Secondary School Student Attitudes Toward the Police: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

As the mandate of the police becomes more extensive, more public support for crime prevention seems necessary. This is especially true in the area of juvenile delinquency. This study attempted to determine attitudes toward the police held by senior high school students in a municipality in British Columbia. A pretest-posttest, quasi experimental design was used. During the experimental treatments the RCMP, who police the municipality, tried to create more positive attitudes. These treatments consisted of either weekly police lectures and discussion during an entire semester (Grade 10), or the incorporation of lectures, discussion, a ride-a-long program, and an incarceration program, in a semestered Law XI class (Grades 11 and 12). At the end of the treatments, analysis of covariance statistics was applied to Grade 11 and 12 posttest results. As matched pretest and posttest data were not available for Grade 10, no statistical analysis is reported. Grade 11 and 12 results indicated that experimental groups were more positive in their attitudes toward the police than were control groups. The study indicated that systematic efforts to create more positive attitudes toward the police were effective, especially when the program was coupled with experiential activities and more in-depth, follow-up work carried out in the Law XI class.