Citizen Perceptions of Police Services: Race, Neighborhood Context, and Community Policing

Abstract

Studies considering perceptions of the police have traditionally focused on very broad outcome measures (e.g., global views of the police). In an era of community policing, it is imperative to consider how the public perceives the police and police services using measures reflecting this alternative paradigm of policing. In addition, recent research suggests that perceptions of the police are formed within the context of respondents’neighborhood cultures and contexts. This research examines factors predicting citizen perceptions of police services in a Midwestern community, incorporating variables reflecting respondents’ demographic traits, experiences, and neighborhood contexts. The analysis tests the predictive power of these factors using both traditional outcome measures and perceptions of police services based on community-policing criteria. The findings demonstrate the need for multidimensional constructs of citizen perceptions of police services and highlight important dimensions of public perceptions of community policing.