University students\u27 preferences and self-assessed abilities for policing behaviours: Recruiting and selecting suitable individuals for modern policing
The present study was designed to determine if university students\u27 preferences for community policing (CP) and traditional law enforcement policing (LEP) activities, and their self-reported abilities associated with these activities, are predictive of their attitudes toward and preference for the CP and LEP models. Preferences for activities and self-reported abilities were factor analyzed yielding four interpretable factors for both the activities and abilities questionnaires. These were analyzed with one-way ANOVAs and correlations with participants\u27 ratings of the models. It was found that students who expressed an interest in a policing career at the onset of the study displayed a greater preference for activities associated with LEP and rated themselves higher on LEP-related abilities. Further, students who preferred LEP-related activities also indicated that they would like to work under LEP rather than under CP. The results are congruent with previous research on university students\u27 preferences for CP and LEP (e.g. Coutts, Schneider, & Tenuta, in press; Coutts; Schneider, Johnson, & Mcleod, 2003; Greer, 2003). Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 43-01, page: 0334. Adviser: Larry Coutts. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2004
