Public perception of police behaviors in the disaster COVID-19 – the Case of Serbia

  • Post category:Vesti

Purpose – The aim of the study is to determine the perception of general public on the Serbian police behaviors in combating COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the perception of the citizens how successful the police units were in fulfilling their tasks.

Design/methodology/approach – Due to the state of emergency declared due COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the restriction of movement and the need for social distance, the data collection for this study had to be conducted via the on-line survey platform (google.doc). The study was conducted during March–April 2020, only four weeks after the state of emergency was declared. The participants were invited to complete the on-line questionnaire in their native language by using the snowball sampling strategy focused on recruiting the general public via social media tools.

Findings – Considering the fact that police officers are not sufficiently prepared and trained to respond in these specific circumstances, it is necessary to improve their engagement in the future by conducting appropriate training, procuring adequate resources, implementing adequate planning activities, etc. The results of the multivariate regressions of public perception preparedness subscale show that the most important predictor is gender and it explains 23.6% of the variance in preparedness subscale. The remaining variables did not have significant effects on preparedness. This model with all mentioned independent variables, explains 6.1% of the variance of preparedness subscale.

Originality/value – Bearing in mind that there were no completed studies on public perception of police behaviors about the COVID-19 disaster in Serbia, the research has a considerable scientific and social importance. Keywords: police, disaster, public perception, pandemic, COVID-19, Serbia.

Janković, B., & Cvetković, M. V. (2020). Public perception of police behaviors in the disaster COVID-19 – the Case of Serbia. Policing An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management. doi:10.1108/PIJPSM-05-2020-0072

Vladimir Cvetkovic

Prof. dr Vladimir M. Cvetković je zaposlen na Univerziteta u Beogradu, Fakultetu bezbednosti i realizuje nastavu na predmetima: Upravlјanje rizicima u vanrednim situacijama, Zaštita od prirodnih i antropogenih katastrofa, Bezbednosni rizici i katastrofe, Metodologija procene rizika od katastrofa, Rukovodjenje u vanrednim situacijama, Smanjenje rizika od katastrofa. Više od 15 godina se bavi istraživanjem u oblasti studija katastrofa. Objavio je preko 250 naučnih radova i 20 knjiga iz oblasti studija katastrofa. Predsednik je i osnivač Naučnog stručnog društva za upravlјanje rizicima u vanrednim situacijama, Međunarodnog instituta za istraživanje katastrofa i glavni urednik Međunarodnog časopisa za upravlјanje rizicima od katastrofa (International Institute for Disaster Research). Dobitnik je brojnih nagrada od čega je najznačajnija nagrada za najboljeg mladog naučnika Srbije ,,Danubius Young Scientist Award 2017“ koja se dodeljuje od strane Austrijskog ministarstva za nauku, istraživanje i ekonomiju (BMWFW) i Instituta za Dunavski region i Centralnu Evropu (IDM) za izuzetna dostignuća u nauci. Više o njegovoj biografiji možete pogledati na sledećoj adresi - https://vladimircvetkovic.upravljanje-rizicima.edu.rs/.