Emotional Intelligence and Police Community Relations Critique Paper
Introduction
Police play an essential role in today’s world. It is the duty of the police officers to arrest criminals and hold them till the end of their trial. Primarily, they maintain peace and order in a state or country, preventing the occurrence of crime. However, many citizens have a negative perception of police and have developed negative attitudes towards them that have made them see police as enemies. The attitude develops as people encounter police, whether on the right path or the wrong path, and the kind of treatment they receive. Even though, this is not always the case; some officers reveal humanity in their daily job, giving citizens the best services. This is the group of police officers guided by emotional intelligence, a great intelligence quotient, and more so social intelligence when dealing with the community. This essay is a review of an article authored by Abiola and Salako, whose title is “Predicting the Effect of Emotional Intelligence, Self-Efficacy, Job Interest, Life Satisfaction and Pay Incentives as Correlates of Effective Community Policing in South-West, Nigeria (Abiola, & Salako, 2014).” In this discussion, we would critique the importance of emotional intelligence, intelligence quotient, and social intelligence to police-community relations.
In any research, paper authors play an essential role. Abiola and Salako (2014) authored this essay under review, who are Ph.D. and M.E.D holders respectively in the department of Educational Psychology Emmanuel Alayande College of Education. Although the author’s names do not determine much the quality of the paper, their professionalism and academic qualification is a source of conviction that the outcomes of the research would be valid and applicable in real-life situations. The authors conducted a study that aimed to predict “the effect of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, job interest, life satisfaction and pay incentives as correlates of effective community policing in South West Nigeria (Abiola, & Salako, 2014).” The authors use an APA format of writing to present the literature about the topic of study in a sentimental tone and present the article in a standard formal research structure with a short abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology section, results, and a conclusion.
The researchers conducted quantitative research whose interpretation requires an analysis of data through various techniques. Now that the study incorporated a sample size of three hundred police officers (N=300) and a Multiple Regression and ANOVA test, we expect the use of specialized formulas, tools, and computations to perform these statistical tests. However, in the literature review section, the paper seems unsatisfying as it only presents various definitions on the terms that are listed in the topic and not giving an intense review of what various authors or backgrounds state about the paper (Suzuki, Pai, & Islam, 2018). We can, therefore, state that the definitions of the terms are accurate, but the essay is seemingly incomplete. Additionally, there is a problem with the paper, as the sections on research questions, the purpose of the study, and the significance of the study are presented below the literature review. In contrast, these sections are part of the introduction of any research paper. This makes the flow of the form inconsistent and contradicting to readers with little comprehension of research papers.
However, despite the few stated drawbacks, the paper was successful in addressing the discussion topic. This is evident in the content provided that addresses good morals that should be maintained between the police and the community, in terms of integrity, honesty, fairness, and other important human actions. The paper highlights how emotional intelligence and intelligence quotients shape the human character and how they help shape the interaction between the police and the community and, therefore, improve the quality of life (Daneshwari, & Sunanda, 2017). More importantly, the paper has been successful in expounding how community policing and public involvement would be essential in solving issues such as reducing crime rates, especially in Nigeria. A more profound discussion that makes a good sense of emotions is presented by Steiner (2001), by highlighting the importance of knowing what feeling we have and their strength and the reason for them, reasons for other people’s feelings, and why we need to develop love-centered ability. The latter capability is what helps us hold back or express the feelings we have on people in order to boost their lives as well as that of ours.
Throughout the paper, issues of gender, geographical locations, and racial, cultural, psychological, and religious aspects have not been addressed. Instead, the article focuses on how corporation between police and the public can be fostered for the common good. The latter can be achieved by appreciating the benefits of emotional intelligence, intelligence quotients, and social intelligence between the police and the community (Miao, Humphrey, & Qian, 2017). From the literature review, we can draw various conclusions, one being that the corporation and partnership between police and the community would improve the quality of life at the neighboring level. Secondly, we can also conclude that it is the emotional quotient that determines the human quality and, in turn, human success by impacting human performance. Lastly, all actions, whether bad or good, are incentives, and they all bear consequences that would either positively or adversely affect this relationship.
References
Abiola, D. O., & Salako, A. A. (2014). Predicting the effect of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, job interest, life satisfaction and pay incentives as correlates of effective community policing in South-West, Nigeria. IFE PsychologIA: An International Journal, 22(1), 170-178.
Daneshwari, O., & Sunanda, I. (2017). Emotional intelligence of police. Asian Journal of Home Science, 12(1), 25-33.
Miao, C., Humphrey, R. H., & Qian, S. (2017). A meta-analysis of emotional intelligence effects on job satisfaction mediated by job resources, and a test of moderators. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 281-288.
Suzuki, M., Pai, C. F., & Islam, M. J. (2018). Systematic quantitative literature review on criminological theories in Asia. Asian Journal of Criminology, 13(2), 129-151.
