Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2018 - Statistical Tables

• NCJ Number: 255730
• Date Published: December 2020
• Author(s): Erika Harrell Ph.D.
• Length: 0 pages
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Type: Statistics

Annotation

This report presents data for 2018 on police-public contacts during the prior 12 months, based on information from a nationally representative sample of persons age 16 or older in U.S. households.

Abstract

This report is the twelfth in a series that began in 1996. It examines the nature and frequency of residents' contact with police by residents' demographic characteristics, types of contact, perceptions of police behaviors, and police threats or use of nonfatal force.

In the prior 12 months, as of 2018, among persons age 16 or older—

• About 61.5 million residents had at least one contact with police.
• Twenty-four percent of residents experienced contact with police, up from 21% in 2015.
• Whites (26%) were more likely than blacks (21%), Hispanics (19%), or persons of other races (20%) to experience police contact.
• There was no statistically significant difference in the percentage of whites (12%) and blacks (11%) who experienced police-initiated contact.