Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the study on support for PM by key stakeholders of the practice, the results of which are presented in the remaining chapters of this book. Specifically, this chapter provides a detailed description of the data collection procedures, sampling technique, measures used in the study, and the research questions addressed. A discussion of Black’s theory of law is provided in order to develop theoretical predictions and a better understanding of the findings in this research. Additionally, this chapter addresses the first research question regarding the variation in support for PM in general, and in specific aspects of the practice across police officers, police executives, and members of the U.S. Congress. Results indicate that although there is general support for various aspects of PM across all stakeholders, the level of support can vary greatly for Congress versus law enforcement for specific aspects of PM.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
These professional law enforcement organizations were selected as they are among the largest and most nationally representative organizations in the United States. This allowed for a more diverse sample with varied perspectives to be included in the study. Only members that provided an e-mail address in the online membership rosters were contacted for participation. While the responses were anonymous, IP address locations indicated responses from California, Maine, Virginia, Florida, Texas, and many states in between had participated in the survey.
- 3.
The 114th Congress comprised 246 Republicans (57%) and 187 Democrats (43%). In the present sample, there were 15 Republicans (60%) and 10 Democrats (40%) (Republican: z = −25.28, p = 0.768. Democrat: z = −18.94, p = 0.768). There were 88 women in the 114th Congress (20%), and in the present sample there were seven female Representatives (28%; z = −17.04, p = 0.335). Finally, 45 members of the 114th Congress were Black (10%), 38 were Hispanic (8%), and 351 (81%) were White. In the present sample, four (16%) of the Congress representatives were Black, 3 (12%) were Hispanic, and 18 (72%) were White (Black: z = −12.96, p = 0.338; Hispanic: z = −10.98, p = 0.479; White: z = −27.76, p = 0.270). These figures suggest the present sample closely resembles the 114th Congress in terms of gender, ethnicity and/or race, and political affiliation, as no statistically significant differences between the two groups were found.
References
Babbie, E. (2008). The basics of social research (4th ed.). Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.
Black, D. (1976). The behavior of law. New York: Academic Press.
Black, D. (1993). The social structure of right and wrong. San Diego: Academic Press.
Brown, B. (2007). Community policing in post-September 11 America: A comment on the concept of community-oriented counterterrorism. Police Practice and Research, 8(3), 239–251.
Colton, D., & Covert, R. W. (2007). Designing and constructing instruments for social research and evaluation. San Francisco: Wiley.
Kraska, P. (2007). Militarization and policing: Its relevance to 21st century police. Policing, 1(4), 501–513.
Manning, J. E. (2011). Membership of the 111th Congress: A profile. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from http://www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crspublish.cfm?pid=%260BL%29PL%3B%3D%0A.
Reaves, B. (2015). Local police departments, 2013: Personnel, policies, and practices. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Teclaw, R., Price, M. C., & Osatuke, K. (2012). Demographic question placement: Effect on item response rates and means of a veteran’s health administration survey. Journal of Business and Psychology, 27(3), 281–290.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Turner, F.W., Fox, B. (2018). Data Collection on Support for Police Militarization Among a Sample of Police Officers, Police Executives, and Members of the U.S. Congress. In: Police Militarization. SpringerBriefs in Criminology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01282-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01282-3_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01281-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01282-3
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)