Chinese Immigrants’ Perceptions of the Police in New York City

Abstract

This article examines Chinese immigrants' perceptions of the police in New York City. It identifies the areas of these immigrants' concerns related to the interaction with the police. Data are analyzed based on a survey conducted with 151 Chinese immigrants in the boroughs of Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn between July and August 2004. The findings include the following: (a) Individuals who had previous contact with police rated police as less favorable, (b) those who rated police as helpful when they called the police for help expressed greater satisfaction toward police, and (c) a strong majority of respondents stated that more bilingual police were needed in the city. In general, the quality of police contact, rather than the quantity of police contact, mattered the most to respondents. Improving the quality of police services, recruiting more bilingual officers, and deepening understanding of cultural differences should enhance immigrants' satisfaction with the police.

Determinants of attitudes toward police of Latino immigrants and non-immigrants

“…Ability to communicate in English was positively correlated with civic behavior (.750, p ≤ .001) and neighboring behavior (.332, p ≤ .05), findings that were in line with previous research (Chu et al, 2005;Unger & Wandersman, 1985;Waslin, 2007). Unexpected, however, was the negative association with social cohesion (-.529, p ≤ .01), though this appeared to support the previous suggestion that for immigrants, civic behavior plays a more important role than social cohesion.…”

“…Latinos place substantial value on traditional male and female roles, the extended family, paternal authority, and personal relationships (Ammar et al, 2005;Erez & Globokar, 2007;Lewis & Ramakrishnan, 2007;Menjivar & Bejarano, 2004). A lack of understanding these cultural differences may create conflicts between the police and community, thus increasing the likelihood of negative interactions between the two groups (Chu et al, 2005;Menjivar & Bejarano, 2004). In fact, several researchers had found these cultural differences create complications with the criminal justice system in general, leading to what some have termed a, "lack of culturally appropriate responses," thus decreasing the likelihood of effective services to these groups (Ammar et al, 2005, p. 231).…”

“…Assessing the impact of community policing efforts on Latino residents, Torres and Vogel (2001) found that bilingual officers allowed for more effective communication and may have been responsible for the positive changes found in Latino perceptions over the course of their study. Overall, those studies focusing on immigrant groups, had found positive benefits in reducing the linguistic barrier between the police and Latino immigrants (Chu et al, 2005;Davis & Erez, 1998;Erez & Globokar, 2007;Lewis & Ramakrishnan, 2007;Menjivar & Bejarano, 2004).…”

“…The importance of effective communication in police-citizen interactions has been aptly noted (see Skogan, 2005) and is of particular concern among immigrant populations (Chu et al, 2005;Menjivar & Bejarano, 2004;Waslin, 2007). The finding in this model that increased English communication skills negatively affected evaluations of the police (p ≤ .05) was not in line with this research.…”

“…Despite this increased attention, relatively few studies had examined immigrants' perceptions of the criminal justice system or the police (Ammar, Orloff, Dutton, & Aguilar-Hass, 2005;Chu, Song, & Dombrink, 2005;Erez & Globokar, 2007;Lewis & Ramakrishnan, 2007;Menjivar & Bejarano, 2004;Skogan, 2006;Van Ryzin, Muzzio, & Immerwahr, 2004). With language and cultural barriers, the continuous threat of deportation, a lack of familiarity with the justice system, the acculturation process, and the negative experiences immigrants have had with law enforcement in their home countries, interactions between the police and immigrant groups face substantial barriers.…”