Abstract
Recognizing a gap in the African policing literature created due to the lack of research on police officers attitudes toward the public, the present study was conducted to bridge this gap by examining officers perceptions of the public and to determine whether such perceptions influence officers behavior on the street and their perception of effectiveness. Using a randomized sample of 145 police officers selected from five police districts in Accra, Ghana, the study found that police officers in Ghana generally hold negative views of the public they serve. Findings also revealed that officers perception of public cooperation significantly predict their behavior and perception of effectiveness in controlling crime in the community. However, officers perceptions of public recognition and compliance with the rule of law were not found to predict their behavior and perception of effectiveness. Policy implications of the findings were discussed.
Introduction
Conventional thinking about police reform and security production in developing nations has uniquely focused on sustainability and legitimation. Within this research, most often empirical assessments have identified, evaluated, and tracked the relative trust experienced within the community toward the local police service designed to assess legitimacy. Although these assessments of trust experienced by the community toward the police have been important, as developing nations continue to respond to a changing security environment, this research is often narrowly tailored to specific communities and often constrained to only community members. This research has most often missed the individual police officer.
Kääriäinen (2007) empirically assessed the relationship between the police and the state, finding them reciprocal, an assessment reaffirming the work of Punch (2000) offering “The police are the state made flesh.” Accepting this proposition, sustainable security sector reform (SSR) research would benefit from transitioning the lens of observation to the individual police officer. By transitioning this lens to the officer level, it would offer a platform for understanding how officer perceptions influence their behaviors and daily tasking, specifically within developing nations. In fact, improvements in officer perceptions of their communities become an important first step toward implementing community-oriented or local-based policing reforms. In addition, officer perceptions hold an important place in developing true active partnerships (TAPS; Bayley, 1994) to create axiomatic security (Loader & Walker, 2007).
As SSR does not occur within a vacuum, it is important to consider a nations specific economic, historical, political, and social condition. This exploratory study selected the nation of Ghana. Having experienced both praise and criticism within its police service (see Aning, 2006) and recent research establishing a baseline for trust experienced by those in the community toward the police service (Boateng, 2012; Tankebe, 2008b, 2010), Ghana reflects the ideal characteristics for the present study. Recognizing that readers may lack familiarity with the Ghana Police Service (GPS), we provide a brief description of the service.
The GPS and Public Trust
Suspicion, hatred, discontent, and mistrust mare the GPS (Atuguba, 2003). Feelings largely influenced and perpetuated by the historical remembrance of conflict experienced by the community at the hands of the Ghana police force. A force influenced by British colonialism (see Atuguba, 2003; Tankebe, 2008a) promoting mistrust. Mistrust uniquely traced back to the security governance methods embraced by the British Colonial Authorities.
Origin of the GPS
In 1831, the British Colonial Authorities first introduced Professional Policing to Ghana and then the Gold Coast. Originally, traditional authorities led by local kings or chiefs organized policing. Policing during British colonial rule aimed at achieving two goals. First, establishing and maintaining security for trade in European goods and as a vanguard for colonial expansion into the hinterland for increased exploitation of agricultural and mineral resources (Ward, 1948, p. 184). The second aim was to protect the ruling and propertied class. In fact, the 1896 mandate issued by Governor George Maclean uniquely presents the primacy of these two goals. This mandate established that “no police should be stationed where there were no Europeans” (Gillespie, 1955, p. 36). During the colonial era, concerns were raised about the moral standing of the police among the public and their efficiency. Gillespie (1955) offered that successive governors and police commissioners described the police as “worse than inefficient.” This observation underscores the apparent ineffectiveness of the colonial police in the maintenance of the colonial government machinery. Police ineffectiveness was not the only issue confronting the police. Equally important was the extreme public distrust in the police, a result of systemic police brutality. Systemic in that the brutal nature of the Gold Coast Constabulary was initiated and cultivated by the British colonial authorities believing the only means of developing a conducive atmosphere for successful trade was to have a police force that would be brutal to the indigenous citizens (Atuguba, 2003; Killingray, 1991). Achieving this aim was simplified by recruiting the “Hausas.” Recruited from Northern Nigeria and Sierra Leon, the Hausas formed a unified force with the mandate to enforce the laws of colonialists through brutalization. Historians suggest that this brutal and alien character of the force made the police unpopular among the citizenry (Gillespie, 1955; Killingray, 1991; Ward, 1948).
