Citation

Luo F, Carey MT, Updegrove AH, Cho A. Int. Criminol. 2023; 3(4): 299-312.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s43576-023-00105-1

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

High-profile cases of police use of force against civilians have increased public scrutiny of police. The increased media attention and resulting public criticism toward police have led to a claim of a "war on police" being ongoing in the United States. Perceptions of such a war have negatively affected police officers' behaviors and attitudes, but research studying this concept has been limited. Further, the alleged "war on police" is not race-neutral but defined in relation to Blackness, and it is thus unclear whether officers would still perceive a war on police in places lacking traditional Black-White racial tensions. This study surveyed 240 officers at a police department in a US-Mexico border city to examine their perceptions of a war on police and how personal politics and acculturation impacted those perceptions.

FINDINGS were that 78% of officers perceived a war on police. Structural Equation Modeling revealed that officers who were more right-aligned politically were more apt to believe in a war on police, but cultural orientation was not a significant predictor of that belief. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Language: en

Keywords

Acculturation; Law enforcement; Personal politics; War on police