2014-07-11 13:43
WP6.2 examined the professional identity of the police and the link between identity and change acceptance. In particular, we took a stakeholder perspective, considering how changes are influenced by different stakeholders (within and outside of the police) and how the attitudes of these different groups contribute to the successful implementation of change initiatives.
Within this context, we aimed to investigate 3 key questions:
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Methods
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This research was based on surveys and interviews conducted in the 10 COMPOSITE countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Spain, Romania and the United Kingdom) in September-December 2013. In each country we assessed police officers' perceptions regarding a wide-range of issues, including organizational change and police culture and identity. In addition we interviewed, citizens and media representatives, to glean their attitudes towards change and their understanding of police professional identity. These interviews also captured the public's trust in the police and their perceptions of police performance. Participants in both police surveys and citizen/media interviews were asked to evaluate their acceptance of 4 different police change scenarios. These scenarios all included a technology focus, involving change initiatives aimed at the use of social media, online tools and mobile technologies. The total sample size for our analyses (across countries and sample groups) was 10207.
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Results
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Consistent with our expectations, we found that there were differences in perceptions of police professional identity across countries. In addition, we found that there were often discrepancies in perceptions of police professional identity within the same country, where police, citizens and the media demonstrated unique perspectives on the importance of key underlying identity values.
Similarly, we found that attitudes towards change were shaped by national context and stakeholder affiliation. In general, police officers across our participant countries were most supportive of a move towards more crime-fighting and exclusive patterns of policing. In contrast, media representatives were most supportive of a move towards citizen-service and inclusive forms of policing. Citizens' were equally accepting of all proposed changes, except for a crime-fighting inclusive form of policing, which would see members of the public playing a greater role in law enforcement. Participants from all 3 types of groups (police, citizen and media representatives) were broadly unsupportive of this proposed change model.
Finally, we found that professional identity values shaped individuals' change scenario acceptance. More specifically, we found that a proposed change was more strongly supported where it was closely aligned with an individual’s identity values concerning the police profession.
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Discussion and Recommendations |
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WP6.2 has a number of key implications for the implementation of change in police organizations. We next outline the main implications of our findings, together with recommendations for change managers.
Insight 1: There is little agreement in the desired change directions in European policing advocated by different stakeholder groups (but citizens/media are important for change).
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