Community policing, social capital, and residents’ feelings of safety in Taiwan

IF 1.4 Q2 CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY

Police Practice and Research Pub Date : 2022-04-22 DOI:10.1080/15614263.2022.2067155

Tzu-Ying Lo, Kevin T. Wolff, Yu-Hsuan Liu, Hui-Er Tsai

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

ABSTRACT The history of community policing has now reached a half-century mark, but evidence regarding its effectiveness in reducing fear of crime has been inconsistent. A closer examination of existing research suggests that there must be an underlying process linking community policing and community residents’ fear of crime. Thus, this study draws on Putnam’s theoretical framework to test a conceptual mechanism of social capital underlying the association between elements of community policing and residents’ feelings of safety. Using survey data from a sample of Taiwanese residents, this study applies structural equation modeling to assess the potential mediating effect of social capital. The results suggest community policing is positively associated with residents’ social capital, residents’ social capital is positively associated with their feelings of safety, and community policing has a significant indirect effect on residents’ feelings of safety through residents’ social capital. Based on the findings of this study, suggestions for future research and criminal justice policy are provided.

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台湾社区治安、社会资本与居民安全感

社区警务的历史已经走过了半个世纪，但关于其在减少犯罪恐惧方面的有效性的证据却一直不一致。对现有研究的进一步研究表明，社区治安和社区居民对犯罪的恐惧之间一定存在一个潜在的联系过程。因此，本研究利用Putnam的理论框架来检验社区警务要素与居民安全感之间关联的社会资本概念机制。本研究以台湾居民为样本，运用结构方程模型评估社会资本的潜在中介效应。结果表明，社区警务与居民社会资本正相关，居民社会资本与居民安全感受正相关，社区警务通过居民社会资本对居民安全感受有显著的间接影响。在此基础上，对未来的研究和刑事司法政策提出建议。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Police Practice and Research CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY-

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

5.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： Police Practice and Research is a peer-reviewed journal that presents current and innovative police research as well as operational and administrative practices from around the world. Articles and reports are sought from practitioners, researchers and others interested in developments in policing, analysis of public order, and the state of safety as it affects the quality of life everywhere. Police Practice and Research seeks to bridge the gap in knowledge that exists regarding who the police are, what they do, and how they maintain order, administer laws, and serve their communities. Attention will also be focused on specific organizational information about the police in different countries or regions. There will be periodic special issues devoted to a particular country or continent.