Exploring the relation between support for community policing and police integrity in South Africa

Abstract

This paper studies the nature of the relation between police integrity and community policing, an issue unexplored by prior studies. A sample of 871 South African police officers participated in a police integrity survey that evaluated perspectives on the seriousness of various forms of police misconduct, assessed whether misconduct violates official rules, and inquired about their willingness to report such behavior. In addition, the respondents described their experience with, and attitudes toward, community policing. About one-half of the respondents reported working in community policing, while the rest performed more traditional policing roles. Our multivariate models show that police officers’ experience in, and education about, community policing are rarely related to their views about police misconduct. On the other hand, all three measures of police integrity in our study (perceptions of misconduct seriousness, recognition of behavior as rule-violating, and willingness to report misconduct) are strongly related with having a strong desire to be involved in community policing.