Résumé
The present study investigated the relationship between gender-role orientation and proclivity for community policing (CP). University undergraduate students reviewed descriptions of the law enforcement policing (LEP) and community policing (CP) models, as well as completed surveys that measure (a) attitudes towards CP and LEP, (b) interest in a career in policing under CP and LEP, (c) interest in performing a range of CP and LEP activities, and (d) self-rated ability to perform CP and LEP activities. Using the median-split method, participants were categorized into four gender-role orientation groups: instrumental, expressive, androgynous, and undifferentiated. The results supported the hypotheses that instrumental individuals would be more orientated towards LEP than CP, expressive individuals would be more oriented towards CP than LEP, and androgynous individuals would be oriented towards both LEP and CP. The results were interpreted as suggesting the possibility of selecting police recruits whose gender-role orientations represent a good fit with CP.