Police Cadets’ Satisfaction on Educational Experience at Police College and Career Plans in China

• In Event: Policing in East Asia

Abstract

In recent decades, police organizations have encountered difficulty in maintaining employees; a large number of police are leaving the service early. While several previous studies have examined turnover intent or job satisfaction with police officers, there is no empirical study on this topic among police cadets. The topics of police cadets’ attitude on policing as a long-term career and their satisfaction at Police College are important because the nature of the future police forces depends upon their educational experience and career plan. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence police cadets’ satisfaction on educational experience at Police College and their attitude on policing as a long-term career. Specifically, the social background, confidence in policing as well as physical strength, motivations for becoming a police officer, the opinions on the importance of theory and knowledge in police education, and police role orientations are included in the model. The questions are explored using survey data collected in 2016 from cadets in three different police colleges in China. Implications based on the finding are discussed.

Authors

• Bitna Kim, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

• Tao Xu, Zhejiang Police College