NCJ Number
181561
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 24 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 1999 Pages: 47-66
Date Published
1999
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Data from a national telephone survey of 1,005 citizens in 1995 gathered information on individual and contextual variables that affect public attitudes toward the police.
Abstract
Most studies concerning police-community relations have defined support for police agencies in unidimensional terms. The present study dissects the notion of support for the police into two distinct dimensions: efficacy and image. Efficacy includes perceptions of the police ability to protect citizens, solve crime, and prevent crime. Image includes perceptions of friendliness and fairness of the police. The analysis modeled a series of conventional individual-level and contextual variables to explore their relative influence on citizen perceptions of police efficacy and image. Results of the telephone survey revealed that citizen support for local police is both complex and multidimensional. Moreover, the results demonstrated that efficacy and image are independent dimensions and that each is susceptible to quite different ratings depending on which independent and dependent variables are modeled. Tables and 64 references (Author abstract modified)