The Korean Police is not exempt from violence by citizens. Many field officers, such as patrol officers and criminal detectives, are often exposed to violence from citizens, and sometimes the officers are injured. Though the risk of violence at the hands of suspects is regarded as an inevitable element of police work, nevertheless the violent encounters in Korea are still beyond full and complete understanding. Even though the majority of violence against police officers occurs when they attempt to arrest suspects or deter criminal activities, many other violent incidents take place in association with misdemeanor cases or even without any specific reason. While the former violent incidents are more likely to be “reactive” in nature, the latter appear to be more “proactive.” In other words, some suspects resort to violent methods as a reaction to an officer’s intervention, but others initiate violent confrontations on their own without any provocation by the officers. The proactive use of violence is important because it can be seen as an expression of the public’s negative perception of the police in Korea. People who had previous contact with police officers, for example, may have a negative perception that the police are corrupt or unfair. Since such a negative perception of the police can function as a catalyst for the use of violence against police officers, it is often impossible to explain public violence against officers properly, simply by resorting to the circumstantial factors surrounding the assaults. Thus, a proper explanation of such proactive assaults requires sufficient understanding of how citizens perceive the police.

The purpose of this study is to examine the causal mechanisms of violence by citizens against the police in Korea. First, like most previous studies, this study adopts three circumstantial factors: suspect/officer characteristics, environmental features regarding time and place, and situational factors. Based upon Hans Toch’s (1992) study, the second approach examines more direct motives leading to police assault, associated with dynamic factors at the time of the assaults. Finally, to examine the perception of the police underlying the violent episodes, verbal abuse by the suspects against officers is analyzed.

Literature Review

Theoretical Frameworks

Subculture of violence theory views violence against the police as a necessary consequence in a subculture where violence is regarded as an appropriate response to a range of situations. Wolfgang and Ferracuti (1967) attribute disproportionately high rates of homicide among lower-class, young, and black males to their subculture, in which violence is defined as an expected and required response to a range of situations. Individuals sharing a subculture of violence readily resort to violence when they associate with each other. According to the subculture of violence theory, a suspect’s individual variables, such as race, age, sex, and socioeconomic class, are significant predictors of police assaults. In the United States, the most frequent assailants are characterized as black, young, and lower-class males, who are most likely to assimilate the subculture of violence. Furthermore, a police officer who is working in the area where the subculture of violence prevails has a preconceived idea that non-violent methods are not effective for controlling suspects. Thus, the officer is more likely to rely on violent methods, consequently evoking an aggressive response from a suspect (Wolfgang and Farracuti, 1967).

Drawing upon this theoretical framework of subculture violence theory, violence against police officers results from a lack of consensus between the officer and a suspect over the definition of a given situation (e.g., is it confrontational and non-violent or confrontational and violent?) and the expected response by both participants when an officer and suspect interact (Bannon, 1976). Violence used against or by police officers is viewed as a sequence of events in which an officer and a suspect interact with their own definitions of the situation and their own predictions as to how the other participant is going to respond, which, unfortunately may have no correlation to the other person’s definition of the situation or intentioned response.

Nonetheless, it is through interactions with each other that individuals construct shared meanings, which provide the basis for their conduct (Blumer, 1969). Thus, violent incidents between an officer and a suspect may be a typical example of failure to build the shared meanings through interaction because even though neither the officer nor the suspect may expect the occurrence of violence, they end up causing injury to each other. When an officer and a suspect encounter, they often have different assessments of each other’s attitude or the situation. Bannon (1976) found that while police officers perceive hostility from initial attitudes of suspects in 86.2% of the cases, suspects feel frustration in only 27.5% of the cases when they are stopped. The lack of consensus over the conjectured role of each participant in police-citizen interaction also leads to violent incidents. Bannon (1976) reported that while only 26% of suspects thought that they were lawfully stopped by police officers, 40.4% replied that police officers stopped them without provocation.

Researchers who borrow an idea from a conflict perspective explain that violence done to the police stems from conflict between the ruling class and lower class. That is, the police are readily blamed of serving only to protect the dominance and interest of the ruling class (Chapman, 1974). According to conflict theory, the police are regarded as an apparatus which enforces the dominant group’s standards and norms on people from the lower socioeconomic status (i.e., people who challenge the dominant paradigm of the ruling class). According to this conflict perspective theory, the major role of the police in enforcing the law and maintaining order is to protect the interests of the ruling class and preserve their dominance over society. Consequently, the lower-class people perceive that the police, standing on the side of the privileged few, commit injustices in society (Chapman, 1974). Living in society where the upper class dominates major social or economic resources, the lower-class people are more likely to feel a great amount of frustration because of their miserable lives, relative deprivation, and unfair distribution of opportunity for success. The lower-class people sometimes discharge their frustration by means of behavior not sanctioned by the ruling class: fighting or driving under the influence, for example. The attempt by officers to control such behaviors aggravates the ruled class’s aggressive impulses, and often this exacerbates aggressiveness which ends with assaults against the officer (Meyer et al., 1982a).

Furthermore, for the underprivileged groups who blame a political, social, and economic system for their misery, the police are recognized as “a visible and readily accessible agent” of the system (Meyer et al., 1982a, p. 2). Therefore, violence against police is the consequence of imputing a grievance against an overall system, which favors the upper class and the police who serve to protect this system. In this sense, the police function as an insulator between opposing groups who resort to violence in their struggle of conflicting interests (Chapman, 1974).

Finally, the police precipitation approach postulates that police officers induce violence through provocative attitudes or words toward suspects. According to Toch (1992), suspects tend to be motivated to assault an officer when they feel that they are unjustly treated or that their autonomy or dignity is threatened. The motive for attacks on the police may be fueled by bodily contact, orders/commands, or annoying intrusions. Wilson (1968) also contended that violent encounters between a police officer and a suspect may be aggravated if the officer has an antagonistic or authoritative demeanor in his interaction with the suspect. When a suspect shows lack of respect or derogative attitudes, officers are likely to become exasperated, and manifest hostility toward the suspect (Toch, 1992). This reciprocal relationship between an officer and a suspect escalates the level of violence in a situation, which at last leads to assaults on both sides.

Toch (1992) attempted to postulate the dynamics of citizen-police violent encounters based on the motives of assailants. This approach pays attention to the psychological sequence of action and reaction. One person’s action results in the other person’s action by affecting his/her perceptions or feelings (Toch, 1992). Thus, he argued that violence against police should also be understood as the product of tension resulting from continuous interactions between the police and civilians. He created five categories of motives for violence against police and then coded samples of 100 assault incidents on police officers from the Arrest Report files of the Oakland Police Department and 344 incidents from the San Francisco Police Department.

The first category is “perseverance in – or transfer or extension of – violence.” An offender who was already engaged in violent actions may redirect his/her aggression to an officer who arrived on the scene to interfere with such actions. The violence against the officer is simply an extension of the preexisting violence rather than violence specifically engendered by the police officer. The second category is “defense of personal autonomy.” Assaults may result from an offender who thinks that a police officer tries to manipulate the offender in an undesirable way (i.e., one that does not correspond with the offender’s personal will). The third category is “protection against concrete danger.” A person employs assault as a means of escaping from any perceived danger caused by a police officer. For example, an offender may assault an officer in an effort to flee. The fourth category is “defense or support of others.” A person uses violence in order to help “significant others” who are in danger. A man may assault an officer who attempts to arrest his friend in order to defend the friend. The fifth category is “violence as an expression of contempt or disapproval.” An officer’s identity and physical presence is simply condition enough to induce an assault against the officer. Finally, some cases cannot be classifiable because information is not sufficient.

