Sociocultural analysis of measures aimed at increasing the efficiency of dialogue between police officers and the civilian population: theoretical and methodological analysis of the problem

Increase in crime is one of the dangerous trends of the modern society. The growth of the number of crimes contributes to destabilization of social relations, confounding other crisis trends of a transitional society. In these circumstances, the issue of improving the effectiveness of law enforcement activities is becoming rather topical. One of the important aspects of effectiveness of the protection of the rule of law is the attitude towards law enforcement agencies among civilian population. This is connected with the willingness of the members of a society to report the acts of wrongdoing, as well as with the nature of the social perception of the legal sphere by the population. A current unfavourable situation is associated with the decline of civilian population’s confidence towards law enforcement officials. This contributes to the deterioration of the effectiveness of law enforcement and the consolidation of a tendency to the increase in crime. The present study analyzes the main social mechanisms that determine the emergence and dissemination of negative models of perception of law enforcement agencies by society. The question is raised about the key factors in overcoming negative images of police officers. Positive experiences with law enforcement officials have proved to be one of the main factors in normalizing relations between the civilian population and the police. The view is justified that the nature of perception of law enforcement officials by population depends significantly on their personal and professional qualities. In view of this fact, there is substantiated the importance of an educational aspect of police training and, in particular, the high value of the liberal arts education of police officers is proved. It is justified that this aspect of departmental education determines personal qualities of police officers, their work mo-tivation, and models of interaction with the civilian population. This determines the prospects for normalizing relations between police officers and the population.