Citizen Police Academies: An Analysis of Enhanced Police-Community Relations among Citizen Attendees
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| DOI | 10.1350/pojo.2007.80.3.246 |
| Author | Brian R. Johnson,Michael E. Breen |
| Subject Matter | Article |
MICHAEL E. BREEN AND BRIAN R. JOHNSON
Grand Valley State University, School of Criminal Justice,
Michigan, USA
CITIZEN POLICE ACADEMIES:
AN ANALYSIS OF ENHANCED
POLICE–COMMUNITY RELATIONS
AMONG CITIZEN ATTENDEES
One current initiative used by many police agencies across the
United States to foster better police–community relations is the
Citizen’s Police Academy (CPA). While CPAs lack a precise
academic definition, they can be considered to be a planned
programme created by law enforcement agencies to educate
their citizens on police operations and management. Over the
last 20 years, CPA programmes have rapidly expanded among
police agencies in the United States, where it is estimated that
approximately 15% of all police agencies have some type of
these programmes. This article expands upon the limited
research on CPAs by analysing their impact on attendees.
Specifically, this article explores changes in the attitudes of 48
CPA attendees who completed a 12-week/36-hour CPA pro-
gramme at a Sheriff’s Department in the state of Michigan.
Based on the analysis of pre- and post-test responses, this
study found that this particular CPA had a positive impact on
the attendees’ attitudes towards the police, and their under-
standing of police operations, crime, and quality-of-life issues
in their community.
Introduction
Police–community relations have been an issue over the last 40
years in American law enforcement. As early as 1967, the Task
Force Report on the Police called for better police–community
relations (US Dept of Justice, 1967b). Similarly, the National
Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (US Dept of Justice,
1968) called for the establishment of community relations pro-
grammes to increase communication and reduce hostility
between the police and the citizenry. Early police reformers also
called for the creation of community relations units to build
improved relationships with members of the community (Clark,
1970; Ahern, 1972), while other reformers observed that new
and different lines of communication between the police and
the citizenry would be necessary and that ‘community relations
246 The Police Journal, Volume 80 (2007)
must be based on efforts to gain public understanding through
information’ (Derning, 1976: 26). Since this time, there have
been several attempts directed at improving police–community
relations and informing the public on the role of the police in
society. Some of these initiatives have included problem-
oriented policing implemented with the intent to foster better
relationships while addressing issues related to crime and the
fear of crime. Other initiatives with mutual responsibility for
problem solving have been based on the philosophy of commun-
ity policing, where many agencies tapped into federal grants
from the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to
improve relationships with their respective communities (Gest,
2001).
The community-policing model of law enforcement ascribes
to the philosophy of police–community relations as opposed to
mere public relations. The differences between the two are
significant. At its core, police–community relations require that
the police and citizens work together to solve problems in the
community (Trojanowicz & Bucqueroux, 1990). The primary
goal of public relations, meanwhile, is one-directional where the
agency ‘sells’ itself to the public through various forums (includ-
ing the media) in an effort to improve its image (Gaines,
Worrall, Southerland & Angell, 2003). While the community
policing movement has created many programmes to foster
better police–community relationships, one current initiative
used by several police agencies is the Citizen’s Police Academy
(CPA). As pointed out by Bumphus, Gaines and Blakely (1999),
CPAs are becoming prominent in community policing and over
the last 20 years have rapidly expanded. According to research
by Hickman and Reaves (2003), 15% of all police agencies have
some type of CPA, with the majority of these found in agencies
serving populations of 50,000 or more. An evaluation by the
COPS programme has also identified CPAs as one of the fastest-
growing community policing initiatives in the United States
(Jordan, 2000).
This article expands upon the research in the field of CPAs
by analysing their impact on attendees, specifically by exploring
changes in the attitudes towards policing of CPA attendees who
have completed a 12-week/36-hour programme at a Sheriff’s
Department in the state of Michigan. Particular emphasis is
placed on the CPA attendee’s pre- and post-attitudes towards the
police in the context of police–community relations, police
operations and quality of life-related issues. Through the use of
The Police Journal, Volume 80 (2007) 247
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