Perceptions of Police Disrespect during Vehicle Stops: A Race-based Analysis

Citation

Maskaly, J. (2012), "Perceptions of Police Disrespect during Vehicle Stops: A Race-based Analysis", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 35 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm.2012.18135aaa.004

Perceptions of Police Disrespect during Vehicle Stops: A Race-based Analysis

Perceptions of Police Disrespect during Vehicle Stops: A Race-based Analysis

Article Type: Perspectives on policing From: Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Volume 35, Issue 1

Patricia Y. WarrenCrime and Delinquency2011Volume 57pp. 356-376

The police often have a tumultuous relationship with citizens from racial and ethnic minority groups within their jurisdiction. Much of this conflict stems from previous negative interactions between racial and ethnic minorities and the police, a trend well documented in the literature. However, few studies have examined the factors affecting the interpretation of interactions with the police including the vicarious experiences of friends and family members. In this study Warren seeks to determine what role, if any, vicarious experience plays in the formation of negative perceptions of the police.

The author uses data from the North Carolina Traffic Study, a telephone survey of almost 3000 licensed drivers in North Carolina. The author was also able to secure data on recorded driving offences in North Carolina to examine the veracity of participant’s responses to questions regarding their driving history and contact with the police. The author examined responses from 630 drivers who were stopped for at least one traffic violation in the past year. The author uses a host of variables including demographics, driving habits, vicarious experiences, direct experiences, an attitudinal measure assessing participants trust in the police, and another attitudinal measure assessing trust in larger social institutions to predict whether drivers felt they were treated with respect by the police during a traffic stop in the past year.

The results from the study suggest that independent of all other factors, race is only a consistent predictor of perceived disrespect prior to controlling for vicarious experiences. This suggests that the racial differences in perceptions of disrespect between African-Americans and whites are a product of vicarious experiences. An interaction term is entered into the model to determine if the effects of race conditions vicarious experiences. In other words, if the interaction term were significant African-Americans would have more vicarious experiences than whites, suggesting the nuanced importance of race. The results from the interaction term are not significant, suggesting that both racial groups have equal propensities for exposure to vicarious experiences. In the final model presented, the only significant predictors of perceptions of disrespect by the police are trust in the police and gender (female), both of which reduce the odds of perceiving disrespect during the traffic stop. The author concludes that the data suggest that when examining perceptions of the police and police behavior in the future it is necessary to account for adverse vicarious experiences with the police.

Jon MaskalyUniversity of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA