‘Passing’, but Far from Perfect: Assessing Public Confidence in Police and Desire for Reform in Pennsylvania

Abstract

With data collected from a representative sample of 522 Pennsylvania residents, this study measures public confidence in police and analyses public support for policing practices. Adopting a mixed-method approach, this study also analyses public desire for police reform and correlates of support for police reform. Findings reveal that participants expressed moderate levels of confidence in their local police, although confidence varied across racial groups. Despite this avowed confidence, participants also expressed desire for police reforms. The most supported reforms were those intended to increase officers’ training on mental illness, substance use dependency, and de-escalation techniques; enhance officers’ capabilities of handling critical incidents involving vulnerable populations; implement policing models that incorporate community input and oversight; and increase officer transparency and accountability. A key finding on police reform suggests that the racial divide in support for police reform is usefully informed by including, and not ignoring, significant generational, regional, and political divides. Policy implications based on these findings are discussed within.

Examining the Effects of Perceptions of Police Effectiveness, Procedural Justice, and Legitimacy on Racial Differences in Anticipated Cooperation With Law Enforcement in Pennsylvania

“…Data for this project originated from a larger study intended to measure general attitudes of Pennsylvania residents about a variety of social phenomena, including school security measures, campus carry, and perceptions of the police (see Kruis et al, 2022). A 64-question original survey created by the authors and administered through Qualtrics was used for data collection.…”

Predictors of public support for police accreditation

“…Region does not have a systematic relationship with satisfaction either; however, respondents who live in the South and the West may view police accreditation more favorably than those living in the Northeast or Midwest, given that prior research has found a positive and statistically significant relationship between citizen oversight programs and the South and West regions (Wilson and Buckler, 2010). I expect political conservatism to have a negative relationship with support for police accreditation when the police do not support it since conservatives are generally more supportive of the police than liberals and are also less supportive of police reform than liberals (Pew Research Center, 2020; Kruis et al. , 2021).…”