NCJ Number
191399
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2001 Pages: 211-221
Editor(s)
William G. Doerner
Date Published
2001
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This report surveyed people’s perceptions of community policing in a small town.
Abstract
While most studies use large urban populations for researching perceptions of community policing, this one focused on a small town, Thomasville, Georgia. A self-administered survey was sent by mail and the Internet to about 10,000 residents. Over 2,200 responses were received, largely from older whites better educated, and with a higher income than the general population, a majority being African-American whose response rate was very low and more negative. The three dependent variables in this study were: levels of trust, safety, and satisfaction ratings of police as a whole, while the independent variables included demographic characteristics of the respondents. To measure these variables, criteria such as frequency of officers on bike patrol, police interactions within the community, willingness to report incidents, crime trends, and victimization were used. Not surprisingly, given the characteristics of the majority of respondents, the survey showed a high appreciation of the police. The over-representation of whites in the study group, despite the fact that African-Americans were in the majority, showed the importance of race and personal experience in attitudes toward police performance. The study concludes that more must be done to research the less favorable perceptions of minorities. Tables, references