Transitioning Period
Following the departure of the British and political independence in 1957, the Gold Coast Constabulary was renamed Ghana Police Service (GPS). Unfortunately, all that changed was the name as the service retained all existing units and divisions. Postcolonial policing in Ghana took the shape and character similar to that of colonial policing (Tankebe, 2008a). Atuguba (2003) remarked the GPS kept the same basic objectives established by the imperialist powers. The GPS, like its predecessor remained the “property” of the political and propertied class, championing their interests as well as assuring them maximum protection. In addition, the GPS retained a centralized organizational structure with 12 administrative regions, 51 divisions, 179 districts, and 651 stations across the nation. The strength of the police service increased progressively from the few years leading up to independence and continued until the peak year in 1971. Then, the police force numbered 19,410 personnel who served the total population of Ghana of nearly 8.5 million (Aning, 2002). Despite that mentioned earlier, we must recognize the GPS has undergone notable functional and compositional changes to improve the service.
Current State of the GPS
Currently, the GPS employs 23,702 officers, serving a population of 25 million, which is grossly above the United Nation Standards for ideal police staffing. The GPS officer to citizen ratio is 1 to 1,054. The United Nations recommended ratio is 1 to 450. The GPS performs both crime-related and service-related duties. The crime-related functions of the force are stipulated in Section 1 of the Police Force Act, 1970 (Act 350). The Act states, “It shall be the duties of the Police Force to prevent and detect crime, to apprehend offenders and to maintain public order and safety of persons and properties”. The service-related roles are not established in the Act but include performing motor traffic duties, vetting, and issuance of police criminal check certificates, and helping female victims of sexual assault deal with traumatic and psychological problems (Ghana Police Official website).
Like its predecessor, excessive corruption and brutality characterize the GPS (Atuguba, 2003; Tankebe, 2008a) promoting a negative opinion of the police service. Research also suggests that police misconduct is worse than during the colonial period (Tankebe, 2008a). Confirmation of the increase can be seen in international and local nongovernmental organization reports on police brutality. Further, an extract from the 2010 report of the Human Rights Practices in Ghana released by the U.S. Department of State provides the following example:
In August 2010, a police officer in Juaso, Ashanti region, shot and injured a man who made a derogatory comment. On October 27, police and security personnel in Nakpanduri, northern region, allegedly ransacked and burned homes, injured civilians, and repeatedly fired their guns during an operation to arrest an escaped convict. Police brutality, corruption, negligence, and impunity were problems. Delays in prosecuting suspects, rumors of police collusion with criminals, and a widespread view of police ineptitude contributed to vigilante violence during the year. There were also credible reports that police extorted money by acting as private debt collectors, setting up illegal checkpoints, and arresting citizens in exchange for bribes from disgruntled business associates of those detained.
Of the many examples of police misconduct, and specifically police brutality, a pinnacle event involved the grossly mishandled response to an incident of stadium vandalism during a local football game. Misuse of tear gas in a crowded stadium, either intentional or through failure to train, resulted in the deaths of 126 spectators and the injury of several hundred more. Media attention and national inquiry has labeled this as one of the worst stadium disasters in Africa. The incident also weakened the already strained relationship between the police and the community. According to Aning (2006), although the public welcomes the services provided by the police, there is an underlying sense of mistrust and discomfort, a sentiment supported in recent survey research (Afrobarometer, 2012; Boateng, 2012). A regional survey undertaken by Boateng (2012) revealed that 53% of Ghanaian respondents did not trust the Ghana police at all, whereas only 35% held high levels of trust in the police.
