Examining Officer Activities During a Hot Spot Policing Project in Tucson, Arizona

The research problem in this project is how are police officer routines influenced by training on procedural justice and building legitimacy? This thesis analyzes the differences in activities of trained vs. non-trained officers and makes conclusions about the utility of such training methods. Written activity logs used by police officers during a hot spots policing project were transferred to a database and coded for the types of activities officers were taking part in. The data revealed that police officers trained in legitimacy and procedural justice emphasize different principles in their activities from untrained officers, and even within the trained group there were differences observed. Based off these findings, recommendations for moving forward with this training include emphasizing the principles the department would like to see them enforce and making clearer objectives part of the training.