Chinese immigrants’ contact with police

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese immigrants’ contact with local police, uncovering the extent, nature, distribution, and consequences of police contact. Although literature on immigrants’ perceptions of the police has been accumulating during the past few years, research on immigrants’ encounters with the police remains extremely limited.Design/methodology/approachThis study relies on survey data collected from approximately 350 foreign‐born Chinese immigrants residing in New York City, Philadelphia, and Delaware. Non‐probability (both purposive and convenience) sampling methods are used.FindingsChinese immigrants report a higher rate of police contact than the general public, with the most frequent contact occurring through traffic law violations or accidents. Immigrants who are male, older, and recent arrivals to the USA, and have vicarious experience with the police are more likely to have police contact, particularly officer‐initiated contact. The mere occurrence of contact does not affect Chinese immigrants’ global satisfaction with the police. There is, however, a significant positive link between satisfaction with recent contact and global satisfaction.Originality/valueThe paper's findings improve our understanding of police‐community relations regarding Asian Americans and also contribute to the broad literature on race/ethnicity and policing by incorporating both immigration status and ecological context into analysis.