was associated with fewer citations, and cynicism was negatively associated with both citations issued and community meeting attendance, indicating that agencies may need to address officer attitudesirrespective of legitimacy crises-to promote proactive policing and community engagement.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 96%

Section: Theoretical and Empirical Implicationscontrasting

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Demonstrations, demoralization, and de‐policing

Marier

Fridell

2020

Criminology & Public Policy

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Enjoying Police Duties: Public Service Motivation and Job Satisfaction

Prysmakova

Vandenabeele

2019

J Police Crim Psych

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Public service motivation briefly described as the motivation to contribute to society well-being is a continuously growing topic in the field of public administration. This concept, however, has not been widely applied to the distinct work environment of police forces. Addressing the gap, two studies look at the relationship between public service motivation and job satisfaction and the way this relationship is mediated by person-job and person-organization fits. The data comes from Warsaw (Poland) city police officers (N = 305) and from Belgian police officers (N = 207). The results indicate that in both cases, officers with higher levels of public service motivation also have higher levels of job satisfaction, even when different measures of public service motivation are used, which adds to the robustness of the findings. In both studies, this relationship is also mediated by person-job and person-organization fits.

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