Citizen Characteristics, Neighbourhood Conditions, and Prior Contacts with the Police: A Comparative Study of Public Satisfaction with the Police

Abstract

This study takes a comparative approach to examine public satisfaction with the police, focusing on three theoretical models: the demographic model, the neighbourhood conditions model, and the prior contacts with the police model. Using survey data collected from two mid-sized communities in the U.S. and Canada, this study analyzes the similarities and differences in the factors affecting satisfaction with the police with both statistical methods and random forests analysis. The statistical results suggest a great amount of similarity in the effects of theoretically relevant factors across the two samples. The random forests analysis further points to the consistent importance of age, quality of life, and education in predicting public satisfaction. In addition, both analyses find that the effects of age and quality of life are stronger for the sample in the U.S. than those for the sample in Canada. This study suggests that police departments in these jurisdictions could effectively improve satisfaction with the police by addressing quality of life issues in their communities and improving their relationship with younger citizens and citizens with lower levels of education through better interactions.