Police Officers’ Attitudinal Barriers to Procedural Justice and Legitimacy Training

• In Event: Organizational Justice, Police Attitudes, and Work-Related Outcomes

Abstract

The translation of the theory of procedural justice and police legitimacy into trainings for police officers on the ways in which they can employ core principles of procedural justice in their daily interactions with citizens requires an understanding of officers’ attitudes about their work climates and organizational environments. Attitudes or environments that are not conducive to the tenets of procedural justice (dignity/respect, voice/participation, neutrality, and trustworthiness) will hamper training. If officers hold negative attitudes toward citizens or managers, or if they adhere to a legalistic view of the policing role, they might not support or see the need for procedural justice. We use data from a roll‐call survey of sworn personnel in a medium‐sized South Florida police department to examine officers’ work climate and organizational attitudes to identify potential barriers to officers’ acceptance of procedural justice as a necessary component of their encounters with citizens. Implications for police training and future research are discussed.

Authors

• Jacinta Gau, UCF

• Eugene Paoline, University of Central Florida