Literature Review
Policing underwent several significant changes over the past century, with the most significant of these changes being the introduction of community policing (Geller & Toch, 1995; Moon & Zagger, 2007). Geller and Toch (1995) offer that traditional policing, typically reactive, did not improve police performance and effectiveness. Instead, this reactive model undermined the work of the police. The reactive model caused several problems, including perpetuating tension between the police and the minority communities. Tyler (1990) offered voluntary compliance and cooperation are critical for police effectiveness. However, during the traditional policing era, compliance to laws was not voluntary since the police used authoritarian techniques to gain compliance. As the police–community relationship declined, police experts offered a new approach, a community policing approach, a philosophy that has received widespread global acceptance. Scholars credit this widespread appeal to the positive relationship community policing may foster between the police and the community (Kappeler & Gaines, 2011; Skogan & Hartnett, 1997; Skolnick & Bayley, 1986).
In this new era of policing, a significant number of studies examined how citizens perceive the police as well as factors influencing their opinions of the police. 1 Common across these studies is the influence of background characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, neighborhood context, personal experience with officers, perception of police fairness, on citizen attitudes, and perceptions of the police. For instance, Greenfeld, Langan, Smith, and Kaminski (1997) and Leiber, Nalla, and Farnworth (1998) both found that the young register more disapproval than those who are older. Within the United States, African American and Hispanic community members are more likely to hold a negative view toward the police (Flanagan & Vaughn, 1996; Smith, Graham, & Adams, 1991). Neighborhood context also matters in shaping public attitudes toward the police. People living in disadvantaged and crime-prone neighborhoods develop more negative images of the police than those living in areas of affluence (Weitzer, 2000; Sampson & Bartusch, 1998).
Similarly, Wu, Sun, and Triplett (2009) indicated that residents in predominately White and racially mixed neighborhoods report more favorable attitudes toward the police than those in African American communities. Gaining negative opinions of the police is not limited to direct encounters. Rather, indirect exposure to highly publicized incidents of police misconduct influence opinions and attitudes toward the police (Dean, 1980; Rosendaum, Schuck, Costello, Hawkins, & Ring, 2005; Scaglion & Condon, 1980; Smith & Hawkins, 1973; Walker, Richardson, Williams, Denyer, & McGaughey, 1972). For example, Weitzer (2002) found a dramatic increase in negative attitudes toward the police after incidents are highly publicized by the media. This observation was stronger among African Americans than other racial groups.
Comparatively, there is limited research examining police officer attitudes toward citizens (Bayley & Mendelsohn, 1969; Cain, 1973; Chang & Zastrow, 1976; Manning, 1997; Niederhoffer, 1969; Rossi, Berk, Boesel, Eidson, & Groves, 1968; Skolnick, 1966; Van Maanen, 1973, 1975; Westley, 1970; Wilson, 1968; Worden, 1993). Although many of these studies are over 20 years old, each noted that officers have negative attitudes toward the public. For instance, Niederhoffer (1969) and Bayley and Mendelsohn (1969) found that most officers did not believe they had a respectable public image. Similarly, Rossi, Berk, Boesel, Eidson, and Groves (1968) found that over half of the police officers who took part in their study were dissatisfied with citizens’ levels of respect in their precincts. Most recent studies suggest that negative perceptions of the community are still common among police officers (Drury, Stott, & Farsides, 2003; Lee, 2002). In a comparative study, Lee (2002) found the majority (71%) of South Korean officers reported negative relationship with citizens and 92% believed that citizens do not trust the South Korean police. These rates closely mirrored results from the United States. However, some studies have identified positive perceptions of communities. Smith, Visher, and Davidson (1984) found a favorable police evaluation of the public, citing that the majority of police officers perceived the public to be respectful. Nearly a decade later, Worden (1993), in a sample of 740 police officers, identified a gender difference with White female officers holding more favorable opinions of citizen cooperation than White male officers.
