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Police Community Relations

NCJ Number
95633
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1984) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
L K Gaines
Date Published
1984
Length
117 pages
Annotation
This special issue explores aspects of police-community relations, analyzes differences in the way policewomen and policemen handle family violence situations, and discusses implications of Bentham's hedonistic calculus for the study of deterrence.
Abstract
The development of police-community relations is traced, and the relationships between the police, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics are examined. Strategies used by police administrators to reduce police racial discrimination are discussed, including hiring minority police officers, using public relations campaigns to improve the image of the police, and improving police training and education. The impact police chiefs can have on their departments' relations with the community are analyzed, and two diverse management styles are contrasted. Two forms of police organization are analyzed in terms of community perceptions and relations. Deterrence research is reported, and Bentham's hedonistic calculus -- which holds that although members of society share common interests, they do not all have the same interests -is explored. Bentham's hedonistic calculus is converted to social-psychological terms and concepts and applied to a study of 541 subjects queried on their use of marijuana and on vehicular speeding. A study of the way male and female police offficers differ in their handling of domestic violence is discussed, and perceptions of male and female officers are compared. Approximately 90 references, 4 tables, and 1 figure are included.