Assessing the long-term effects of officer race on police attitudes towards the community: a case for representative bureaucracy theory

Abstract

This study examines longitudinal changes in police officer attitudes towards the community within the theoretical context of representative bureaucracy theory. The sample consists of 405 male Caucasian, African-American and Latino/Hispanic patrol officers who began employment with the LAPD from 1985 to 1991 under affirmative action hiring. The same officers comprising the panel study were surveyed at two points in time, 1992 (Wave 1) and 2007 (Wave 2). Results indicated that, over the study’s 15 year time frame, African-American and Latino officers significantly increased their desire to engage in active representation or ‘partnerships’ with the community. Also discovered was a similar time effect among Caucasian officers, who at Wave 1 of the study held significantly lower desires for community interaction than the minority officer sample. Overall, the study findings lend support to representative bureaucracy theory’s general assumption that establishing racial parity between police and citizens may increase the willingness of officers to represent the interests of others with similar demographic backgrounds.