NCJ Number
153955
Date Published
1995
Length
352 pages
Annotation
This book examines police-community relations in the ethnically divided society of Northern Ireland by focusing on attitudes and experiences of the Catholic minority and the Protestant majority.
Abstract
Both Catholics and Protestants attach great importance to but are often polarized over issues of police accountability, the handling of complaints against the police, police legitimacy and professionalism, police use of deadly force, and various forms of counterinsurgency policing that are prevalent in Northern Ireland. The current study looked at conditions under which an ethnic group's relations with the police were likely to deteriorate or improve, based on approximately 70 interviews with government officials, members of agencies responsible for overseeing the police, members of local police-community liaison committees, security spokespersons of various political parties, police officers, and community leaders in Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. Data from the Northern Ireland Social Attitudes Survey were also used. Results showed that Protestants were more favorably disposed toward the police than Catholics. Police- community relations were not only a function of the way police treated people but also a function of the way people treated police. Recommendations to improve police-community relations are offered that pertain to police recruitment from ethnic groups, organizational changes, civilian oversight bodies, and community policing. An appendix lists community interviewees. Endnotes and tables