Community Policing or Zero Tolerance?: Preferences of Police Officers from 22 Countries in Transition

Since the 1970s, approximately 60 countries in the world have experienced major political transition away from authoritarianism towards democracy and more liberal modes of governance. Subsequently, this era has provided opportunities for researchers to observe how major changes in the political environment affect a country’s policing practices. This study is the fi rst of a two paper series on the relationship between democratization and police attitudes, preferences and behaviours. This study reports the results of a pilot study of 315 police supervisors from 22 transitioning nations asking about their preferences towards two different styles of crime prevention — community-oriented policing and zero tolerance approaches. The results indicate that the offi cers from countries more democratically consolidated tend to have stronger relative preferences towards community-oriented policing over zero tolerance styles.