Citizens’ perceptions of police service and police response to community concerns

Abstract

Research on citizens’ perceptions of the police has previously found that citizen demographics, contact with police, and neighborhood context influence perceptions. The current study includes all three of these categories of variables, but also introduces a new variable: citizens’ perception of contact between the police and other citizens in their neighborhood. Survey responses were collected from 426 citizens in a Midwestern city. The analysis indicates that citizens’ perception of police–citizen contact is the strongest factor influencing citizen's perceptions of the police.