Punitive attitudes and victimization among police officers in Switzerland: an empirical exploration

Policework involves a high level of risk, and police officers are frequently victimized while on duty. However, victimization rates differ considerably within the police corps and depend on a number of personal and situational variables. This research is based on a survey of police officers in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland (N = 478). It follows two research paths to investigate the link between punitive attitudes and victimization experiences: punitiveness as a factor in higher victimization rates, and victimization experiences causing an increase in punitive attitudes. The results showed no significant difference between male and female officers in terms of punitiveness, and that punitiveness significantly increased with age. Also, punitiveness was found to decrease as the hours spent on street patrol duty increased. Examining the link between victimization and punitiveness, this study also found a surprising effect that officers without victimization experiences in the three years prior to the survey showed significantly higher levels of punitiveness than their victimized colleagues. Futhermore, officers who experienced victimization were found to become less punitive as the time they spent on the street increased, while the opposite was true for their non-victimized counterparts. These a priori counterintuitive results could possibly be explained by a ‘professionalization’ or a ‘familiarization’ effect and serve as a basis for further research as well as for police practice and training.