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| Police arrest a man in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 18 Photo from: www.nbcnews |
Professor Christine White of the University of Maryland says that citizens perception of police mainly comes from personal interactions
Personal interactions with police can be anything from a traffic stop, an interaction in a public place, or just a simple conversation. Not only will people perceive cops based on these types of interactions, but they will also view cops based on the interactions that close friends or family members have with them. If a family member has a bad interaction with a police officer then normally anyone that knows the individual personally will usually feel the same way. I asked Professor Christine White, a Criminal Justice Professor at the University of Maryland, her professional opinion on what she thinks is the main cause of why people view the police in a bad light. This was her response:
The public's personal interactions with law enforcement officers is the main cause of how a citizen will view the law. People will form their own opinion from a personal interaction or through an interaction of a close family member or friend. Citizens focus mainly on how the officer treats them. Regardless of the outcome of the interaction (ticket, etc) people just want to see the police treat them fair and respectful. Research shows that people tend to report more positively if the officer treats them fairly and with respect then if the officer was perceived to be rude or unfair toward that citizen. Citizens tend to act respectful toward law enforcement if they show them the same respect. The fact of the matter is that most people have had a bad interaction with the police. People tend to hold onto these incidents and discriminate all police officers as disrespectful, untrustworthy, or not fit for their job.
She mentions that certain communities tend to have a bad perception based on different things. She mentioned as people age, then there trust levels tend to decrees. She says that certain groups, race, age, gender, etc., might view the police in a different manner than the other. For example, because of the issue in Ferguson, many black citizens are viewing white police as racist toward black people. National Institute of Justice along with Professor White says that the number one reason for how the public views law enforcement is based on their interactions.
The NIJ says that another cause of police perception is through what is heard in the media
The media is a big indicator on whether the public will perceive law enforcement with respect and trust. Most of the population sees what is being said on the news and believes in to be true, or at least have some truth to it. If the media is reporting an incident in which a police officer might have made a mistake,(Ferguson) then the public could look at that and think that all police officers are corrupt, even if not all of them are corrupt. For instance, if a Hispanic person lives in a area where there is a lot of crime and regularly hear about the misconduct of police toward Hispanics, then they are much more likely to believe that police misconduct occurs. Tuch and Weitzer(1997, p 642) analyzed data gathered before police brutality incidents and found that there was a decline in approval ratings following an incident of police brutality was reported through the media.
Another area of perceptions comes from the discrimination of different groups
Research says that minorities are found to be more likely to perceive the police in a bad way than whites. National Institute of Justice says that minorities more frequently report that police officers treated them unfairly based on their race or ethnicity. Racial minority perceptions that the police lack legitimacy could lead to a great deal of distrust in a society. Even though data shows that whites are more likely to view police in a better light, race has not been found to directly influence the way people
form their views on law enforcement. Researchers conclude that race affects satisfaction with the police indirectly in addiction to other factors like the level of crime in a neighborhood. Black people perceive the police as discriminating against them white whites no not see the discrimination against black people as a major problem. These statistics show that there is a separation between certain communities and law enforcement.
