In the Eyes of the Gatekeepers
| Author | Yuan Yuan,Guangzhen Wu,Francis D Boateng |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X16646406 |
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
In the Eyes of the
Gatekeepers: Insights
of Chinese Police officers
Perceptions of the Public
Guangzhen Wu
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Washington State
University, Pullman, WA, USA
Francis D Boateng
Liberal Arts and Education Department, University of Minnesota,
Crookston, MN, USA
Yuan Yuan
National Police University of China, China
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese police officers’ attitudes toward the
individuals they serve and protect. Using cross-sectional data collected from 271 police
officers in a Chinese police university, this paper examines the effects of officers’ per-
ceptions of citizens’ cooperation, compliance with laws, recognition and disrespect.
Chinese police officers generally have mixed feelings about citizens. While officers
negatively perceived citizens’ levels of cooperation, they believed the Chinese public
were law-abiding and recognised the police for their work. Results further revealed a
significant relationship between officers’ attitudes and their sense of effectiveness and
behaviour. Future research should include more attitudinal dimensions, such as officers’
personality traits, and examine the relationship from a longitudinal perspective. Findings
provide insights for Chinese administrators to reform the police with a focus on
strengthening citizen–police relationships.
Corresponding author:
Francis D Boateng, Liberal Arts and Education Department, University of Minnesota Crookston,
2900 University Avenue, Crookston, MN 56716, USA.
Email: fboateng@crk.umn.edu
The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles
2016, Vol. 89(4) 269–289
ªThe Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0032258X16646406
pjx.sagepub.com
Keywords
Police, attitudes, China, behaviour, citizens
Introduction
In the last decades of the 20th century, policing experienced tremendous change in its
strategies and practices (Weisburd and Braga, 2006). A number of critical police inno-
vations not only redefined the missions and functions of policing, but also reframed the
way in which the police interacted with citizens. Community policing is one of the most
important innovations that emerged in this period (Oliver, 2000; Weisburd and Braga,
2006). In the 1960s and 1970s, the effectiveness and legitimacy of professional policing
were called into question, with rising crime rates and increasing tension between police
and the community, particularly conflict between the police and residents of racial
minority communities. A number of empirical studies showed that key characteristics
of traditional policing such as aggressive policing, intensive patrol and rapid response to
crime were not significantly associated with reduced crime (Levine, 1975; Pate et al.,
1974; Spelman and Brown, 1984).
It was also noted that the use of patrol cars removed officers from the street and
isolated the police from ordinary citizens (US Kerner Commission, 1968). Community
policing is largely a response to the criticisms of the traditional reactive policing model.
Rather than narrowly focusing on crime-fighting and upholding a police-centred crime
control approach, the community policing model extends police functions to order
maintenance, provision of services and other activities (Kelling and Moore, 1988;
Skolnick and Bayley, 1986). Since the 1980s, community policing has become a para-
digm for policing in America, and has been widely adopted across the globe (Oliver,
2000; Skogan, 2004). A major purpose of community policing is to ameliorate tensions
between the police and communities through positive mutual interactions (Kappeler and
Gaines, 2012; Skogan and Hartnett, 1997; Skolnick and Bayley, 1986).
In this era of community policing, attitudinal research examining how police officers
develop their views about the public is necessary for establishing a strong collaborative
relationship between the police and the community. Unfortunately, this area of research
has not yet received much attention from police scholars. Although a few extant studies
shed some light on officers’ perceptions of the public (see Lim et al., 2000; Moon and
Zager, 2007; Myhill and Bradford, 2013), there is room for progress. First, extant
research on police attitudes is far more limited and not comparable to those examining
citizens’ attitudes toward the police (see Boateng, 2012; Bradford et al., 2009; Kwak
et al., 2012; Mazerolle et al., 2013; Wu et al., 2015). The dearth of research on police
attitudes is worrisome because it is not possible to paint a complete and clear picture of
police–citizen relations without solid knowledge of officers’ attitudes toward the public.
Insufficient scrutiny of officers’ attitudes toward the public makes it difficult to further
explore their potential multifaceted impact.
Second, studies on how officers’ perception of the public affects their behaviour and
effectiveness are specifically rare. Only one study (Boateng et al., 2014) has directly
examined these relationships. Given the important role the police play in society, it is
270 The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles 89(4)
To continue reading
Request your trial