Improving the Police Image by Changing Police Attitudes
| Author | David Lester |
| Date | 01 October 1982 |
| Published date | 01 October 1982 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8205500407 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DA
VID LESTER
Professor
of
Psychology
and
Criminal Justice.
Richard Stockton State College.
IMPROVING
THE POLICE
IMAGE
BY
CHANGING
POLICE
ATTITUDES
A good deal of effort has been
put
into attempts to improve the
relationship between the public and the police officer.
For
example,
efforts have been made to bring police officers and community
groups together in forums of various kinds, hoping that these
interactions will result in changed attitudes on both sides (Reasons
and Wirth, 1975). However, there is good psychological evidence
that
indicates that these attempts will probably fail because of
particular attitudes that the police officer holds.
In a recent study, Lester (l979a) has shown that municipal police
officers score at the 34th percentile in satisfaction with their work,
the 30th percentile in satisfaction with their pay, the 55th percentile
in satisfaction with their promotional possibilities, the 20th
percentile in satisfaction with their supervisor, and the 20th
percentile in satisfaction with their co-workers.
What this means is that the average police officer is much less
satisfied with his occupation
than
the average American worker. His
satisfaction is below average for all areas of his
job
except
promotions. A police officer who does not like his work, his
supervisor and his co-workers, and who considers himself underpaid
is not going to care much about his relationship with citizens in the
community. He will be bitter, frustrated, depressed, and careless in
the performance of his job. Police-community relations will be poor,
no matter how often the officer participates in workshops or forums
on the problem.
Before we can expect police-community relations to improve, the
American police officer must become happy with his work. Thus, a
great deal of effortmust be placed into selecting men who are suitable
for the occupation of police officer and whose expectations aboutthe
job
will be consistent with the actual
job
that they confront. Careful
thought' and planning is needed to find ways to make the work
pleasant and satisfying for the police officer. An officer who enjoys
his work, will probably relate to citizens in an affable manner, and
improve police-community relations directly.
In other psychological research, Lester (1979b) has found that
352 October /982
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