The general public know more about issues critical to
policing then than the police themselves, according to new research conducted
by an academic at London South Bank University (LSBU).
Researchers examined misconceptions of legal issues by law
enforcement officers compared to the general public’s knowledge on these
topics. The research is the very first study to look at these misconceptions in
the UK.
Dr Julia Shaw, Senior Lecturer at LSBU, and Parole Officer
Chloe Chaplin provided 44 police officers and 56 members of the general public
questions on several topics relevant to modern policing.
The study – published in the Journal of
Police and Criminal Psychology – asked participants to complete
an online questionnaire comprised of 50 true and false items. The questions
covered a range of legal topics including police procedures, dealing with
mentally ill people, and eyewitness memory. Participants were asked to rate
their confidence in each of their answers on a 5-point scale from one being the
most confident to five being the least confident.
Despite direct involvement and relevant experience with
the subject matter, the study found that police got more of their answers
incorrect than the general public. Police got 39% of their answers wrong,
whilst members of the public made only 37% of errors. However, police were
found to be 4% more confident in their responses than the public even when
wrong.
Dr Julia Shaw said: “Overconfidence is a common
characteristic in professional industries, as there is an assumption by
professionals that they must know more about their own topics than outsiders.
However, when applied to policing, this can have severe consequences for our
justice system.
“This research shows that British police do not know
enough about things like how eyewitness memory works, how to effectively
question suspects, and what kinds of services offenders have access to.
“While public beliefs about issues relevant to the legal
system have been demonstrated to often be wrong, this was the first study to
look at these misconceptions in policing. It is expected that the research will
be used to inform police training in the future.”