Studies have examined factors that influence officers’ attitudes and behavior toward citizens (DeJong, 2004; Garner, Maxwell, & Heraux, 2002; Kane, 2002; Moon & Zager, 2007; Paoline, Meyer & Worden, 2000; Sun & Chu, 2008). Moon and Zager (2007) examined officers’ perceptions of citizen support using a sample of 434 Korean police officers, finding officers’ perceptions were significantly influenced by individual and organizational characteristics. Specifically, they noted seniority related to officer attitudes toward citizen support. Similarly, Paoline, Meyer, and Worden (2000) found that educational levels significantly influenced officer attitudes toward citizens’ cooperation and distrust. College-educated officers were more likely to distrust citizens than those with high school education only. Gender has also been found to influence officers’ behaviors and attitudes. Sun and Chu (2008) surveyed 108 policewomen and 228 policemen in Taiwan to assess gender differences in officers’ attitude toward aggressive enforcement, community building, peer group, and career advancement. The authors found that policewomen expressed greater support for aggressive enforcement than policemen. Contrarily, some previous studies did not note any effect of officers’ demographic characteristics on their attitudes and behavior toward citizens (DeJong, 2004; Sun, 2002). DeJong (2004) noted that officer’s sex does not influence attitudes. Rather, situational factors significantly predict officers’ behavior.
Previous research on police behavior have focused attention on police use of force and have argued that disproportionate use of force on individuals living in bad neighborhoods undermines police legitimacy (Terrill & Reisig, 2003). Terrill and Reisig (2003) further argued that neighborhood characteristics significantly predict the level of force officers will use. According to these authors, suspects encountered in crime ridden and disadvantage neighborhoods are more likely to experience higher levels of police use of force. Similarly, Alpert and MacDonald (2001) argued that officers who work in high crime or violent neighborhoods are more likely to use more force than those who work in neighborhoods with fewer crime or violence. These conclusions imply that location influences how officers will behave and are consistent with Wilson’s (1968) argument that police behavior differs from community to community because the situations officers face vary from place to place.
The reviews mentioned earlier, though extend our knowledge on officers’ perceptions of the public, have two major limitations. First, none of the studies examined the possible effect of officers’ perceptions of citizens on their behavior and perceived effectiveness. Second, most of these studies used data collected from the developed nations without any effort made to establish how officers from the developing nations perceive the citizens they serve. Specifically, no empirical studies examine Ghana police officers’ attitudes toward citizens’ cooperation, compliance to laws, and recognition.
Therefore, the current study addresses these limitations using data collected from Ghana to examine police officers’ perceptions of citizens and to determine whether officers’ perceptions influence their behavior and view of effectiveness. The theory that guides this study is that, officers’ attitudes toward citizens relate to how they will respond to situations they confront as well as how they view themselves as effective. Based on this assumption, the study tests the following hypotheses:
Methodology
Research Design and Location
A cross-sectional survey was administered including items on officers’ demographic characteristics. The target population for the present study was officers of the GPS. 2 The Police Service is structured into 12 administrative regions, 51 divisions, 179 districts, and 651 stations across the country. Survey administration for the present study was conducted in five police districts conveniently selected from the Accra region of the GPS from December 2012 to January 2013. Officers were randomly selected from a list provided by the secretaries to the district commanders. For each district, we had a quota of 40 officers, and officers were selected until the quota was met. Questionnaires were distributed to the officers by the researchers. Once completed, respondents gave them to the secretaries in a sealed envelope. To ensure confidentiality and anonymity, personal identifiable information was omitted. Officers were also informed that their participations were voluntary and that they could refuse to complete the questionnaires.
Participants
A total of 200 surveys were distributed, with 145 completed surveys, a response rate of ∼73%. The descriptive statistics of the sample (Table 1) is as follows: most of the officers (75%) were male with an average age of 35 years (standard deviation [SD] = 8.73). Furthermore, 65% were married and 52% had up to a high school education with 48% having obtained more than high school education. Regarding the ranks of officers, 44% of the officers were either corporals or lance corporals, 21% were constables, 20% were either inspectors or chief inspectors, 9% were sergeants, and 6% were assistant superintendents.
Most of the officers (34%) work in the criminal investigation department having served between 5 and 10 years (40%). Compared to official statistics, the gender and rank distributions of the sample closely reflect the composition of the GPS. According to the GPS 2008 Annual Report, approximately 79% of the officers were males. In terms of rank distribution, 30% were constables, 28% were corporals and lance corporals, 14% were sergeants, 10% were inspectors, and 2% were assistant superintendents (pp. 6–8). There was no available information on officer’s age, education, or marital status.