Circumstantial Characteristics of Police Assaults

Individual characteristics include an assaulted officer or an assailant’s physical features such as gender, race, and height, and the officer’s work-related features such as rank or length of service. In terms of officers’ physical characteristics, previous studies (Bannon, 1976; Meyer et al., 1982b) found that height and physical build are not significantly related to the likelihood to be assaulted. With regard to an officer’s race and gender, white male officers hold the majority of assaulted officers (Horstman, 1973; Bixler, 1976; Meyer et al., 1982b; Hirschel et al., 1994). However, a longitudinal study of non-fatal assaults of police officers in the City of Detroit conducted by Bannon (1976) revealed that officers’ race and sex are not related to such assaults. Studies also produced inconsistent results about the effect of an officer’s years of police service and age upon a police assault. The Oklahoma City Police Study (Bixler, 1976) found that officers who have longer years of experience on police service are more likely to be assaulted than rookie officers. Other studies (Horstman, 1973; Meyer et al., 1982b; Hirschel et al., 1994), however, found that younger, less experienced, and lower-ranking officers are more prone to be assaulted. Moreover, a recent study (Stetser, 2001) showed no significant relationship between an officer’s age, length of service, and his/her likelihood of being assaulted. Studies regarding individual characteristics of assailants found that the majority of the assailants are characterized as non-white, young, and male. In terms of an assailant’s height and physical build, suspects who are shorter in height and slender or small in physical stature are more likely to attack police officers (Bixler, 1976; Meyer et al., 1982b). Other distinctive characteristics of assailants are their socio-economic background and employment status. Several studies (Chapman, 1976; Meyer et al., 1982b; Stetser, 2001) revealed similar findings: the majority of assailants are unemployed, blue-collar workers, or members of a lower socioeconomic group.

Environmental characteristics are concerned with where or when violence against police takes place. Most studies have focused on the geographical features: population, residents, and locations of assault incidents, and time data such as month, season, day of the week, and time of day. With regard to geographical characteristics, most police assaults are viewed as events occurring in cities (Meyer et al., 1982a) and downtown areas (Stetser, 2001). Lester (1978b) examined community characteristics as a correlate of police assaults, using the murder rate of police in 55 cities. He concluded that the higher the percentage of black residents, crime index rate, and percentage of the poor, the higher the murder rates of the police. In terms of the locations of assault events, while the most frequent locations for police assaults are street/highway, jail or booking area, and private residences, the least frequent areas are open areas, schools, and hotels (Chapman, 1976). When only robbery-related police assaults are examined, however, commercial establishments are the most frequent location. This result is consistent with official data, indicating that the majority of robberies occur in commercial establishments (Meyer et al., 1982a).

Researchers have also examined the relationship between time data and violent incidents. Chapman and his associates (1974) contended that general violent incidents are most likely to occur during summer, and least likely during winter. On the contrary, Meyer and his associates (1982a) found that the majority of robbery-related police assaults occur during winter, especially the month of December, and summer is the least frequent season. They explained that, since during winter the night time is longer and the need for money increases due to the Christmas holidays, robbery takes place more frequently, as do robbery-related police assaults. Bixler (1976) reported that over 50 percent of police assaults occurred on weekends and about 60 percent occurred between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. Stetser (2001) also found that police assaults are more likely to occur late at night and early in the morning.

Situational characteristics include several circumstances and conditions at the time of incidents. The first situational consideration regarding police assaults is the type of the associated offense when the assaults occur. While police assaults most frequently occur during arrests on minor charges, the actual murder of police officers most frequently is associated with serious crimes (Creamer & Robin, 1968; Chapman, 1976). When a suspect is charged with a minor crime, the offender readily has a grievance against a police officer because s/he tends to view the charge excessive. Alcohol and drugs were also found to contribute to police assault incidents. Chapman and his associates (1974) reported that nearly 56 percent of assailants were under the influence of alcohol, and 64 percent of the assailants had been drinking prior to the assault. Stetser (2001) also found that about 78 percent of suspects were under the influence of alcohol or drugs or had a mental disorder. In terms of weapons, a suspect mostly relies on the use of personal force such as fists, feet, hands, or teeth, rather than dangerous weapons. Most murders of police, however, result from the use of firearms (Bixler, 1976; United States Department of Justice, 1977). Finally, police assaults are also related to how the initial contact between an officer and a suspect begins. Suspects are more likely to resist with violence when police officers initiated the encounter on their own than when they simply respond to calls for service from the victim or others (Kavanagh, 1997).

