View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by D-Scholarship@Pitt IN PURSUIT OF POLICE PROFESSIONALISM: THE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF PROFESSIONALISM IN LAW ENFORCEMENT by Jeffrey A. Schneider B.A., Gannon University, 1978 M.S., Mercyhurst College, 1987 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education University of Pittsburgh UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH School of Education This dissertation was presented by Jeffrey A. Schneider It was defended on March 27, 2009 and approved by Sean Hughes, Associate Professor, ADMPS Thomas Zullo, Professor Emeritus, Dental Public Health Timothy Austin, Professor, IUP Criminology Department Dissertation Advisor: Glenn Nelson, Emeritus Associate Professor, ADMPS ii In Pursuit of Police Professionalism: The Development and Assessment of a Conceptual Model of Professionalism in Law Enforcement Jeffrey A. Schneider, Ed.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2009 Copyright © by Jeffrey A. Schneider 2009 iii IN PURSUIT OF POLICE PROFESSIONALISM: THE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF PROFESSIONALISM IN LAW ENFORCEMENT Jeffrey A. Schneider, Ed.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2009 Adherence to the highest standards and fundamentals of professionalism is essential to the profession of law enforcement. Police professionalism has many meanings but no definitive model of professionalism in policing has been established. Historically, the idea of policing as a profession has emerged slowly. The professional model, as proposed in this research, seeks to define a working model of professionalism in policing. It is proposed that police work is a “true profession,” similar to the professions of medicine, law, and education. Advocates of any professional model of policing argue that police officers are experts through training, certification, education, and experience, and thus should be viewed as professionals in every sense of the term. In selecting the criteria for this developmental model of professionalism, a content analysis of the literature was conducted in order to define key elements of professionalism and professionalism in policing. The development of this descriptive profile resulted in the conceptualization of a professional model utilizing nine criteria, or attributes: high standards of recruitment and selection (civil service), formal education (college) requirements, formal training (police academy) and state certification, state-mandated (annual) specialized training and re- certification, sworn police officers empowered to arrest, armed police officers (firearms), formal policies (departmental) for operations and function, community policing (commitment and service), and accreditation. Select specialists (N=25) in the field of criminal justice - law enforcement practitioners and higher education faculty - were sampled to assess the proposed model. The focus of this study was that professionalism in policing could be defined and achieved by meeting the established criteria as proposed by the Professional Model of Policing. The results indicate the majority of the specialists in this study felt the proposed model was acceptable, and could serve as a basic blueprint of professionalism in law enforcement, or “ideal type”, pending further relevant research on police professionalism. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ................................................................. 1 1.2 ELEMENTS OF THE PROBLEM .................................................................... 2 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................. 4 1.4 METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 5 1.5 SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES ................................................................................. 6 1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY AND NATURE OF DATA ..................................... 7 1.7 POPLATION AND SAMPLE ............................................................................ 7 1.8 GAINING ACCESS TO THE SUBJECTS ....................................................... 8 1.9 DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES ............................................................. 9 1.10 OPERATIONALIZATION OF PROFESSIONALISM ................................ 10 1.11 DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................. 14 1.12 IRB ...................................................................................................................... 16 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 17 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 17 2.2 THE POLICE: PURPOSE, MISSION, AND COMMUNITY ...................... 21 2.3 PROFESSIONALISM ....................................................................................... 23 ii 2.4 CODE OF ETHICS ........................................................................................... 29 2.5 ACCREDITATION ........................................................................................... 31 2.6 EDUCATION ..................................................................................................... 32 2.7 RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION ............................................................. 42 2.8 TRAINING, CERTIFICATION, AND PROMOTION ................................. 54 2.9 JOB PERFORMANCE ..................................................................................... 66 2.10 LEGAL ISSUES ................................................................................................. 72 3.0 RESEARCH RESULTS .................................................................................... 87 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 88 3.2 PRESENTATION OF THE DATA ................................................................. 90 3.3 ANALYSIS OF THE DATA ........................................................................... 117 4.0 SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................... 133 4.1 SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 133 4.2 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................... 135 4.3 RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................ 146 APPENDIX A………………………………………………………………………………….148 APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................................ 149 APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................................ 151 APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................................ 163 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………………… 168 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Content Analysis .......................................................................................................... 19 Table 2. Rank Ordering of Attribute (N=19) ......................................................................... 102 Table 3. Rank Ordering of Attribute (N=11) ......................................................................... 103 Table 4. Attitudinal Ranking of Attributes ............................................................................ 115 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Rank Comparision .................................................................................................... 104 Figure 2. Attitudinal Scores by Occupation ........................................................................... 113 Figure 3. Ranking of Attributes (N=19) .................................................................................. 122 Figure 4. Attitudinal Ranking .................................................................................................. 129 v PREFACE In conclusion of this academic journey I am indebted to various individuals who helped make it possible. All have contributed and made sacrifices, for that I am grateful. First, I wish to thank my children – Haley, Shane, and Marlee for their support during this long quest, my father for his continual encouragement, and my best girl Sheree, whom has always been there for me. I appreciate the “release time” allowed me by my employer, without which I would not have had this opportunity. I also owe many thanks and sincere appreciation to committee members Dr. Hughes and Dr. Zullo, for their understanding and commitment during this study. It is never easy balancing the requirements of academia, as well as family, with additional advisement obligations. I also owe a special tribute to committee person Dr. Austin, my mentor and friend. Not only do I appreciate his contributory assistance with this particular research, but over the years, his encouragement and ability to motivate others in the pursuit of something as definitive as this. Finally, I would like to give a special thanks to my committee chairperson, academic advisor, and confidant, Dr. Nelson. Without him this research would