Prioritization of crime preventing activities and fit to specific profiles in Colombia

• In Event: Police officers’ attitudes and work experience: comparing countries

Abstract

The importance of crime prevention activities has always been at focus in police work, but if it should be a matter for the whole organization or specific units is an often-recurring question. This study presents information from police officers enrolled in two different units in Colombia where one is clearly guided by a crime preventive mission and the other with regular police work. The areas given more attention investigates how this difference of being in a specific unit is manifested in their daily activity and how their profile differs in constructs such as perspective taking. Cross sectional data was collected with a battery of instruments at different occasions from the same units and data was analyzed both descriptively and using models with latent variables. There are noted differences that will be discussed in relation to the question of fit between police mission and police profile.

Author

• Miguel Inzunza, Police Education Unit/ Umeå University