American International Journal of Social Science

Crime Control or Public Service? An Officer’s Perception of his/her Occupational Role and its Effect on the Likelihood of on the Job Assault
Peter W. Liu, John A. Shjarback

Abstract
The current research extends the study of assaults on police officers to the individual-level, examining whether the influences of either aggressive law enforcement or community policing ideologies contribute to police victimization. We employ a cross-sectional survey questionnaire, using a sample of 133 municipal law enforcement officers from eight departments throughout four New Jersey counties. Findings from an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression reveal that officers’ subjective outlooks are, indeed, correlated with physical assaults. Policy/practical implications and directions for future research are also discussed. The dangers associated with police work differentiate the occupation from most others. Due to the nature of the job, police officers are put at a heightened risk of personal victimization. According to the FBI‟s Uniform Crime Report (UCR), 54,774 law enforcement officers were assaulted in the line of duty in 2011 (FBI, 2012a).1 These assaults occurred at a rate of 10.2 per 100 sworn officers. The consequences stemming from assaults on police are diverse, negatively affecting an officer and his/her family, other fellow officers, and straining police-community relationships. Victimization can cause both physical injuries, resulting in lost wages and work hours, and psychological troubles such as posttraumatic stress disorder (Brandl & Stroshine, 2012; Maguen et al., 2009). These effects translate into financial and emotional costs on the family and the department as a whole. Given the scope of the problem and the repercussions associated with it, it is no wonder why assaults are such a concern for police administrators and individual officers alike. Unfortunately, not much is known about the etiology of assaults on police officers. The large majority of research on the topic appears to be descriptive in nature. Broad characteristics of injured officers and their assailants, the most dangerous calls for service, and community-level correlates are a few examples of the types of knowledge that have been discovered. Although this information is helpful, it does little to uncover the root causes of officer victimization. Physical altercations between officers and their assaulters often arise during verbal interactions between both parties. Something happens during the course of these interactions where events escalate into violent confrontations. For this reason, research must devote attention to the individual-level and focus on attributes of officers, assailants, or both. After a review of the literature, the influence of officers‟ policing styles may be a good place to start (see Kaminski, 2004; Kaminski, Jefferis, & Gu, 2003). The purpose of the current study is to extend the research on the assaults of police officers to the individual-level. More specifically, it aims to shed light on whether the influences of either aggressive law enforcement or community policing ideologies contribute to police victimization. Do an officer‟s perception of his/her occupational role (i.e. crime control vs. public service) and attitude/opinion towards citizens influence the likelihood of on the job assault? In order to answer the aforementioned questions, we employ survey research to patrol officers in the field. A sample of 133 municipal law enforcement officers from eight departments throughout four New Jersey counties is used to test our hypotheses.

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