Descriptive Statistics of Study Participants (N = 145).
Note. SD = standard deviation.
Measures
Dependent variables
There are two dependent variables in this study. The first is perceived effectiveness of police crime control. For years, researchers have offered that traditional measures of police performance, reported crime rates, arrest rates, clearance rates, and response times, which worked well under the traditional model of policing, are not adequate measures of police performance, specifically within an era emphasizing community and problem-oriented approaches (see Alpert & Moore, 1993; Kelling, 1992; Kennedy & Moore, 1995; Langworthy, 1999; Wilson, 1993). To measure perceived police effectiveness, the present study adopted an effectiveness scale (Sunshine & Tyler, 2003; Tankebe, 2010). 3 The scale included 6 items with the same lead-in question: for each item, kindly indicate the extent to which you think the police are effective. The responses range from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The items included: as a police officer, I quickly respond to citizens’ call for help. As a police officer, I always respond to citizens’ call for help; the police have enough resources to provide satisfactory assistance to victims of crime; as a police officer, I usually handle all situations well, believe the citizens are satisfied with the work of the police in their neighborhood. and overall, the police are serving the public well. These items had factor loadings ranging from 0.51 to 0.77 and the additive scale has an α coefficient of .73.
The second dependent variable was a behavioral scale, initially comprising 21 items measuring how officers consider certain behaviors as acceptable and others as unacceptable. The items were adapted from Hyams' (1990) Professional Ethical Behavioral Scale. The items had the same lead-in question: In the following section, we would like to ask you questions about police officer’s behavior either on the street or in his or her department. The responses ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree. A principal component factor analysis was conducted using a varimax rotation method; items with eigenvalues greater than 1 were retained and summed to create the measure. Fourteen items (see Appendix ) loaded on the same factor with loadings ranging from 0.44 to 0.67. The behavioral scale was then constructed using the 14 items, and the assessment of internal consistency demonstrated sufficient effects, possessing an α coefficient of .77.
Independent variable
There are three independent predictors presumed to have effects on the dependent variables. These are perceived public cooperation, perceived public compliance, and perceived public recognition. Prior studies have documented the significant influence that public cooperation has on police effectiveness (Bradford, 2012; Tankebe, 2009). These studies have indicated that citizens’ willingness to supply information about crime and criminals in the community to law enforcement officers is very crucial to the successful discharge of the police mandate. Based on such prior findings, the present study assumed that police officers who perceived the public to be cooperative would be more effective at controlling crime. To measure perceived public cooperation, the present study used a 5-item scale to capture the extent to which officers perceive the public they serve to be cooperative. Responses range from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The items were citizens consider it as their duty to assist law enforcement officers to perform their duties; people are always willing to report ongoing crime to the police; citizens are always willing to give information to the police leading to the arrest of a criminal offender; it is always difficult to get somebody to serve as an eyewitness in a police case even though there were people present at the time of the incident; people always do what the police ask them to do even when they know they were right; and overall, do you think people generally cooperate with the police. The scale has a good internal consistency with an α coefficient of .71.
Five items modeled after Romzek’s (1985) Public Service Recognition Scale measured perceived public recognition. The 5-item scale possessed an α coefficient of .74, indicating a good internal consistency. Three items adopted from Sunshine and Tyler’s (2003) New York study measured perceived public compliance. The 3-item scale possessed an α coefficient of .69. For details about these measures, refer to Table 2.
Police General Perceptions of the Public (N = 145).
Note. R = reverse scored; a1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3= neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree. b1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3= neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree. c1 = never, 2 = very rarely, 3 = rarely, 4 = occasion, 5 = very frequently, 6 = always.
