Perceived COVID-19 Impacts on Frontline Social Control Personnel: The Case of Auxiliary Police in China

• In Event: Policing During COVID-19

Abstract

Despite playing an indispensable role in Chinese policing, auxiliary police have received very little research attention in the existing literature. This study examines the positive and negative impacts experienced by China’s auxiliary police during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on survey data collected from about 300 police auxiliaries in a northern Chinese city, this study assesses the connection between organizational factors (supervisor justice and organizational commitment) and psychological conditions (stress and resiliency) and officers’ positive and negative experiences. Percentage distributions show that better family relations, reduced unnecessary social interactions, and lower work pressure are the most common forms of positive impacts, whereas reduced income, increased workload and pressure, and weaker relationships with relatives and friends are the most common types of negative impacts. Regression analysis revealed that auxiliary officers with higher educational attainment are more likely to report greater positive impacts. Officers who reported greater stress, were older, and were unmarried were more inclined to express higher negative impacts.

Authors

• Yunan Chen, China University of Political Science and Law

• Ivan Sun, University of Delaware