Public satisfaction with police : the importance of procedural justice and police performance in police-citizen encounters

A large body of literature has demonstrated that when authorities use procedural justice with those they regulate, people will be more satisfied with those authorities and will be more willing to cooperate and comply with their directions and rules. In the context of policing, procedural justice has also been shown to be important for shaping citizens’ views about police legitimacy, their satisfaction with police and also in fostering cooperation with police. What remains largely unexamined, however, is whether the positive effect of procedural justice varies across different types of police–citizen encounters. Using survey data collected from a national sample of 1,462 Australians, the present study will examine the relative importance of procedural justice on overall ratings of police satisfaction across two types of police–citizen encounters (citizen-initiated contacts and police-initiated contacts). It will be shown that procedural justice is most important in police-initiated contacts, while police performance is most important in citizen-initiated contacts.

Encouraging public cooperation and support for police

This paper explores how to increase public cooperation and support for police. To date, only a few studies have attempted to explore the role that procedural justice plays in shaping the public's willingness to assist police in crime control. The present study explores this much neglected field of research using both crosssectional survey data and panel data. The study finds that views about police legitimacy do influence public cooperation with the police, and that those who view the police as more legitimate are more likely to assist police to control crime. The key antecedent of legitimacy is procedural justice; those who are more likely to believe police use procedural justice in their dealings with the public are more likely to perceive police as legitimate.

The relationship between job status, interviewing experience, gender, and police officers' adherence to open-ended questions

Purpose : The current study examined whether several factors related to the job and demographic profile of police officers are associated with adherence to best-practice guidelines when interviewing children.

Method : One hundred and seventy-eight police officers completed a standardized (simulated) interview regarding an allegation of abuse by a 5-year-old child. Immediately prior to this interview, details were obtained from the officers' regarding their job status, gender, interview experience, the timing and nature of prior training/supervision, and experience outside the policing profession with young children.

Results : The results showed that timing of training was the only factor that related to interview performance. The proportion of open-ended questions among participants who completed their interviewer training course less than 1 month prior to the simulated interview was better than those who completed the training earlier. Interestingly, the performance of the latter group was identical to that of a group of participants who had not yet received any formal interview training. The implications of the findings are discussed, along with directions for future research.

Improving the competency of police officers in conducting investigative interviews with children

Despite the provision of 'best-practice' guidelines regarding conducting interviews with children, research indicates that most investigative interviews do not adhere to these guidelines. To date, there has been little discussion in the literature of the conditions that are needed to promote and sustain expertise in forensic interviewing. The current paper addresses this limitation by describing the main factors preventing the adoption of 'best-practice' interview guidelines. A description of these barriers (and the literature that supports them) forms the basis for the review component of this paper as well as the subsequent recommendations for change.

An examination of police officers' notes of interviews with alleged child abuse victims

This study provided a critical examination of handwritten records (notes) of interviews contained in a sample of 89 police case files about alleged child abuse. Some of the notes examined related to initial disclosure (complaint) interviews which were not electronically recorded and were meant to be recorded verbatim. Notes of electronically recorded interviews, which merely constituted a convenient summary of the case details, were also examined. Collectively, the analyses focused on the accessibility, completeness and accuracy of the notes, and the degree to which the interviewers' questions and witnesses' answers were differentiated. In relation to the disclosure interviews, a substantial proportion of these were not accessible. Of those where the notes were obtained, the detail recorded was not a complete record of conversation, and there was often poor delineation of questions and responses. Analysis of the electronically recorded interviews showed that these were not an entirely accurate summary of event details even though the note takers' sole task was to document the interview. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Police stress : the role of psychological contract and perceptions of fairness

Purpose – The overall purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which breaches in psychological contracts and perceptions of organizational fairness account for variations in job stress experienced by operational police officers (as measured by psychological distress and employee performance), after controlling for the variance associated with more established job stressors (i.e. job demands, job control and social support).

Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on data collected through a self-report survey involving operational members of a large Australian police force (n=582).