Methods

Data and Sample

Busanjin Police Station is located in the center of the City of Busan in Korea. The organization consists of nine departments, and one of them is the “Crime Prevention Department.” One of the most important duties of the Crime Prevention Department is to manage eighteen police substations that take charge of policing in each precinct. A police substation is a branch office of a police station and is composed of approximately twenty-five officers and police equipment: patrol cars, guns, and non-lethal weapons. The officers of the substation patrol assigned areas or “beats,” responding to calls for service from citizens, and collecting information related to crimes and safety issues.

Information on police assaults was drawn from the “Report of Justice Obstruction” (RJO) in Busanjin Police Station. An officer files this report when a person interferes with the officer’s authorized execution of official duties. The intervention can be constituted in various ways: assault on officers, a disturbance in an office, or a failure to comply with an officer’s legitimate demands. Of all the reports submitted during one year from July 1, 2001, to June 30th, 2002, this study selected 155 cases, which involved assaults on officers during the interventions. Then, when a case has multiple officers or multiple offenders, each pairs of a victim and an assailant were coded as a new case. Thirty-six additional cases were produced by this dissection, which made the total number of cases 189.

Measures

Circumstantial Variable

Given the limited information provided by RJO, only a few variables regarding police officers who were assaulted by citizens – sex, age, and occupation for offenders, and rank of officers – are included as individual factors. The police rank system in Korea is composed of 11 ranks from “Policeman,” the lowest, to “Commissioner General,” the highest. In terms of a police substation, the rank of the chief is “Inspector,” which is almost equivalent to “Lieutenant” in the American policing system. Under the chief of the substation there are three ranks of patrol officers: “Policeman,” “Senior Policeman,” and “Assistant Inspector,” from lowest to highest rank. Another member of the substation is the “C.S. Police,” who volunteers to work in the police rather than to serve in the army in order to fulfill military duties. Since the members of C.S. Police are very young, and have limited authority and responsibility, they undertake auxiliary roles under the supervision of officers.

Three environmental variables are used: month of occurrence, time of occurrence, and a precinct where an assault happened. A day is divided into six categories, having four-hour spans of time: morning (6 to 10 a.m.), midday (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), afternoon (2 to 6 p.m.), evening (6 to 10 p.m.), night (10 p.m. to 2 a.m.), and dawn (2 to 6 a.m.). The analysis for geographical characteristics of a police assault simply relies upon the precinct where the assault occurred and the report was made. Of 18 precincts, Bu-jeon2 covers a large area downtown, congested with a number of bars and restaurants, where most commercial facilities are located. The Bu-jeon1 precinct shares the downtown area with Bu-jeon2 precinct and includes a big traditional market area, where thousands of stores are located. The Ga-ya1 precinct includes another congested business area, located around Dong-eui University. While these three precincts are business-oriented, the other fifteen precincts are largely residence-oriented.

The first situational factor is whether an offender was under the influence of alcohol when the assaults occurred. The second factor is the place of occurrence, which is divided into three sequential categories: at the scene, in the police car, and in the police station. The third variable is how the contact between the officer and the offender was initiated. Patrol officers may initiate contact with an offender by responding to a call for service from citizens, or may simply detect illegal activities by an offender during patrol. The final variable is the type of crime that preceded the assaults against the officers, which typically precipitated contact between an officer and an offender to begin with. The variable is divided into four categories: violent crime, vandalism, misdemeanor, and none.

Motives

As Toch (1992) postulated, motives of police assaults are categorized by six types: perseverance in violence, defense of autonomy, protection of danger, defense of others, expression of contempt, and unclassifiable. Unlike Toch’s study that examined the primary and secondary motives, this study identifies only the primary motives. Thus, when two or more motives are mixed in one assault case, only the most prominent motive is coded as a motive.

