Comparative perceptions: how female officers in two Australian police organizations view policing of diverse people

ABSTRACT

Male officers outnumber female officers in most police organizations, therefore most of the extant policing literature regarding policing of diverse people is dominated by the perceptions of male officers. As such this research conducted a comparative analysis between female officers employed in two different Australian state police organizations regarding their perceptions of policing diverse people. Using an identical online survey, and applying elements of Procedural Justice Theory and Social Identity Theory, female officers (N = 1794) responded to a series of items regarding their perceptions of fairness of treatment, following operational guidelines, perceptions of police engagement, and level of trust in people, when policing diverse people. They were also asked about their sense of identity as a police officer, and perceptions of inclusion within each respective police organization. Results from this study suggest significant differences can be found between the ranks of female officers within each organization, and comparatively between officers employed in each organization regarding their perceptions of policing diverse people. Specifically, this research suggests that rank and policing experience at the onset of a policing career (for example, Constables or Senior Constables) or over time as officers are employed in more senior roles (for example, Inspectors or Superintendents) differ in relation to officer’s perceptions of policing diverse people. This results from this study raise questions about the likelihood of female officers in different ranks not following operational policing guidelines in relation to policing diverse people.

KEYWORDS:

• Police
• policing
• female
• officers
• perceptions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. It was not possible to calculate participant response rates since each police organisation facilitated the administration of the emails, and exact details of participants/number of initial officers contacted were not disclosed to the researcher as part of the ethics agreement regarding de-identification of participants.

2. The email was sent to all female Constables, Senior Constables, Sergeants, Senior Sergeants, Inspectors, and Superintendents working in each police organisation.

3. The items in the survey were constructed to capture the individual female officer’s own perceptions of policing of diverse people. As such, none of the items in the survey asked officers to disclose their perceptions of other officers policing practice in relation to policing of police diverse people.

4. The survey included information, clear definitions and appropriate terminologies regarding the description and identification of diverse people defined by race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, and gender-identity.

5. Whilst it would have been interesting to analyse age of officer in relation to rank and time spent working as a police officer, this information was likely to identify female officers employed at the higher ranks of each organisation and was therefore, not included in the analysis since this would have breached the ethics agreement regarding identification of participants.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Toby Miles-Johnson

Dr Toby Miles-Johnson is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology working within the School of Justice, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Toby received his Doctorate of Philosophy – Criminology from The University of Queensland (2013). Toby’s research and work has been cited and discussed within the 2017 US report: An Evidence-Assessment of the Recommendations of the President’s Task Force on 21^st Century Policing, in association with the International Association of Chiefs of Police; George Mason University; and The Lauran and John Arnold Foundation. Toby’s research contributes to key areas in ‘Police Training’ and ‘Policing Diverse Communities’. Toby’s research interests include: Policing, Policing Minority Groups, Threat and Victimisation, Procedural Justice, Gender Victimisation and Crime, Sexuality Victimisation and Crime, Domestic Violence in the Queer Community, and Prejudiced Motivated Crime (Hate Crime).