Race, community context and confidence in the police

TLDR

The study examines how various factors, such as crime experience and conservative political orientation, influence confidence in the police. Data were drawn from a larger urban crime‑prevention study conducted in Cincinnati, Ohio. Race does not significantly affect police confidence; instead, community context—especially neighborhood social integration—plays a key role, with women reporting higher confidence likely due to lower antagonistic contact.

Abstract

Considers the impact of a range of variables on confidence in the police, including those given little or no previous attention, e.g. measures of crime experience and of conservative political orientation. Draws data from a larger study of urban crime‐prevention issues based on Cincinnati, Ohio. Finds that respondents’ race is not a significant determinant of confidence in the police; the most important determinant being the community context. Suggests that neighborhood social integration may provide a supportive context which could encourage positive evaluation of formal institutional arrangements. Finds that attitudes toward the police (ATP) are regulated by the social context and that much of the existing research, which excluded contextual variables, may have been wrong in making race a significant variable. Notes that confidence in the police is higher in women than in men, but this may be due to a lower rate of antagonistic contact between police and women (not measured here).