Police – Parole Partnerships in Texas Revisited

• In Event: Police-Community Partnerships

Abstract

Using 2007 survey data of police chiefs in Texas, we found that the overwhelming majority of police-parole partnerships were informal rather than formal. Since then, the need for formalizing these partnerships at the organizational level has gained increased advocacy in the criminal justice field. The current study updates the previous study by analyzing newly collected survey data of police chiefs in Texas in 2016 to examine the changes in the patterns of police-parole partnerships. In addition, for the police agencies with formal partnerships with parole agencies, the current study explores the characteristics of their partnerships and the perceptions of police chiefs on experiences with partnering agencies. For the police agencies without formal partnerships, the police chiefs were asked regarding barriers to formal partnerships as well as interest in new partnership opportunities. Discussion on the future expansion of formal partnership between police and parole in light of the findings is offered.

Authors

• Bitna Kim, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

• Jurg Gerber, Sam Houston State University