Police Action, Citizens' Preferences

Citizens' Preferences and Their Impact on Attitudes

Citizens' preference refers to citizens' predisposition in favor of certain police actions over others and the level of importance citizens place on police actions and behaviors. Police action includes both policing functions, such as order maintenance, law enforcement, service, and constitutional guarantees, and police behavior, that is, how the police carry out these functions, for example, what levels of respect they demonstrate and what levels of force are used. Citizens have preferences with regard to police functions and how these functions are executed. When these preferences or hopes regarding police action are not fulfilled, the result is likely to be dissatisfaction with the police.

[Page 629]Preferences for how the police carry out their mission are dictated by both socialization and personal experience; Blacks' preferences may differ from those of Whites. Scholars argue that organizations have many tasks and functions, and each organization gives priority to certain functions over others. Organizational theorists argue that goal-based organizations, such as the police, will misrepresent the values of some constituents, but more importantly, such organizations will also view some constituents as more important than others. That is, some constituents' value preferences will count as more important than others, and these are the preferences that the organization will address. By ignoring or misrepresenting the preferences of some constituents, the organization will experience conflicts with its environment and will also be the subject of conflicting and diverse evaluation among its audiences. In particular, police organizations often tend to focus on meeting majority expectations and fail to address minority expectations.

It is reasonable to think that preferences differ among groups in society, given that different groups may well have different needs—group needs may not be monolithic. If these needs are not met, these groups will be unhappy. If minority dissatisfaction with the police is to be addressed, police action needs to address the preferences of all citizens, not just those who actively participate in the political process, or the majority.

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