Policing Diverse People: How Occupational Attitudes and Background Characteristics Shape Police Recruits’ Perceptions

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to ascertain how occupational attitudes and background characteristics shape police recruit perceptions of policing people from diverse communities categorized by variations in racial, ethnic, religious, sexual, and gender identities. Applying an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model, data categorized into two groups (occupational attitudes and background characteristics) were collected from police recruits (N = 946). Results suggest police recruits are significantly influenced by superior officers, the level of pride they have in their job, and their awareness of temperament and are cognizant of rule breaking when policing diverse community members, and ethnic minority self-identified recruits are significantly more likely to be aware of negative influences on proper conduct (such as lack of pride in their work, negativity of senior officers toward policing diverse people, and likelihood of rule breaking) when policing members of diverse groups than other recruits. The lessons learnt from this Australian research offer new insight into how police recruit perceptions of policing members of diverse groups are shaped.