ABSTRACTTRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT: DO OFFICER PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL “FAIR TREATMENT” INFLUENCE THE WAY THEY VIEW THE PUBLIC?ByJames Donald Carr Considerable research has explored the relationship between the police and the “policed,” and findings consistently indicate that policing is more efficient and effective with public support. If police departments engage in just, or fair, practices, the public is much more likely to provide that support. Unfortunately, pervasive mistrust of the public is a common element in occupational police culture, and potentially incompatible with service or process-based policing reforms designed to improve public trust in the police. Research in organizational justice studies have regularly demonstrated the benefits of employing just practices in organization-employee relationships and the ‘trickle-down effect’ of such treatment in employee-customer interactions. While the organizational justice model has only recently been applied in the policing context, the few studies using organizational justice constructs have noted distinct advantages of officer perceptions of organizational fair treatment. This study will add to this research by comparing officer perceptions of organizational justice with officer views of the public. To provide a more detailed view of officer attitudes toward the general public, measures will be taken and amended from the Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman (1995) model of organizational trust. Implications for policing management will be discussed.
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