Police perceptions of social capital and sense of responsibility: An explanation of proactive policing

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between social capital and police sense of responsibility and their impact on proactive policing. Design/methodology/approach - Data were obtained from surveys of 353 police officers from a mid-Western police agency. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine the relationship between social capital and proactive policing and the mediating impact of police sense of responsibility for explaining proactive policing. Findings - Social capital demonstrates a significant relationship with both sense of responsibility and proactive policing. However, findings suggest that the amount of crime within the community has the most significant impact on police sense of responsibility and their subsequent proactive behavior. Further, social capital is only moderately mediated by sense of responsibility in explaining proactive policing. Research limitations/implications - The research limitations of this study include: results may be skewed toward reflecting the perceptions of younger officers; this study is a cross-sectional study, therefore, no data are provided in this study to indicate whether police opinions and behavior might change if their job assignments were different; and the scales utilized in this study may not be exhaustive. Originality/value - Many explanations have been advanced to account for police proactive behavior. Social capital is the least developed concept in this regard. The mediating role that officers'sense of responsibility has in the relationship between social capital and proactive policing is assessed.