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Depolicing is a behavior that occurs when law enforcement officers disengage from proactive police work. Despite the term's more recent popularity, these behaviors have been identified in policing literature for decades. Scholars have primarily tried to quantify the depolicing phenomenon through the lens of public scrutiny and the Ferguson Effect. However, there are currently no quantitative studies that have attempted to examine the multitude of reasons as to why depolicing behavior could potentially occur. The current inquiry uses survey data retrieved from eight municipal law enforcement agencies to further examine potential predictors of depolicing. The predictor variables consisted of public scrutiny, liability concerns, organizational unfairness, burnout, physical danger, COVID-19, and years of experience. Our results indicate that public scrutiny, liability concerns, COVID-19, and years of experience are all significant and positive predictors of depolicing. We also found that agency location and rank significantly impacted depolicing behavior. The findings and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, a great deal of confusion and misinformation surrounds the authority (and therefore potentially wider discretion) that conservation officers possess to search private property, vehicles, and residences. Utilizing a survey of approximately 1,600 officers employed in 15 state-level conservation agencies in the United States, the current inquiry examines conservation officer perceptions of their search authority. Findings indicate there is substantial state-level variation in statutory authority granted to conservation officers relative to their search and seizure capabilities. A substantial percentage of conservation officers believe that they possess authority to search private property beyond that granted to other law enforcement officers. Findings indicate that this perception is less common for vehicles or private residences. The findings from this study have implications for conservation officer training, policy, and procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing concern among university professors and students alike is the image that students project through their social media accounts, particularly when future graduates seek employment in fields such as policing and other criminal justice careers. Despite this common concern, little research has examined the degree to which criminal justice (CJ) students accept employer use of social media searches as a screening tool, or whether there is variation among students based upon characteristics commonly associated with employment discrimination. Drawing upon a survey of over 630 students in criminal justice courses at five public universities, the current inquiry finds that criminal justice majors' opinions of social media searches do not differ from non-majors taking criminal justice courses. However, African-American, Latino, and students of other races all have less acceptance of the use of employer searches of social media than do white students. Implications for policy and future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing police research has produced mixed results regarding the benefits of college education on the outlooks of officers. In addressing many of the well-documented methodological concerns of prior research, the current study augments the existing police education-occupational attitudes literature by examining the impact of varying levels of education (i.e. high school, some college, and bachelor’s degree and higher) on officers’ job satisfaction, views of top management, and role orientation(s). In addition, among those with a bachelor’s degree, the relevance of degree major on officers’ occupational outlooks is assessed. Our results address and inform advocacy efforts to make college education a bona fide occupational qualification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing fiscal crisis has resulted in substantial challenges for many police departments, not only in terms of how administrators staff and manage operations, but with respect to how street-level officers go about handling their daily tasks. Using data collected as part of an observational study (i.e. the Flint Twenty-first Century Policing Project), the present inquiry assesses how street-level officers deliver service to the public and respond to citizen requests in a city experiencing substantial socioeconomic challenges. While concerns regarding the changing reality of policing have merit, the findings indicate that the basic nature of street-level policing, in terms of service delivery and responsiveness, can still be achieved with substantial success. The implications of these findings and potential future research avenues are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]