How Perceptions of Power may Contribute to Conflict Situations between Law Enforcement and Members of a Community

How Perceptions of Power may Contribute to Conflict Situations between Law Enforcement and Members of a Community

According to Hocker et al. (2022), power is the ability to influence another person’s behavior and resist other people’s influence attempts. The perceptions of power may contribute to conflict between law enforcement and community members in various situations. For instance, if the community believes that law enforcement officers have more power than them, they may get intimidated when they have an encounter with them, leading to a negative attitude towards them, which could result in a conflict. Conflict situations may also arise if police officers perceive their power as the ability to command a citizen to do something. For instance, if a police officer requests a bribe from a citizen to release them from custody or ignore their crime, a conflict may arise if the citizen fails to offer the bribe and threatens to report the officer