Public Perceptions of Police Agency Fairness and the Willingness to Call Police

2021 ◽  
pp. 027507402110056
Author(s):  
Kelly M. Socia ◽  
Melissa S. Morabito ◽  
Brenda J. Bond ◽  
Elias S. Nader
Keyword(s):  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Police Agency ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Local Police ◽  
Perceptions Of Fairness ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Prior Experiences ◽  
Willingness To Report ◽  
Influence Perceptions

Police leaders strive to improve interactions and practices relating to residents’ perceptions of police fairness and their willingness to report crimes. Research suggests that strengthening community perceptions of police fairness may increase residents’ willingness to contact the police for help. This study uses a nationally representative public opinion survey to examine the factors that influence perceptions of police fairness and the willingness to call police for help. In doing so, we examine a variety of demographic factors, prior experiences with the police, and perceptions about whether the local police agency is racially representative of the community. We find that very few factors influence both perceptions of police fairness and the willingness to call police for help. Specifically, perceptions of police fairness depend on age, education, and political leanings, whereas willingness to call police for help depends on perceptions of police fairness, political leanings, perceptions of police representativeness, and prior proactive police contact. Notably, we found no differences in perceptions of fairness based on respondent race after controlling for other demographics, perceptions, and experiences. These results indicate that symbolic representation in police departments is not enough on its own to support positive perceptions of police fairness and willingness to call the police for help.

The Long Shadow of Ferguson: Legitimacy, Legal Cynicism, and Public Perceptions of Police Militarization

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K. Moule ◽  
Bryanna Hahn Fox ◽  
Megan M. Parry
Keyword(s):  
Least Squares ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Legal Socialization ◽  
Legal Cynicism ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Influence Perceptions

This study examines public perceptions of police militarization, specifically whether individuals believe police are too militarized, and support for practices associated with militarization. Drawing on concepts found in the legal socialization literature—legitimacy and legal cynicism—this study tests hypotheses regarding whether these constructs influence perceptions of militarization. Using a national sample of 702 American adults, a series of ordinary least squares regression models are used to analyze the relationships between legitimacy, cynicism, and perceptions of police militarization. Results suggested that higher levels of legitimacy reduced beliefs that police are too militarized while also increasing support for practices associated with militarization. Cynicism increased beliefs that the police are too militarized, but had no effect on support for militarization. Perceptions of militarization are thus influenced by legal socialization.

How Repression Affects Public Perceptions of Police: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Uganda

2021 ◽  
pp. 002200272110130
Author(s):  
Travis Curtice
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Representative Survey ◽  
State Repression ◽  
The Social ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Ruling Party

What are the effects of state repression on public perceptions of police? And to what extent are these effects uniform or conditional on individuals’ loyalty to political authorities? I argue that repression by the police negatively affects how people evaluate the police, especially among those who do not support the ruling party. People who oppose the regime are more likely to fear the police following a repressive event relative to regime supporters. To test this argument, I leverage a unique research design opportunity that emerges from the social media tax protest led by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (also known as Bobi Wine) and subsequent selective repression by the Uganda Police Force while a nationally representative survey on police and security was being administered in Uganda. I demonstrate selective repression of protesters decreased support for the police. These effects are largely driven by political loyalty; repression has a stronger effect on how members of the opposition evaluate the police relative to incumbent supporters.

The Effect of a Narrated Video of an Arrest on Civilians’ Perceptions of Police

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Giaimo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Perceptions Of Police

Trust of the police is at a 22-year low in the United States (Jones, 2015). Many police departments hold community discussions in an attempt to educate civilians and increase trust in the police (Star, 2017). This research explores whether an in depth, play-by-play explanation of force used during a video of a violent arrest can increase civilians’ perceptions of the police. Participants either watched a video of a violent arrest with narration or the same video with no narration. The narrator explained the tactics used by the police officers and how the tactics were used to avoid escalation of the violence during the arrest. After viewing one of the videos, both groups filled out the Perceptions of Police (POP) scale to indicate the participants’ feelings about the police. The type of video watched did not influence POP scores, however two interactions were significant. These results suggest that the police should focus on other methods of gaining the trust of Americans.

Implementing Checklists to Improve Police Responses to Co-Victims of Gun Violence

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (S4) ◽  
pp. 39-46
Author(s):  
Samuel A. Kuhn ◽  
Tracey L. Meares
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Gun Violence ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
Online Surveys ◽  
Police Responses ◽  
Police Personnel ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Police Interactions ◽  
Professional Contexts

This qualitative study identifies police interactions with gun violence co-victims as a crucial, overlooked component of police unresponsiveness, particularly in minority communities where perceptions of police illegitimacy and legal estrangement are relatively high. Gun violence co-victims in three cities participated in online surveys, in which they described pervasive disregard by police in the aftermath of their loved ones' shooting victimization. We build on the checklist model that has improved public safety outcomes in other complex, high-intensity professional contexts to propose a checklist for police detectives to follow in the aftermath of gun violence. To build the checklist, we also reviewed the general orders of five police departments to better understand what guidance, if any, is currently given to police personnel regarding how they should interact with gun violence victims.