Findings – Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicate that vast majority of explained variance in psychological distress and extra-role performance is attributed to the additive effects of demand, control, and support. Furthermore, only one of the social exchange dimensions (interpersonal fairness) is predictive of either target variable.

Research limitations/implications – The limitations that need to be taken into account are the cross-sectional nature of the study design and the focus on a single police service.

Practical implications – Despite the generally weak support for the social exchange variables, there are signs that dimensions of justice (particularly interpersonal justice) should be included in future police-stress investigations. The results also suggest that job characteristics such as job demand, job control and social support should be taken into account when developing strategies to prevent and/or reduce chronic job stress in policing services.

Originality/value – This is one of the first studies to examine the relationships between psychological contract breach, perceptions of fairness and police stress.

State police in a state of change : remaking the entrepreneurial officer

Questions concerning how to govern police practice have never been more pressing or more fluid. This study locates contemporary developments in police accountability techniques within a broader analysis of the historical circumstances shaping the changing techniques for governing police. The recent pluralisation of police accountability pr.ocesses and structures is examined through the application of governmentality studies. Drawing on a comparative analysis of two Australian States the book provides a detailed account of the development of governmental techniques for 'making up' the entrepreneurial officer. While such a governmental project is not implemented unproblematically the book concludes that the attempt to shape the development of the entrepreneurial officer through the managerialisation of governing presents distinct possibilities for a new 'politics of policing' that fosters deliberative and reflective police practice.

Police officers' questioning of children about repeated abuse

This thesis examined the perceptions of police and legal professionals regarding how police officers should and do interview children about repeated abuse. It also examined the actual performance of police interviewers in mock and field interviews to understand the reason for interviewer's difficulties and how interview strategy can be improved. The portfolio examines and discusses the complexities associated with assessing the risk of sexual recidivism among different sex offender populations - adult sex offenders, sex offenders with an intellectual disability, adolescent sex offenders and indigenous sex offenders. Four case studies are presented.

Police officers' note-taking of interviews with alleged child abuse victims

The field and experimental studies for this thesis revealed that: the quality of documentation of 'disclosure' (initial) interviews with child abuse witnesses was poor; under optimal note-taking conditions, verbatim records of interview were still not provided, and considerable variability was observed in the quality of notes and strategies employed to document content and structure. The portfolio presents four case studies to illustrate similarities and/or differences between offence behaviour in child sex offenders with impairment, and the offence behaviours that characterise Canter et al.'s intimate, criminal-opportunistic and aggressive type offenders.

Australian police responses to transnational crime and terrorism

This chapter outlines the Australian federal policing and allied agency responses to international drug trafficking activity and terrorism. The chapter is situated alongside a broader analysis of the structure of each key agency and the various interagency enforcement mechanisms established domestically and internationally to improve enforcement performance.

An analysis of police officers decisions about whether to refer cases of child abuse for prosecution

In many jurisdictions, police officers are responsible for deciding whether cases of child abuse are referred for potential prosecution. Such discretion justifies the need to scrutinise these professionals' decisions to determine if they are consistent with the scientific eyewitness memory literature. Prior research has shown that interviewer questioning is one of the most critical factors impacting the reliability of child witness statements. Hence, we asked: 'To what degree do officers' consider the quality of interviewer questions when making case authorisation decisions?'. In order to answer this question, we conducted a thematic analysis to identify issues referred to in a sample of documented police correspondence (n=33) about potential prosecution of child abuse cases. Two key themes emerged: the existence of corroborative evidence and whether the suspect denied the allegations. Questioning technique, however, was not considered. All but one decision that referred to interview process focused on the presentation of the witness, even though the witness interviews (as a whole) did not adhere to recommended best-practice guidelines. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Psychological profiling of Tasmanian police officers using the COPS

This thesis examined selection processes for police candidates, and the impact of police work on well-being. Results revealed that policing impacts negatively on psychological well-being over time, and that many aspects of the stereotypic 'police personality' are not a result of selection processes, but develop over time in the role.