Police officer attitudes toward community policing: a case study of the Racine Wisconsin Police Department

We examined police officer attitudes toward community policing over a 19-month period. Patrol officers' and investigators' attitudes toward community policing are less favorable toward community policing concepts, programming, decentralization of substations, and the community policing unit than senior command and, in some cases, sergeants. Both patrol and investigators indicate strained relationships with supervisors and are more supportive of a decentralized organizational structure than are sergeants and senior command. We ask if discretionary power and increased participatory management among all officers can be favorably viewed by management and if dissention can be tolerated and incorporated into a dialog for change.