Verbal Abuse

In order to analyze verbal abuse used by an offender against an officer, this study creates six types of verbal abuse, depending upon its content. First, “simple abuse” is the most simple and common type of verbal abuse. This type of verbal abuse, which is expressed mostly in the form of “four letter words” or vulgar words, shows unpleasantness, discontent, or hostility toward others, without intention of any other purpose. Second, “physical threat” is an expression of intent to inflict harm on the other party’s health or life by use of physical power. An offender may say to an officer, for example, “I will kill you and your family as soon as I get out of the prison.” Third, “threat by higher authority” is another form of threat that displays intent to inflict negative influence on the officer’s job security, by resorting to a third person or an agency, assumed to have such authority or power to negatively affect the officer. For example, an offender may say, “You will be kicked out of your office if I report what you have done to me to an internal affair office.” Fourth, “distrust” is verbal abuse expressing one’s belief that the police are unfair or corrupted. Offenders often condemn the police as an attempt to justify their violation of the law. Fifth, “hostility toward authority” is an expression that an offender basically does not accept the interference by authority itself whatever the reason is. The offender may say to officers, “How dare you touch me?” or “This is none of your business. Get out of here!” Finally, “derision” is used in order to make an officer feel belittled about his/her job. The most common Korean slang that indicates the police in an insulting way is “jjap-sae,” or “jja-ba-ri.”

Results

The majority of offenders were male from 21 to 40 years old. About 40 percent of assailants did not have a job (Table 1). Over 35 percent of offenders were blue-collar employees. Half of the officers assaulted by offenders held the rank of policeman, and over 30 percent of them were senior policemen. In general, the occurrence of police assault was evenly distributed over months. While the majority of assault occurred in September (13.2%), the smallest number of assault occurred in July (4.2%). Not surprisingly, night (38.1%) and dawn (30.2%) are the time spans when police assault occurred most frequently. Officers are most likely to confront violent suspects during night and dawn because suspects are often under the influence of alcohol and calls for service are increased. In terms of a geographical factor, a distinct difference was found in the number of police assault between business-oriented precincts and residence-oriented precincts. Only three commercial precincts – Bu-jeon2 (26.5%), Bu-jeon1 (15.3%), and Ga-ya1 (14.8%) – dealt with about 57 % of all the police assault cases which occurred in the eighteen police substations. In terms of situational factors associated with police assaults, almost half of offenders were under the influence of alcohol when they assaulted police officers. The majority of assaults (63.5%) occurred at the scene where the violation of laws occurred and an officer initiated contact with an offender. About 30 percent of assaults occurred after offenders were moved to the police substations, and only 6.9 percent of them occurred while they were transported by police car. The majority of assaults (68.8%) were initiated by a call for service from citizens. The most frequent violation of law prior to committing assault against an officer was a violent crime such as a simple assault and an aggravated assault (39.7%). The second most frequent violation was a misdemeanor such as traffic violation and nuisance (33.3%). About 20 percent of assaults occurred with no violation of the law involved.

Table 1: Circumstantial Characteristics of Police Assaults

a. The figures within the parentheses indicate employment and unemployment rates in the City of Busan in 2002. (Source: Korea National Statistical Office’s Database)

b. The figures within the parentheses indicate the percentage of police officers by rank in the Busanjin Police Station in the year of 2002. (Source: Summary of the Busanjin Police Station in 2002)

c. The figures within the parenthesis indicate the percentage of police substations based on types of the precincts.

Motives of police assaults were somewhat evenly distributed (Table 2). About 26 percent of police assaults resulted from the motive of “expression of contempt,” which was the most frequent primary cause in this study. The next frequent motives were “Defense of autonomy” (20.6%) and “perseverance in violence” (20.1). Table 3 shows how six components of verbal abuse are composed. Of 189 police assault cases, verbal abuse was involved in 151 cases (80%). The most common type of verbal abuse is “simple abuse.” About one-third of verbal abuse incidents consisted only of “simple abuse.” The second frequent type is a mixture of “simple abuse” and “physical threat” (N=32). Offenders’ next preference was the amalgam of “simple abuse” and “hostility toward authority” (N=15). Of the sets consisting of three components, the composition of “simple abuse,” “physical threat,” and “derision” was most frequently used.

