Faculty Mentor(s)

Dr. Shelly Stroud

Project Type

Honors Program project

Scholarship Domain(s)

Scholarship of Discovery

Presentation Type

Presentation

Abstract

Background

Previous research shows the rate of crime against people with disabilities is significantly higher than the general population (Child et al., 2011). Despite this, gaps in the training and resources for officers to assist those with disabilities may exist (Gardner, Campbell, and Westdal, 2019). Eadens et al. (2008) explored this issue by evaluating officer attitudes towards intellectual disabilities. Kankakee County has a significant disabled population (CHSA, 2019), and Illinois is ranked very low in the improvement of related policies (ANCOR, 2019), making this an area of interest.

Methods

This study utilized the modified version of the Social Distance Questionnaire (SDQ) used by Eadens et al. (2008), which is both qualitative and quantitative. The survey was sent out to the five police departments in Kankakee County, and it received 37 responses. Data was coded in Microsoft Excel, and statistical tests were run through R Studio.

Results

Though distributions varied, the resulting mean scores trended toward the higher end of the SDQ scale, indicating more positive attitudes toward people with disabilities. Additionally, the evaluation of training and average survey scores as grouped by department suggested a positive correlation. However, due to the sample size these and other results did not meet the threshold of statistical significance.

Conclusions

Kankakee County’s participating officers appeared mostly to have positive attitudes towards intellectual disabilities. A positive correlation may exist between the officers’ scores and the amount of disability training they have received. To determine this, a study with a larger sample must be conducted.

To read the final Honors paper, please visit https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/honr_proj/138/

Permission type

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

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Apr 18th, 2:40 PM Apr 18th, 3:00 PM

Police Officers' Perceptions Regarding their Interactions with the Disabled in Kankakee County

Fishbowl

Background

Previous research shows the rate of crime against people with disabilities is significantly higher than the general population (Child et al., 2011). Despite this, gaps in the training and resources for officers to assist those with disabilities may exist (Gardner, Campbell, and Westdal, 2019). Eadens et al. (2008) explored this issue by evaluating officer attitudes towards intellectual disabilities. Kankakee County has a significant disabled population (CHSA, 2019), and Illinois is ranked very low in the improvement of related policies (ANCOR, 2019), making this an area of interest.

Methods

This study utilized the modified version of the Social Distance Questionnaire (SDQ) used by Eadens et al. (2008), which is both qualitative and quantitative. The survey was sent out to the five police departments in Kankakee County, and it received 37 responses. Data was coded in Microsoft Excel, and statistical tests were run through R Studio.

Results

Though distributions varied, the resulting mean scores trended toward the higher end of the SDQ scale, indicating more positive attitudes toward people with disabilities. Additionally, the evaluation of training and average survey scores as grouped by department suggested a positive correlation. However, due to the sample size these and other results did not meet the threshold of statistical significance.

Conclusions

Kankakee County’s participating officers appeared mostly to have positive attitudes towards intellectual disabilities. A positive correlation may exist between the officers’ scores and the amount of disability training they have received. To determine this, a study with a larger sample must be conducted.

To read the final Honors paper, please visit https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/honr_proj/138/