The purpose of the study is to investigate attitudes and opinions of police and fire association presidents and members about labor and management relations in their city and collective bargaining in general in the state. Presidents of fourteen police and fire associations were interviewed to obtain information about their experiences with collective bargaining or in seeking collective bargaining in local option elections. They were also asked about necessary changes in state and federal law on public sector collective bargaining. On the survey, the opinions of police officers, fire fighters, and private sector union members were similar. Respondents believe labor and management relations are satisfactory but not better than in past dealings. None of the private sector members believe their union is weaker at the bargaining table, while over a third of the police officers and fire fighters indicate their association is weaker. The primary reason for joining a union or association is to have more influence on issues of job and working conditions. On the survey factors, respondents agree that employee representation is necessary and worthwhile. The IAMAW is more effective in performing representational duties, followed by the fire fighters' associations and the various police associations. All three groups agree that members should support their association or union; however, IAMAW members disagree that employees be required to join. This is somewhat surprising considering union security sentiments. Police and fire fighters are not sure whether collective bargaining or strike rights are sufficient to balance their power in labor and management relations. Some recommendations are made as to the treatment of public sector unions under the law in the state of Texas.

This study focuses on four common factors believed to affect resistance to change in public organizations. It contributes to existing literature by examining the effect of higher education and trust on the police officer's level of resistance to change and the effects of participation and communication on trust. 286 police officers from two north Texas towns responded to the survey. Regression analysis and bivariate correlations were used to determine the relationship between, resistance to change, and participation, trust, communication, information, and education and the relationship between trust and the other independent variable. The analysis failed to support previous research, which listed participation as the most important factor, but did support the concept that participation and communication improved trust.

The purpose of this study was to determine the various values that influence police officers within law enforcement organizations. The value systems (Tribalistic, Egocentric, Conformist, Manipulative, Sociocentric, and Existential) were based on the "Levels of Psychological Existence" developed by Clare W. Graves. A values test instrument was administered to 297 police officers. Specific hypotheses regarding value differences in law enforcement groups were tested. The results were significant in the areas of Existentialism and higher personal education; Sociocentrism and older age, male sex, detective rank group; Manipulation and younger age, male sex, officer rank group; Conformitism and longer police service, female sex, married officers; and, Tribalism and longer police service, female sex, less personal education.

This thesis analyzes the training and perceptions on mental health of a particular population. Through the use of previous research and literature, a survey was generated and distributed to the population. The findings were used to generate policy implications for the specific population that was analyzed.

This was a quantitative study designed to determine the role orientation and role behavior of school resource officers in public secondary schools in a metropolitan area of central Texas. The perception of role orientation and role behavior was assessed by two relevant groups: secondary school principals and school resource officers. Each group's perception of role orientation and role behavior was compared to determine if role conflict was an inhibiting factor in the job performance of the recently created school resource officer position. This instrument relied heavily on the work of James Telb who conducted a 1982 study involving the role perceptions of public safety officers in public institutions of higher learning as viewed by senior patrol officers and campus judicial officers. A questionnaire was distributed to both groups to assess perceptions of role orientation of school resource officers as either service oriented or law enforcement oriented. A statistically significant difference in role orientation was identified between groups on two factors: maintenance of traditional police values and police discretionary powers and handling of behavioral scenarios.

During the last 25 years in law enforcement in the United States, there has been a universal practice of foot and/or bicycle patrols used to accomplish the goal of police patrol enforcement and the philosophy of community policing in metropolitan areas. These tactics of patrol have also been used in police departments in and around the State of Texas. This report is a research project on six major metropolitan police departments in the State of Texas, analyzing their allocation of foot and/or bicycle patrol units within their urban cities. The study assesses their early history in using these two police tactics to address criminal activity and their progression from foot patrol to bicycle patrol. The findings of this research support the proposition that major Texas police departments have adopted the practices and philosophies of other major urban police departments around the US, by using foot and/or bicycle patrols in their cities. There is evidence that major Texas police departments were using foot patrol during the early 1980s in support of community policing and gradually phased out this practice in the early 1990s to adopt the new enforcement tactic of policing on a bicycle.

Numerous studies have been conducted to determine predictors of perceptions and attitudes toward police. Less effort has been spent on determining university and college students' perceptions of campus police departments. The purpose of this thesis was to fill this gap in the literature with an added emphasis on exploring potential differences in perceptions between students involved in Greek Life organizations and students not involved in Greek Life organizations. Prior literature found that Greek Life students engage in risk-taking behaviors at higher rates than their counterparts, so it was hypothesized that Greek Life students would have higher levels of distrust in the campus police due to their increased engagement in risk-taking behaviors. The survey questionnaire measuring trust and procedural justice/legitimacy perceptions of campus police was distributed through convenience sampling to university students. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, and multivariate analyses were utilized to analyze the data. The results showed that students overall had positive perceptions of campus police, that Greek Life students had more negative perceptions of the campus police than non-Greek Life students, and that students with prior interactions with the campus police were more likely to perceive the police to be less procedurally just/legitimate. Race/ethnicity was not found to be a predictor in perceptions of trust or procedural justice/legitimacy of the campus police. Limitations, policy implications, and suggestions for future research concerning student perceptions of campus police were also discussed.