Control variables
Prior studies have identified several variable influencing police effectiveness and behavior. Therefore, in order to estimate the true effects of our predictors on the perception of effectiveness and officer behavior, it was necessary to account for the effects of some of those variables. The present study controlled for the effects of officer demographic characteristics such as age measured as a continuous variable (in years), gender (0 = female, 1 = Male), marital status (0 = single/never married, 1 = married), education (0 = high school or less, 1 = more than high school), ranks of officers measured as a dummy variable with constable as a reference category (1 = constable, 2 = corporal/lance corporal, 3 = sergeant, 4 = inspector, 5 = assistant superintendent). Department was also measured as a dummy variable with criminal investigation unit as a reference category (1 = criminal investigation unit, 2 = community policing unit, 3 = rapid deployment unit, 4 = traffic/highway patrol unit, 5 = special guards unit, 6 = general duties, 7 = other units) and number of years the officers have served as law enforcement officers was measured as a continuous variable (in years). Table 1 provides detailed information about how demographic characteristics were measured.
Analytical Strategy
To test the study’s hypotheses, frequency distributions, descriptive, and inferential analyses were conducted. A principal component factor analytic technique was used to determine whether scale items measured the same construct as it relates to Ghana. Because the dependent variables of the study were continuous variables, we used multiple ordinary least square regression models to identify the factors that influence those variables.
Results
To gauge how police view the public, we asked officers several questions about public cooperation, public recognition, and public compliance. For the items measuring perceived public cooperation and perceived public recognition, scores ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) and for perceived public compliance, scores ranged from 1 (never) to 6 (always). Higher scores correspond with greater perceptions.
Table 2 presents the statistics of each item. From the table, more than half (63%) of the officers either agree or strongly agree that citizens consider it as a duty to assist law enforcement and slightly above half (53%) either agree or strongly agree that people are always willing to report ongoing crimes to the police. Further, 51% of the officers also agreed or strongly agreed that citizens are always willing to give information leading to the arrest of a criminal offender and only 28% of the officers perceived the public to do what the police ask them to do. However, officers generally view the public as uncooperative (62%).
Concerning officer perceptions of recognition they receive from the public, few officers believe the public is unappreciative of their work (28%). In fact, 73% either agreed or strongly agreed that the public is not doing enough for the police, and just little above half (54%) either agreed or strongly agreed that the public have not given enough recognition to the importance of the police in the criminal justice system. Furthermore, a large majority of the officers (78%) claimed the insults they get from the public are unbearable, and 56% claimed the public disrespect police officers.
Finally, in terms of officer perceptions about public complying with the laws they enforce, 46% believed the public occasionally follow rules about how legally to dispose of trash and litter. A slight majority (36%) believed people occasionally follow rules about not making noise at night, and further 36% think people occasionally follow rules about not buying stolen items.
Effects of Officer Perception on Perceived Effectiveness and Behavior
Table 3 presents the results of two ordinary least square regression models estimating the effects of three perception indexes on officer effectiveness and behavior. The first model tests the effects on officer’s perception of effectiveness. The model was found significant, F(18, 90) = 2.19, p < .01, and explains 31% of the variance in officer perception of effectiveness. Perception of public cooperation was found to have a significant influence on officer’s perception of effectiveness. With a positive slope of 0.40, a unit increase in officer’s perception of public cooperation corresponds to 0.40 increase in perception of being effective in controlling crime.
Regression Models Estimating the Effects of Predictors on Perceived Officer Effectiveness and Behavior.
Note. a Criminal investigation unit is the reference category. b Constable is the reference category. SE = standard error; VIF = variance inflation factor.
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.
Gender and education were two demographic variables found to predict perception of effectiveness among the officers. The effect of gender was negative, suggesting that male officers were less likely to perceive themselves as being effective compared to their female counterparts. However, the effect of education was positive, indicating that officers who possessed more than high school education were likely to perceive themselves as more effective than those who possessed high school education or even less.
Model two presents the effects on officer's perception of his or her behavior. The model was significant, F(18, 86) = 1.72, p < .05, and explains 26% of the variance in perception of officer’s behavior. Similarly, perceived public cooperation was found to significantly predict officer’s perception of his or her behavior (t = 2.19, p < .05). With a coefficient of 0.49, a unit increase in officers’ perception of public cooperation results in an increase of 0.49 in their perception of good behavior. Age and rank of the officer influenced officer perceptions of behavior. Age had a positive effect, suggesting that, as officers’ age, they tend to view themselves as behaving more prosocially. Compared to constables, sergeants perceived themselves as behaving more prosocially.
