"Warriors or Guardians? The Role of Police Orientation in Community Relationships"

• In Event: Can we Enhance Youth Justice and Policing through Assessment and Measuring Perceptions?

Abstract

Due to numerous instances of police brutality in the United States, policymakers have urged police to become more guardian-oriented (i.e., prioritizing community safety and relationships) and less warrior-oriented (i.e., prioritizing physical control and fighting crime). Integrating the group engagement model and expectancy disconfirmation hypothesis, we examined whether young adults think police should be guardian- or warrior-oriented, how they currently view police in their community, and how their expectations for police are related to police legitimacy perceptions. In this study, a sample of young adults in the United States (N = 436) responded to a self-report survey on Prolific. Participants preferred police to have more of a guardian than warrior orientation and thought that police are not as guardian-oriented as they should be. Further, if police did not meet guardian expectations, young adults had more negative perceptions of police legitimacy. Expectations for police behavior may influence police legitimation and, within the context of police reform, young adults support the call for police to be more guardian-oriented by prioritizing community safety and building relationships. Fostering a guardian orientation in police is particularly important for police who are interested in promoting perceptions of legitimacy among the communities they serve.

Authors

• Allison Cross, School of Interdisciplinary Forensics, Arizona State University

• Adam Fine, Arizona State University