ABSTRACT Document: THE IMPACT OF HIGHER …

[Pages:95]ABSTRACT

Title of Document: Directed By:

THE IMPACT OF HIGHER EDUCATION ON POLICE OFFICER ATTITUDES REGARDING ABUSE OF AUTHORITY

Cody Webb Telep, Master of Arts, 2008

Professor David Weisburd Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice

This study examines whether officers who receive a college education (four-year degree) prior to entry into the police service have attitudes that are less supportive of the abuse of police authority. This research also explores whether level of higher education and the timing of degree completion alter this potential attitudinal impact of a bachelor's degree. Using data from a nationally representative survey sample, I find that officers with a pre-service bachelor's degree hold attitudes that are less supportive of abuse of authority. These effects remain regardless of when officers receive their degree and across varying levels of higher education (i.e. associate's degree, attending some college). Postsecondary education does not have a statistically significant impact on officer ratings of the seriousness of hypothetical abuse of authority scenarios. These findings suggest that higher education has some beneficial impacts for policing, although these benefits are not only associated with completing a four-year degree.

THE IMPACT OF HIGHER EDUCATION ON POLICE OFFICER ATTITUDES REGARDING ABUSE OF AUTHORITY

By

Cody Webb Telep

Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts 2008

Advisory Committee: Professor David Weisburd, Chair Professor Jean M. McGloin Professor Charles F. Wellford

? Copyright by Cody Webb Telep

2008

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the members of my advisory committee, Professor David Weisburd, Professor Jean McGloin, and Professor Charles Wellford, for all of their assistance, suggestions, and feedback. I also want to thank Professor Weisburd for providing me access to the Police Foundation dataset. In addition, I thank Professor Laura Dugan and Professor David Kirk for their help in the early stages of this thesis. Thank you also to R?chael Wyckoff, Melissa Rorie, and Amber Stoesser for their invaluable support throughout the master's process. Finally, I want to thank the South Campus Commons Shop for being a constant source of fountain soda and caffeine.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ v

CHAPTER I: RESEARCH GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ............................................... 1

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE .............................................. 4 Police Abuse of Authority .......................................................................................... 4 The Importance of College Education ........................................................................ 5 College Education and Policing.................................................................................. 9 College Education and Police Use of Force ............................................................. 12 Police Attitudes and Use of Force ............................................................................ 17 Limitations of Prior Research ................................................................................... 22

HYPOTHESES ............................................................................................................. 24

CHAPTER III: DATA AND METHODS ....................................................................... 26 Description of the Data ............................................................................................. 26 Sampling Procedure .................................................................................................. 28

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................................................. 29 Dependent Variables................................................................................................. 29 Main Independent Variable....................................................................................... 37 Control Variables ...................................................................................................... 41 Additional Statistical Procedures.............................................................................. 46

CHAPTER IV: RESULTS............................................................................................... 50

CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION.......................................................................................... 64 Implications for Policy and Practice ......................................................................... 69 Limitations of the Study and Future Research.......................................................... 71 Conclusions............................................................................................................... 74

APPENDICES .................................................................................................................. 75 APPENDIX A: AUTHORITY SCALE QUESTIONS................................................. 75 APPENDIX B: FULL-TEXT OF SCENARIOS .......................................................... 76 APPENDIX C: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS ............................................................ 77 APPENDIX D: MISSING DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................... 80

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 81

iii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Component loadings for principal components analysis of scenario questions . 35 Table 2: OLS results for testing the impact of an officer earning at least a pre-service bachelor's degree on the authority scale........................................................................... 52 Table 3: OLS results for testing the impact of an officer earning at least a pre-service bachelor's degree on the scenario component .................................................................. 54 Table 4: OLS results for testing the impact of an officer earning at least a bachelor's degree (either pre-service or while an officer) on the authority scale .............................. 56 Table 5: OLS results for testing the impact of an officer earning at least a bachelor's degree (either pre-service or while an officer) on the scenario component...................... 57 Table 6: OLS results for testing the impact of varying pre-service, postsecondary education levels on the authority scale ............................................................................. 59 Table 7: OLS results for testing the impact of various pre-service, postsecondary education levels on the scenario component..................................................................... 60 Table 8: OLS results for testing the impact of various current, postsecondary education levels on the authority scale.............................................................................................. 62 Table 9: OLS results for testing the impact of various current, postsecondary education levels on the scenario component ..................................................................................... 62

iv

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Distribution of authority scale scores..................................................32 Figure 2: Distribution of scenario component scores...........................................36

v

CHAPTER I: RESEARCH GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Scholars have frequently emphasized education and the obtainment of a four-year college degree, in particular, as a means of improving police attitudes and performance (Roberg & Bonn, 2004). Unfortunately, empirical research on the impact of education has been limited, weak methodologically, and often contradictory. The Committee to Review Research on Police Policy and Practices (National Research Council, 2004: 141) found "the available evidence inadequate to make recommendations regarding the desirability of higher education for improving police practice." One area where research has been particularly limited and postsecondary education could have an impact is police abuse of authority. If a college education makes officers more receptive to serving the community, more ethical and moral, and more tolerant, as predicted (Carter & Sapp, 1990; Goldstein, 1977), then college-educated officers would be expected to be less supportive of the abuse of police authority and more supportive of following proper rules and regulations. This research will attempt to answer key research questions about the relationship between police officer level of education and attitudes and beliefs about police abuse of authority. First, does officer higher education have a differential impact on beliefs and attitudes regarding abuse of authority and abuse of force? Second, do these attitudes have an impact on predicted behaviors in hypothetical situations? For example, do officers with a higher level of education recognize questionable officer tactics described in scenarios as more serious situations that require intervention? Third, if higher education does have an impact on attitudes, does this impact only appear when an officer has acquired at least a bachelor's (four-year) degree. Fourth, if college education does have an impact on attitudes, does this impact only appear when an officer

1

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download