Consistent with previous studies, this study found that those who were male, young, and unemployed were more likely to assault police officers. Given that young males are people who are most frequently associated with the police, it seems logical that they may have more chance to be involved in violent episodes with the police. With regard to the relationship between those in low socioeconomic status, represented by unemployment, and police assault, their perception of the police or the government itself may increase the likelihood to behave violently against officers. As the conflict theory contends, lower-class people who are socially and economically marginalized may be more likely to have a negative perception of the government, which often leads to violent behaviors against the police.

In terms of time and place, the dominant representation of police assaults at nighttime and in business districts may be closely related to alcohol consumption. Since there is no time restriction on selling alcohol in Korea, people often drink alcohol until late night. Given that drunken persons are more likely to cause or be involved with trouble, it is quite reasonable that violent encounters between officers and those under the influence of alcohol occur most frequently during late night and in business districts. This logic is also supported by the result that almost half of police assaults were caused by persons who were under the influence of alcohol. Offenders were most likely to assault officers at the place where the contact began, and least likely to assault officers in a police car. Since offenders are often in the middle of violence physically or emotionally on the initial contact with an officer, the violence can be easily diverted to the officer. In addition, it is easier to assault officers in an open place than in a confined place, like a police car.

The most notable finding regarding the situational factors that influence assault is the type of crime involved. Surprisingly, police assaults involved misdemeanors as much as violent crime. This result indicates that many police assaults occur in an initially non-violent situation. Also, many police assaults result from disputes around fairness of law enforcement. When an officer attempted to enforce the law against misdemeanor crime, most offenders would not submit to the authority of the police activity, citing its lack of fairness or by demanding that the officer overlook the offense. If the officer did not accept their demands, offenders suddenly turned into violent assailants. This reaction pattern implies that Korean people basically perceive the police as being unfair. Furthermore, the result shows that 19 percent of police assaults occurred even without an involvement of any type of violation. This type of assault was committed by an offender who had been a subject of law enforcement, and had a grudge against the authority of the police for that very reason. Such an offender often visited police substations or approached an officer on duty and expressed his irritation violently either with verbal abuse or with physical force. This pattern of behavior also implies that Korean people may have a fundamental distrust of the police. Moreover, it appears that people do not believe in the integrity of the police as protectors, up-holders of law and unbiased dispensers of justice in society.

The findings about motives also show a similar implication. Of the six motives, “expression of contempt” was the dominant motive in this study. In the study of Oakland Police Department and San Francisco Police Department (Toch, 1992), however, “defense of personal autonomy” was the most frequent motive of assault on police in both cities. The difference may be an indicator that the public in Korea has a higher degree of negative perception of the police than the American public.

Another indicator of the Korean perception of the police is verbal abuse that offenders used against officers. Some offenders expressed their explicit distrust about the fairness and integrity of the police. Others indirectly showed, through derogatory expressions, that they did not perceive the police as a respectable job for conducting important functions in Korean society, but rather a humble occupation performed by low-level persons. Offenders also exhibited somewhat contradictory attitudes toward authority through their verbal abuse. While some persons showed a fundamental hostility toward not only law enforcement but also the official authority itself, others were ready to rely upon certain higher authority in order to threaten officers. Even though people in the lower class may have hostile feelings about the authority of the police, they, nonetheless, would like to employ any higher authority to escape from unpleasant situations. The attitude also implies the offenders’ belief that police officers are fearful of higher authority such as superior offices or an internal affairs office because the police are themselves corrupt and have a lot of misdeeds to conceal as well from this higher authority. Offenders may also believe that the police are not so unassailable or strong as to ignore the influence of higher authority.

