The Image Of Auxiliary Police Force: Crisis And Re-construction

The multitude of conflicts generated in the course of deepened reform,coupled with understaffing of public security agencies,constitute an unprecedented challenge for the police forces in China.The auxiliary police system,though far from perfect,enables police officers to concentrate on “real police work,” helping to a great extent alleviate the problem of shortage of police manpower.But over the past several years,deviant behaviors or even illegal activities of auxiliary officers frequently make newspaper headline.The public no longer has confidence in auxiliary officers,damaging the image of the auxiliary force.Centering on the crisis of the image of auxiliary officers and the re-construction of the image,the thesis endeavors to seek multi-disciplinary theoretical underpinning for this research.By tracing the root causes of the problem and exploring viable solutions,the author hopes to contribute to the reconstruction of the image of auxiliary officers.The structure of this thesis is as follows:The first part is an introduction,which covers the rationale for the problem,the objective and purpose of this research,literature review as well as research methods and creative points.The second part is the theoretical underpinning of this research.Drawing from economics,marketing,communication studies,ethics and public security science,this part seeks to extract from these disciplines the “whys and how-tos” of image-construction and apply them to the interpretation and construction of the image of auxiliary officers.The third part traces the internal and external causes of the image crisis of auxiliary officers,which include relevant laws and regulations which leave much to be desired,behaviors and conduct unbecoming officers,incompetent communication skills,failure to cooperate efficiently and effectively with the media,and insufficient logistics support etc.The fourth part explores possible solutions.Strategies are put forward to address the problems from such aspects as perfecting the legal system,reforming recruitment,providing better career advancement paths for auxiliary officers,the standardization and regularization of uniforms,and fatter pay and benefits.Through integrated strategies,the auxiliary force is expected evolve into a professional force with the perfection of relevant laws,regulations and standards.