Abstract

This study examines the effect that individuals’ perceptions of police have on their adoption of crime prevention measures. Unlike past research that conceptualized police perceptions as inversely associated with crime prevention, we introduce a framework that distinguishes between the traditional policing and community policing/procedural justice models. We analyze multilevel data from Canada’s General Social Survey for 13 crime prevention measures (e.g. locking doors, installing burglar alarms), and estimate Item Response Theory models to account for differing levels of difficulty in the implementation of these measures. Results show that the effect of police perceptions on the adoption of crime prevention measures varies by policing model. Residents who have favorable perceptions of the police as to the performance of traditional policing duties are less inclined to take measures against crime. In contrast, those with favorable perceptions of the police as engaging in community policing/procedural justice are more inclined to take such measures.

摘要

本研究考察了个人对警察的看法对其采取预防犯罪措施的影响。与将警察感知概念化为与预防犯罪成反比的过去研究不同，我们引入了一个区分传统警务和社区警务/程序正义模型的框架。我们分析了加拿大综合社会调查中关于 13 项犯罪预防措施（例如锁门、安装防盗警报器）的多层次数据，并估计项目反应理论模型以解释这些措施实施中不同程度的难度。结果表明，警察感知对采取犯罪预防措施的影响因警务模式而异。对警察履行传统警务职责有好感的居民不太倾向于采取措施打击犯罪。相比之下，那些认为警察参与社区警务/程序正义的人更倾向于采取此类措施。