The ideological divide in public perceptions of self-driving cars

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 436-451
Author(s):  
Yilang Peng
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
United States ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
New Information ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Self Driving Cars ◽  
Social Conservatism

Applications in artificial intelligence such as self-driving cars may profoundly transform our society, yet emerging technologies are frequently faced with suspicion or even hostility. Meanwhile, public opinions about scientific issues are increasingly polarized along the ideological line. By analyzing a nationally representative panel in the United States, we reveal an emerging ideological divide in public reactions to self-driving cars. Compared with liberals and Democrats, conservatives and Republicans express more concern about autonomous vehicles and more support for restrictively regulating autonomous vehicles. This ideological gap is largely driven by social conservatism. Moreover, both familiarity with driverless vehicles and scientific literacy reduce respondents’ concerns over driverless vehicles and support for regulation policies. Still, the effects of familiarity and scientific literacy are weaker among social conservatives, indicating that people may assimilate new information in a biased manner that promotes their worldviews.

Do Body-Worn Cameras Change Law Enforcement Arrest Behavior? A National Study of Local Police Departments

2020 ◽  
pp. 027507402098268
Author(s):  
Sunyoung Pyo
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
National Study ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Black And White ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Local Police ◽  
Disparate Treatment ◽  
High Crime

Controlling police officers’ discretionary behavior during public encounters has been an important issue in U.S. policing, especially following several high-profile police-involved deaths of racial minorities. In response, body-worn cameras (BWCs) were introduced to enhance police accountability by providing police managers an opportunity to monitor police–public encounters. Although many U.S. local police departments have now implemented BWC programs, evidence of program effects on daily police behavior has been limited. This study therefore focuses on whether officers’ arrest behavior changes when they perceive that BWCs are recording their interactions with the public. By conducting a difference-in-differences analysis using 142 police departments, I found that BWCs have negative and small treatment effects on arrest rates and null effects on the racial disparity between numbers of Black and White arrests. These findings imply that officers may become slightly more cautious in the use of arrests after wearing BWCs, but BWCs do not change their overall disparate treatment of Black versus White suspects. The results further indicate that the effects of BWCs on arrests are prominent in municipalities with high crime rates or a high proportion of non-White residents, which suggests that BWC programs demonstrate different effects according to the characteristics of communities served.

scholarly journals What the Public Think about Social Services: A Report from Scotland

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1146-1166
Author(s):  
Trish McCulloch ◽  
Stephen Webb
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Welfare Institutions ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Two Stages

Abstract This article reports on findings of a government-funded research project which set out to understand what the public think about social services in Scotland. The authors were particularly keen to examine issues of legitimacy, trust and licence to operate for social services as they are framed in public perceptions. Drawing on a national online survey of 2,505 nationally representative adults, the findings provide the first and largest empirical data set on public perceptions of social services in Scotland. Data analysis occurred in two stages and employed descriptive statistical measurement and cross-tabulation analysis. The findings indicate that, overall, people in Scotland are positive about social services and the value of their impact on society. Furthermore, they believe that social services perform a valuable public role. These findings are significant for debates surrounding social services and suggest that the Scottish public has a more positive view of social services than social service workers and welfare institutions typically perceive. The findings demonstrate the need to develop a more theoretically rich understanding of the relationships between public perception, legitimacy and social licence in social services, including attention to co-productive models of engagement.

Filmgoers’ Fingerprints

2021 ◽  
pp. 223-256
Author(s):  
Noah Tsika
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Police Power ◽  
Movie Theaters ◽  
Movie Theater ◽  
Crime Films ◽  
Local Police ◽  
Biometric Information

This chapter focuses on fingerprinting stations, which, from the early 1920s until the late 1950s, were often located in the lobbies of movie theaters and used both in conjunction with crime films and as part of a broader push to collect Americans’ personal biometric information. An increasingly popular component of efforts to normalize civil identification, fingerprinting stations routinely functioned to promote both crime films and local police departments. They also raised alarming questions about the scope of police power in the United States. Fingerprinting stations were naturalized aspects of a cinematic assemblage that served police power, smuggling law enforcement into the local movie theater and making the collection of patrons’ personal biometric information seem continuous both with screen representations and with the wider work of advertising and publicity departments.

Community police academies: Assessing the effect of education on public perceptions of police

2020 ◽  
pp. 0032258X2092693
Author(s):  
Nicholas M Perez ◽  
Trinh Nguyen ◽  
Brenda Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Community Police ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Attitudes Toward The Police ◽  
Police Practices

Citizens often have misconceptions about law enforcement. This misinformation may contribute to distrust and heightened concerns about force and misconduct. Agencies attempt to address this by promoting procedural justice and providing community education on police practices. Thus far, past research has not been clear on the actual utility of community education on changing public perceptions. Recent funding has allowed one department to host 14 one-day community police academies (CPAs) to educate residents about policing topics to enhance trust and improve public perceptions of the department. The current project analyzes data collected CPA events to determine the effects on citizen knowledge of police procedures and the effect of this knowledge on attitudes toward the police. Results indicate that while CPAs were effective at educating citizens about practices and improving trust in law enforcement, the increased knowledge was not associated with improvements to public trust. The knowledge obtained at the CPA was, however, predictive of lower concerns about use of force. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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