The relative importance of race and ethnicity on citizen attitudes toward the police

Abstract

The empirical study of citizen attitudes toward the police has a rich tradition and is regarded as important for several reasons. Some authors such as Murty, Roebuck, and Smith (1990) have suggested that positive images of the police are necessary in order for the police to function effectively and efficiently. Decker (1981) has argued that the police organization as a public sector organization needs community support to meet its goals. He identifies the "attitude-effectiveness" link as especially important in an urban society where the police are primarily reactive and dependent on the public for initiating police activity (p. 80). Dunham and Alpert (1988) have pointed out that citizens in neighborhoods that reflect distinct cultures have different values concerning the appropriateness of different police practices. These values are reflected in attitudes toward the police, and police practices that are incompatible with culturally-based attitudes may result in ineffective policing (p. 506). Murty, Roebuck, and Smith (1990) echo a similar proposition. In their view and that of others (Radelet, 1986 and Skolnick and Bayley, 1986), negative attitudes toward the police result in "mutual ill feelings, lack of respect, disorder, and inefficient police functioning" (Radelet, 1986:280). Greene and Decker (1989) point out that the nature of citizen attitudes toward the police and police attitudes toward citizens is an important determinant of whether the two groups can work together to set up crime control programs. They note that this is an especially important consideration given the contemporary emphasis on policing strategies that strive to bring "the police and the community into greater interaction." The research reported in this paper builds on a 30-year tradition of research on attitudes toward the police (ATP). Recent events in American

Keeping it in the family: Parental influences on young people’s attitudes to police

“…These socio-demographic variables are mainstays in research on attitudes to police (Brown and Benedict, 2002;Hurst and Frank, 2000;Jesilow et al, 1995;Kennedy et al, 2003;Levy, 2001;Smart et al, 2004;Taylor et al, 2001;Webb and Marshall. 1995).…”

Race, Class or Neighborhood Context: Which Matters More in Measuring Satisfaction with Police?

“…Others specifically suggest that neighborhood class status plays an equally important, if not greater, role in determining satisfaction with police (Dunham & Alpert, 1988;Weitzer, 1999Weitzer, , 2000. Although studies continue to report a significant racial effect even after introducing contextual variables (e.g., Garcia & Cao, 2005;Reisig & Parks, 2000;Webb & Marshall, 1995), more research clearly is needed to clarify the influences of race and class on citizens' attitudes toward police.…”

In Search of Respect: Examining Arrestee Satisfaction with Police

“…A number of studies have unearthed significant relationships (Wortley et al, 1997;Reitzel & Piquero, 2006;Frank et al, 2005), others have revealed income to have only mixed effects (Webb & Marshall, 1995;Weitzer & Tuch, 2005b), and still others have failed to detect any statistically significant relationship between income and perceptions of police (Frank, Brandl, Cullen, & Stichman, 1996;Henderson, Cullen, Cao, Browning, & Kopache, 1997;Reitzel, Rice, & Piquero, 2004;Weitzer & Tuch, 1999;Weitzer & Tuch, 2004). Making matters muddier still, a handful of studies suggest that it is not an individual's socioeconomic standing, but the socio-economic conditions of the neighborhoods individuals reside in that shape public satisfaction with police (Wu, Sun, & Triplett, 2009;Reisig & Parks, 2000;Weitzer, 2000;Dunham & Alpert, 1988;Sampson & Bartusch, 1998).…”