Comparative Evaluation of the Local Police

Abstract

Analysis of a 1973 national sample of American adults indicates that the affective attitudes of whites toward local police are very positive compared to their attitudes toward 15 other well-known organizations, irrespective of the age of respondents. Sentiment toward local police among both young and old black respondents, however, is low compared to black attitudes toward the other organizations, while middle-age black respondents evaluate the police as neither worse nor better than most other organizations. Charles W. Peek and George D. Lowe are Associate Professors in the Depaitment of Sociology, Texas Tech University. Jon P. Alston is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Texas A & M University. The data reported here were made available through a grant from the Research Center Committee of the College of Liberal Arts, Texas AM Clark, 1965; Skolnick, 1966: 49-62; Niederhoffer, 1967: 1; