Conflict and compatibility: Perspectives of police officers with and without military service on the military model of policing

The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyze perspectives of law enforcement officers with combat deployment experience, other military background, and no military service regarding the meaning, relevance, and consequences of the military model of policing.

Data were obtained from an online survey of police officers throughout a rural Northern New England state. A t-test compared the difference of means on 25 items measured as military attributes and as relevant to policing and an ANCOVA analysis examined the relationship between military service status and the meaning, relevance, and consequences of the military model.

Officers gave statistically lower ratings to the relevancy than they did to the military character of most of 25 stipulated attributes of the military model, particularly the use of force, but indicated that the military model had positive consequences on both police personnel and the community. There were few differences between officers of different military background regarding the meaning, relevance, and consequences of the military model. However, significantly different ratings given to empowerment of those at lowest levels, to the relevancy of military leadership, and to the effects of military organization and style on the ability to deal with stress were largely attributable to those with combat deployment experience.

This is the only study to use more accurate measures of the relevance of the military model and to empirically examine how police officers themselves, particularly with different military service background, evaluate constituent aspects of the military model.