Crime fighters or peace keepers? Police officers’ perception of their profession in Greece and Venezuela.

• In Event: Police Work and Perceptions of Police/Criminal Justice System in Various Cultural Contexts

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical analysis of survey data measuring the perceptions of police officers about their profession in Athens,Greece and Caracas, Venezuela. Although the history and structure of these police forces as well as the societal characteristics in both countries seem to differ significantly, this study tests whether, despite these structural and societal differences, the attitudes and perceptions that are dominant among police officers in both countries are significantly different as well. For the purpose of this paper we used a 40-question survey which measured police officers’ perception of their profession as well as attitudes towards their department, the media, the society etc. The survey was administered to police officers employed in a random representative sample of police stations in Athens and Caracas and the officers were offered answers on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. Given that police officers attitudes and perceptions have received little attention in both countries, the findings of this study could have important policy implications.

Authors

• David Topel, CUNY Graduate Center / John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Nikolaos (Nick) Petropoulos, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY