Democracy-Related Attitudes and Values within the Hamburg Police Force (DeWePol)
The research project "Democracy-related attitudes, values and risk constellations in the Hamburg police force" (DeWePol) is currently being carried out under the direction of Prof. Dr. Stefanie Kemme, Prof. Dr. Julia Clasen, Prof. Dr. Eva Groß, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Zähringer, Dr. Anabel Taefi and Prof. PA Dr. Joachim Häfele at the Hamburg Police Academy in cooperation with the University of Münster and the Police Academy of Lower Saxony. The reason for this was not only the riots in the course of the "Black Lives Matter" movement, which triggered the current public debate on the necessity of researching democracy-related attitudes (and the closely related topics of "racism" and "racial profiling") in the police force in Germany. Instead, the research project in Hamburg was initiated and theoretically prepared back in March 2019. It is based on empirical preliminary work on the "police officers' dilemma" and "group-focused misanthropy", the genuine research interest of the scientific management group and the efforts of Hamburg Police to proactively address the topic through such an investigation from and within its own ranks, which should lead, among other things, to important findings for the further development of the training and further education of the Hamburg Police and the studies at the Hamburg Police Academy.
Cooperation partners are Dr. Marleen Stelter (University of Hagen) and Dr. Iniobong Essien (Leuphana University of Lüneburg). Associated partners are Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Heitmeyer (former director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG), University of Bielefeld), Prof. Dr. Sighard Neckel (Sociology, University of Hamburg), the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony and Maximilian Haendschke (Ruhr University Bochum).
The aim of the research project is to obtain current and empirically robust findings on the nature and development of democracy-related attitudes and values as well as their protective and risk factors among trainees, students and officers of the Hamburg Police. In particular, the influence of police-specific practical experience (through the practical training/study periods as well as the experiences after completing training/studies) should be taken into account.
In 2024, a written survey as well as interviews and group discussions with civil servants will be conducted in order to gain insights from different perspectives. In the quantitative questionnaire survey, the use of established survey scales will ensure comparability with existing data from the average population. In addition, a qualitative contrasting design is aimed at, whereby specific contexts and roles in police work can be compared. One focus here is also on the leadership perspective. Overall, particular emphasis is placed on mapping the specifics of the police profession in order to take into account the special requirements of the profession (e.g. with regard to stress and strain).
Events & media coverage
Better not to look closely - article in the TAZ (27.12.2021)
Dispute over racism study in the Hamburg police force - Article in WELT (23.12.2021)
Cops targeted by the police - article in the TAZ (03.10.2020)