An Analysis of Police's and Citizens' Perceptions of Drug Enforcement Strategies
| Autor: | Fei-Ling Chen, 陳斐鈴 |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1020 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 101 This study assesses police’s and citizens’ perceptions of drug enforcement strategies. It is hoped that through a comparison of police and citizen attitudes toward enforcement and the analysis of factors influences their perceptions, a better understanding of the impact of drug enforcement can be achieved. Three models are tested in this study, including the police model, the citizen model, and the police-citizen combined model. In the police model, three groups of variables, including background characteristics, work experience, and organizational factors, are used to predict officers’ perceptions of the deterrent effect, potential problems, law and order, and job satisfaction associated with drug enforcement. In the citizen model, background characteristics, contact experience, and neighborhood characteristics are employed to predict citizens’ perceptions of the deterrent effect, potential problems, and law and order related to drug enforcement, and their trust in the police. Personal background characteristics and locality are used to in the combined model. Police data were collected through survey of a convenient sample of 490 officers in Banqiao, Sanxia, and Danshui districts of the New Taipei City Police Departments. Telephone survey of a random sample of 450 residents lived at the comparative districts was conducted by the data mining center of National Chengchi University. Major findings of the research include: (1) Citizens held more positive attitudes toward the deterrent effect of drug enforcement than police officers, whereas officers displayed more favorable attitudes toward the impact of drug enforcement strategies than citizens. The police and citizens are less consistent in their perceptions of potential problems associated with drug enforcement. (2) Factors influencing officers’ perceptions of the deterrent effect include age, assignment, transformational leadership, work focus, and equipment. With respect to potential problems of drug enforcement, drug work experience and transformational leadership affected officers’ perceptions of the impact of aggressive enforcement on local businesses, while gender, discretional judgment, and police district influenced their perceptions of the impact of arrest and use of force. Also, age and assignment affected officers’ perceptions of the effect of household visits on offenders’ willingness to start a new life. Several variables influenced officers’ evaluations of law and order, including rank, work experience, discretional judgment, transformational leadership, work focus, equipment, and performance pressure. Factors shaping officers’ job satisfaction include work experience, transformational leadership, work focus, equipment, and performance pressure. (3) Citizens’ perceptions of the deterrent effect were influenced by age, quality of life and neighborhood watch. Contact with police, known media reports of the police, and participation in neighborhood activity affected citizens’ attitudes toward whether drug enforcement influenced local businesses and consumers. Public perceptions of the effect of drug enforcement on law and order were shaped by income and locality, while their trust in the police are affected by media reports, quality of life, trust in neighbors, and locality. Directions for future research include: (1) Increase predicting variables. Macro-level variables, such as concentrated disadvantaged, crime/homicide rates, and Gini index, and micro-level variables, such as officer personality, academic and on-the-job training, and public trust in political and legal systems, should be considered to enhance explanatory power. (2) Expand sample selection. This can be done in two ways. One is to randomly select officer samples from multiple county/city departments and compare their data with these collected from citizens in corresponding areas. The other is to incorporate relevant groups, such as drug users, drug crime victims, and probation officers, into the sample. (3) Diversify data collection approaches. Face-to-face interviews can be used to gather in-depth data. Focus group discussions with scholars, experts, community residents, and police officers can also be conducted to improve the inadequacy of a sole data collection method and cross-check the validity of various data. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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