The Korean police have not succeeded in providing people with a fair and clean image throughout its history. Rooted in an oppressive police system under Japanese colonization, the Korean police have been often used as an apparatus to protect and maintain an authoritarian government, which lacks a legitimate mandate for existence from the Korean people. Working for the demands from the political machinery, the police have been criticized as a vanguard to suppress the demand for democratization from the public. People also complained that the police did not protect human rights. The Korean police have a disgraceful history of torturing citizens, which sometimes led to wrongful death. Corruption has been another undesirable image of the Korean police. Through direct experiences, hearsay, or mass media, many people believe that the police are not clean. Under the democratic government, however, the Korean police have made a great effort to reform its system and erase its negative image. The most remarkable attempts in the history of the Korean police have been made since “the Grand Reform” project began in November 1999. The reform aimed primarily to “overcome the legacy of police history and create a new positive police image” (Pyo, 2003, p. 158). Despite the notable success of the project, the negative perception of the police does not seem to be washed away from people’s minds. Many Koreans still think that the police should change more (Pyo, 2003).

Better understanding of violence against police requires taking into account the historical and social contexts through which citizens’ perceptions of the police and the relationship between the police and the citizen are established. Most theoretical perspectives lay emphasis on how police officers perceive suspects and situations, rather than how suspects perceive the police. Only the conflict theory provides an explanation of why people in the lower socioeconomic status are more likely to assault the police, based on the perception that the police only guard the interests of the upper class. While experiencing authoritarian and oppressive regimes for a long time, Korean people have developed hostility toward authority itself, and the police have been one of the major targets of such hostility. Those hostile people are mostly composed of those who are underprivileged and frequently subjected to law enforcement, rather than those who are in high positions and have enough power to utilize the police for their own interests. The perception of the police in Korea is also affected by social consensus regarding the degree of police corruption or media coverage about police brutality. The more people perceive the police as corrupt and brutal, the more likely they distrust the legitimate authority of the police, and the more hostile they become toward the police.

Conclusion

Violent incidents seem to be inevitable between police officers who try to enforce laws and offenders who attempt to resist such law enforcements. A critical issue in Korean policing, however, is not merely such violent encounters between the police and citizens as the natural consequences of law enforcement, but the unique characteristics of police assaults by citizens, which originate from social and historical contexts in Korean society. Many police assaults by citizens are basically grounded in negative perceptions of the police. Korean people are less likely to regard the police as a legitimate agency, which enforces law within socially sanctioned prescribed limits, based upon fair principles and just rules. Rather, they tend to believe that the police officers possess too much discretion and their decisions on the site of the incident (e.g., arresting, search) are not based on principles and rules. Furthermore, some people believe that the police are corrupt and biased in favor of citizens who provide bribes or those who have power by abusing their discretionary power. Prepossessed by such distrust toward the legitimacy of law enforcement, people are ready to think that they are prosecuted unnecessarily or treated unfairly. As a result, the confrontational situations between citizens and police officers readily become aggravated and lead to assaults on officers. Furthermore, police assaults by citizens have a negative effect on the citizen-police relationship and overall performance of policing strategies. If an assault is a natural consequence of resistance by offenders against control by officers, there will be no negative effect because both parties may agree on the unfavorable nature of the assault when they participate in the confrontation. On the contrary, if an assault is grounded more in distrust and hostility by citizens against the police, then the police-citizen relationship will be damaged. Police officers may lose job satisfaction and motivation for their work because they realize that citizens do not respect their legitimate tasks, rather the citizens have contempt for their authority. Moreover, frequent physical or verbal abuse by citizens will strengthen the worldview of “we” and “they” among police officers, through which officers will perceive citizens as enemies or potential assailants. Consequently, the aggravated citizen-police relationship will hinder an implementation of a law enforcement strategy that requires support from the community (e.g., community-oriented policing).

Sunghoon Roh, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice at Appalachian State University. Tae Choo, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice Administration at Middle Tennessee State University.

Notes

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