TY - JOUR
T1 - Police recruits and perceptions of trust in diverse groups
AU - Miles-Johnson, Toby
AU - Pickering, Sharon
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Trust is critical in ensuring public co-operation with police and in turn building police legitimacy. Trust has been regarded as especially critical when police have sought to develop more positive interactions with diverse groups. Understanding how police officers perceive others and how this shapes trust in members of diverse groups is still developing. This study contributes valuable information regarding police perceptions of trust in minority group members; an area under-researched in policing studies, particularly in an Australian context. To understand how police recruit perceptions of socialization, interaction, and living and work choices affects their perceptions of trust in diverse groups of people, data were collected from a population of Police Recruits and Protective Service Officers (N = 1609) during pre-service awareness training. These were used in a Stepwise OLS model to ascertain opinions of trust in people distinguished by diverse identities. The results show socializing, and experiencing positive interaction whilst socializing with people from diverse groups, and the age of the participants, has a significant impact on the perceptions of trust police recruits have in members of diverse groups. However, this may not be enough to uphold positive levels of trust over time.
AB - Trust is critical in ensuring public co-operation with police and in turn building police legitimacy. Trust has been regarded as especially critical when police have sought to develop more positive interactions with diverse groups. Understanding how police officers perceive others and how this shapes trust in members of diverse groups is still developing. This study contributes valuable information regarding police perceptions of trust in minority group members; an area under-researched in policing studies, particularly in an Australian context. To understand how police recruit perceptions of socialization, interaction, and living and work choices affects their perceptions of trust in diverse groups of people, data were collected from a population of Police Recruits and Protective Service Officers (N = 1609) during pre-service awareness training. These were used in a Stepwise OLS model to ascertain opinions of trust in people distinguished by diverse identities. The results show socializing, and experiencing positive interaction whilst socializing with people from diverse groups, and the age of the participants, has a significant impact on the perceptions of trust police recruits have in members of diverse groups. However, this may not be enough to uphold positive levels of trust over time.
UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:60467
U2 - 10.1080/15614263.2017.1364162
DO - 10.1080/15614263.2017.1364162
M3 - Article
SN - 1561-4263
VL - 19
SP - 311
EP - 328
JO - Police Practice and Research
JF - Police Practice and Research
IS - 4
ER -