Our models have no problem with multicollinearlty issues as the variance inflation factor (VIF) statistics presented in Table 3 indicate. Although two predictors, age and number of years served, appeared to have high VIFs, according to Allison (2012), since both predictors are control variables, there will be no problem with the model and can be safely ignored. To confirm that the high VIFs have no negative effects on the models, we run a separate analysis leaving one of the two predictors out and the findings did not change significantly.
Discussion and Conclusion
Security production has a deep impact on the overall state of a nation. Security is not merely the decline or absence of interpersonal violent crime rather creating security calls for the broader exploration, analysis, and development within security sector governance (SSG) and SSR. Advancement in the creation of security has a marked influence within improving the economy, governance, and lessening crime and overall victimizations of vulnerable populations (Cartwright & Shearing, 2012; Coughlin, 2004; Loader & Walker, 2007). However, as states have learned, creating axiomatic security cannot be accomplished by the state alone (Dixon, 2007). One-sided approaches have most often employed abusive and repressive control mechanisms both in society and within police organizations (Marenin, 1985). These techniques impede axiomatic security and instead trade brief moments of internal security for long-term internal conflict, including revolutions and revolts (Loader & Walker, 2007). Instead, the state must look to co-opt the community to collaborate with its citizenry to produce security. This policy need not merely engage the community but must be uniquely tailored to the local community, by a needs assessment, specific to that local community. As Brogden (2005), Manning (1984), and others have offered the state must redistribute political power to the agencies and communities to address their specific problems, in which the government not stipulate rather must promote security production.
To promote axiomatic security, Loader and Walker (2007) offer the state must implement the “4-R’s of Security”: resource mobilization, recognition, rights, and reasons, which individually and collectively create what Bayley (1994) refers to as a TAP. To foster security is to then utilize, consult, value, and understand the needs of the local community. This perspective undoubtedly requires a paradigm shift in which not merely the state but the frontline representation of the state (i.e., police officers) must be able and more importantly willing to promote change.
Unfortunately, much of the research has assessed citizen attitudes toward the police and state and specific to African Policing has uniquely focused on legitimizing efforts. Although useful to policy development, much of the assumptions within African Policing have reflected the unwillingness of the police to collaborate through macro-level assessments or through historical assessments, which, while important, often miss the unique local conditions that are vital to SSR. If developing a TAP needs two parties to collaborate, to invest resources, and to identify and achieve the same goal, it is important that research explore officer views locally.
The present study, while exploratory in nature, sought to assess officer perceptions of the community using validated models for effectiveness and behavior. The findings suggest that officers hold negative views about the public which confirms the common view. However, the intricacies within the present study are important contributions. For example, while officers admitted the public to be willing to report crime and provide information to the police, they still believed the public is uncooperative and will not follow commands. This lack of cooperation can be even more frustrating for an officer when, in the officers’ perception, they are in the right and the community member recognizes the position but still act defiant. These acts of defiance chip away the delicate foundations of a TAP and only further align the police and community on polar ends of the spectrum, seeing each as the enemy. Within policing, this can be even more dangerous, when overtime officers may engage in victimism, wherein the entire community is viewed as the source of the insecurity (see Gil, 1986; Westley, 1970). This is further demonstrated in our model concerning when the public is uncooperative, it will adversely affect the way officers believe they are effectively controlling crime, which only amplifies acquisition of victimism. Further, the study revealed that officers believe the public is denying them the recognition they deserve as controllers of social order. Consistent with other studies ((Bayley & Mendelsohn, 1969; Cain, 1973; Manning, 1997; Niederhoffer, 1969; Rossi et al., 1968; Skolnick, 1966; Van Maanen, 1973, 1975; Westley, 1970; Wilson, 1963, 1967, 1968), officers in this study felt the public to be highly disrespectful. At the height of this disrespect are the many insults officers hear.
Public compliance, like citizens voluntary cooperation, is an indisputable ingredient of police effectiveness. For the police to be effective in crime control duties, they need compliance with the laws, and as Tyler (2004) has concurred, this compliance to laws fosters legitimation. Without compliance, police legitimacy will be in jeopardy and later their authority will be constantly challenged.
