Main purpose of the dissertation is to compare police officers’ and citizens’ attitudes toward various aspects of local safety provision, with the emphasis on community policing, which is currently the main philosophy of policing in Slovenia. Data for the study comes from a survey administred to a sample of police officers and citizens to assess their attitudes on a broad range of issues regarding the provision of safety on the local level as related to Slovene police in general, police effectiveness in various activities, legality of police work and citizens’ willingness to cooperate with the police among others.
Within the comparison between citizens’ and police officers’ attitudes, areas of the highest and the lowest degree of concordance between attitudes were identified and examined. Attitudes of police officers and citizens were found to be most dissimilar regarding legality of police work, effectiveness in protecting life, personal safety and property, general perceptions of police and effectiveness in community policing.
Overall level of concordance between attitudes of both groups was found to be low.
The foci of our further analysis were the factors which influence citizens’ and police officers’ attitudes toward police effectiveness in community policing. Effects of gender, age, education, fear of crime and residency characteristics on citizens’ attitudes were examined, and effects of age, education, participatory management, organizational support, job satisfaction and community support on police officers’ attitudes were examined.
Results of regression analysis showed that police visibility, trust in the government, age, fear of crime and length of residency affect citizens’ attitudes toward police effectiveness in community policing, however these variables account only for 30.1 percent of the variation in citizens\u27 attitudes toward community policing. Police officers’ attitudes toward police effectiveness in community policing are affected by age, education, organizational support, job satisfaction and community support. These variables were found to account only for 28.7 percent of the variation in police officers\u27 attitudes toward community policing. Majority of the variation in both groups’ attitudes toward community policing thus remains unexplained.
Suggestions for further research and policy implication are provided, focused on inclusion of additional variables into model of police officers’ attitudes and model of citizens’ attitudes. Variables found to affect citizens of both groups toward police effectiveness in community policing by the findings of present research should be taken into consideration by police administrators and local safety policy makers.Glavni cilj doktorske disertacije je primerjava stališč policistov in državljanov do nekaterih vidikov zagotavljanja varnosti na lokalni ravni, s poudarkom na policijskem delu v skupnosti, ki je bilo v Sloveniji uvedeno po letu 1990 kot del procesa demokratizacije in prenosa idej o policijskem delu z Zahoda. Glavno raziskovalno vprašanje se tako glasi: Kakšna je stopnja skladnosti med stališči policistov in stališči državljanov do zagotavljanja varnosti na lokalni ravni, s poudarkom na policijskem delu v skupnosti, ki zahteva dobršno mero sodelovanja med policisti in državljani? Primerjali smo stališča policistov in državljanov glede različnih vidikov zagotavljanja varnosti na lokalni ravni, in sicer splošen vtis o policiji in njihovem deluuspešnost policije pri varovanju življenja, osebne varnosti in lastninezakonitost policijskega delauspešnost policije pri odkrivanju in preiskovanju kaznivih dejanjuspešnost policije pri policijskem delu v skupnostipripravljenost državljanov za sodelovanje s policijousmerjenost v skupnost in tradicionalna usmerjenost. Drugi del raziskave se nanaša na proučevanje dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na stališča policistov in državljanov do policijskega dela v skupnosti. Identifikacija dejavnikov namreč omogoča vpogled v oblikovanje stališč posamezne skupine z možnostjo vplivanja na spreminjanje stališč v želeni smeri.
Glavne ugotovitve doktorske disertacije se nanašajo na primerjavo stališč policistov in državljanov glede različnih vidikov zagotavljanja varnosti v lokalnih skupnostih. Stališča policistov in državljanov so v veliki meri različna, torej je stopnja skladnosti med stališči policistov in stališči državljanov do policijskega dela v skupnosti nizka. Področja, ki so s tega vidika najbolj »problematična«, so: zakonitost policijskega dela, uspešnost policistov pri varovanju življenja, osebne varnosti in lastnine, splošen vtis o policiji in njihovem delu ter uspešnost policistov pri policijskem delu v skupnosti. Na tem mestu izpostavljamo zakonitost policijskega dela, kjer so stališča policistov in državljanov najbolj neskladna. Državljani izražajo dvom v zakonitost policijskega dela, kar v praksi lahko pomeni veliko težavo, še posebej z vidika policijskega dela v skupnosti, ki temelji na sodelovanju prebivalcev njihova pripravljenost je ob upoštevanju izraženega dvoma v zakonitost policijskega dela zagotovo vprašljiv
