Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:30:35.771Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Image of the Police in Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Michael Gurevitch ,
Brenda Danet  and
Gila Schwartz
Michael Gurevitch
Affiliation:
Hebrew University and Israel Institute of Applied Social Research
Brenda Danet
Affiliation:
Hebrew University and Israel Institute of Applied Social Research
Gila Schwartz
Affiliation:
Hebrew University and Israel Institute of Applied Social Research
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The police in several Western countries have been the object of a good deal of dissatisfaction lately, whether in open confrontation with rioters and demonstrators, or as the object of severe criticism by the courts and civilian review boards. Since the respect and cooperation of the public are essential for effective police operation–in reporting crimes, assisting officers, testifying in court, or in less direct ways–police departments have begun to turn their attention to the sources of this tension. Simultaneously, this problem has become a focus of study for a number of social scientists (see, for example, Banton, 1964; Bordua, 1967; Cumming et al., 1965; Gardiner, 1969; Goldstein, 1963; Gourley, 1954; Skolnick, 1966; and Wilson, 1968). We have undertaken a study of some aspects of the relationship between the police and the public in Israel, in the context of a wider series of studies on patterns of contact between bureaucratic organizations and their clients. There may be factors in this relationship which are not evident in other countries; for example, Israeli police are organized on a national basis with centralized control rather than by local departments as in the American system, and the Israeli police are integrated with the national security effort. These very differences, however, may clarify some fundamental elements of the police-public encounter in general.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , February 1971 , pp. 367 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © 1971 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

AUTHORS' NOTE: This is a revised version of a report commissioned by the Israel Police, to whom we are grateful for permission to publish the findings.

References

BANTON, M. (1964) The Policeman in the Community. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
BLAU, P. M. and W. R., SCOTT (1962) Formal Organizations. San Francisco: Chandler.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BORDUA, D. J. (1967) The Police: Six Sociological Essays. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
BRADLEY, R. (1968) “The copper,” Pp. 185–203 in Fraser, R. (ed.) Work: Twenty Personal Accounts. Baltimore: Penguin.Google Scholar
Cincinnati Police (1968) Juvenile Attitude Project. Final Report submitted to the Office of Law Enforcement Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice. Cincinnati.Google Scholar
CUMMING, E., I. M., CUMMING, and L., EDELL (1965) “The policeman as philosopher, guide and friend.” Social Problems 12 (Winter): 276–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DARLEY, J. M. and LATANE, B. (1968a) “Why people don't help in a crisis.” Psychology Today 2 (December): 54–57.Google Scholar
DARLEY, J. M. and LATANE, B. (1968b) “Group inhibition of bystander intervention in emergencies.” J. of Personality and Social Psychology 10 (November): 215–221.Google Scholar
DARLEY, J. M. and LATANE, B. (1968c) “Bystander intervention in emergencies: diffusion of responsibility.” J. of Personality and Social Psychology 8 (April): 377–383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
ELDERSVELD, S. J., V., JAGANNADHAM and A. P., BARNABAS (1968) The Citizen and the Administrator in a Developing Democracy. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman.Google Scholar
GARDINER, J. A. (1969) Traffic and the Police: Variations in Law Enforcement Policy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOLDSTEIN, H. (1963) “Police discretion: the ideal versus the real.” Public Administration Rev. 23 (September): 140–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOURLEY, G. D. (1954) “Police public relations.” Annals of the Amer. Academy of Pol. and Social Sci. 291 (January): 135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOURLEY, G. D. (1953) Public Relations and the Police. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas.Google Scholar
HODGE, R. W., P. M., SIEGEL, and P. H., ROSSI (1966) “Occupational prestige in the United States: 1925-1963,” Pp. 322–334 in Bendix, R. and Lipset, S. M. (eds.) Class, Status and Power. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
HOVAV, M. (1963) Resignations from Bureaucratic Organizations: The Case of the Israel Police. Tel Aviv: Israel Police. [In Hebrew].Google Scholar
KATZ, E. and B., DANET (forthcoming) “Communication between bureaucracy and the public: a review of the literature,” in de Sola Pool, I., Schram, W., Maccoby, N., Parker, E., Frey, F., and Fein, L. (eds.) Handbook of Communication. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Royal Commission on the Police and R. MORTON-WILLIAMS (1962) “The relations between the police and the public.” Appendix IV to the Minutes of Evidence. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
SKOLNICK, J. H. (1966) Justice Without Trial. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
THOMPSON, J. D. (1962) “Organization and output transactions.” Amer. J. of Sociology 68 (November): 309–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WILSON, J. Q. (1968) Varieties of Police Behavior. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar