Police officers' attitudes, behavior, and supervisory influences: An analysis of problem solving

This paper examines the influence of officers' and supervisors' attitudes and priorities toward community policing and problem solving over the time officers spend conducting problem-solving activities. Analyzing data collected for the Project on Policing Neighborhoods, a multi-method study of police patrol in two police departments, results show that officers' perceptions of their supervisors' priorities for problem solving affect the amount of time they spend conducting these activities, although their own attitudes toward community policing are unrelated to their behavior. We also find that officers' attitudes regarding problem solving are weakly correlated with their supervisors' attitudes and, further, that officers' perceptions of their supervisors' attitudes are often inaccurate.