NCJ Number
181106
Date Published
2000
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video reviews police management, citizen complaints, and attitudes toward the police.
Abstract
The video recorded an address by two representatives of the Vera Institute of Justice concerning studies of civilian attitudes toward the police. At the same time that crime rates in New York City were falling, complaints against the police were rising. However, citizen complaints were falling in two precincts in the South Bronx. A study by the Vera Institute suggested that the falling rate of citizen complaints was the result of police management. In both precincts, the Commander made it clear that such complaints were unacceptable and would reflect poorly on officers receiving them, and explained to their subordinates what constituted acceptable and unacceptable operational practices. Another Vera Institute study in Queens examined attitudes toward the police on the part of recently arrived immigrant populations as well as more established immigrant communities. People's attitudes toward police were conditioned by their neighborhood, not their ethnicity. The speakers also mentioned Vera Institute studies of citizen attitudes toward police in St. Petersburg, Russia, and other foreign cities.