The findings of this study suggest that police officers believed the public occasionally, but not always, comply with rules relating to legal ways of disposing trash; prohibiting noise making at night; and rules prohibiting buying of stolen items. This compliance with the rule of law and the requests of officers is not a generalization to all of Ghanaian police. Rather, the present study provides an exploration into these factors through a narrowly tailored analysis. The current views of these officers can be placed in the context of the existing relationship with the Ghanaian public. Currently (as it was in the past), there is a growing discontent and mistrust between the police and the community, and this is largely because of the public’s view that the police are corrupt and abusive. Reciprocally, this view within the community, as explained here, amplifies perceptions and attitudes within the police who view the community as a detractor.
Apart from examining the general attitudes of the police toward the public, the study sought to assess empirically whether officers’ perceptions significantly influence their opinion of effectiveness and behavior toward the public. The findings reveal that officer perception of public cooperation positively and significantly influence their view of effectiveness and behavior. Officers who believe the public to be cooperative also perceive themselves as effective. Similarly, officers who believe the citizens are cooperative behave more ethically toward the citizens. Linking this finding to the earlier discussions on officer’s attitudes, Ghana police officers who believe the citizens are uncooperative are more likely to engage in misconduct in their daily encounters with the citizens.
Although both of the primary findings are a contribution to the literature, the demographic variations are both timely and important. For example, female officers were more likely to perceive themselves as being effective than male officers. This pattern can partly be explained by the fact that female officers are more effective communicators than their male counterparts (see Lonsway et al., 2002) and is possibly a reflection of the departments they are assigned. However, gender did not influence officer behavior; instead, age became the predictor. The positive relationship observed between age and officer behavior implies that older officers compared to younger officers were more likely to behave ethically in their daily encounters with citizens. Recognizing this is an exploratory study with a small sample, it is not our intent to offer this as evidence, rather it introduces a very important research question on the state of selection, recruitment, and staffing within the GPS. If SSR and SSG may require changing the face of the state (i.e., the officers), unethical behavior only undermines these efforts, and it is important to understand how to improve ethical behavior in younger officers, to change the nature in which they interact with the community. In studying the state of the GPS for many years, it is unfortunate that much of the answers remain elusive, concerning selection, recruitment, training, and posttraining.
Our study sought to answer two hypotheses, within two broader research goals, namely, transitioning the lens to officers and evaluating the modal efficacy of prior survey instruments. Although the results are interesting and have confirmed prior research in the United Kingdom and United States, there are some limitations. Mainly, the small sample size possesses high coverage error (the study covered 5 police districts out of the 651 districts in Ghana). The generalizability of the results to the state of the GPS is small, and we caution against this type of interpretation. However, sample sizes like this have become the norm, a result of two primary limits. At present, there has been a renewed interest in the GPS, but the resources needed to conduct a larger sample and the level of access needed to the state government make these projects extremely challenging. Also, the natural character of police organizations toward research, specifically the GPS, which has tremendous distrust of researchers, has impeded larger studies.
As SSR and SSG continue to dominate the discourse within African states, creating axiomatic security becomes more central to the ideals of democratic policing. To create a TAP is to co-opt the community to engage the representation of the state and to engage and motivate officers to shift the paradigm toward policing. It is a lofty goal and one that has enjoyed decades of research but while the theoretical foundation appears solid, the practical implementation has predominately focused on the state of trust, perceptions, and needs within the community. Although we understand the state of trust within communities, it is the street-level bureaucrat, the frontline officers, whose views have gone largely ignored within the literature in Ghana. Although the present study is an exploratory study, it is our belief that the study has contributed to the literature by further validating existing findings while identifying new research agendas (i.e., police training).
Footnotes
Appendix
Acknowledgment
We are most grateful to the Ghana Police Service for granting us the permission to carry out the study. For the individual police officers who in spite of their busy schedules devoted time to participate in the study, we say thank you. We would also like to thank Assistant Professor Zachary Hamilton at Washington State University, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, for his assistance on the OLS Models. The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors who accept all responsibilities.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.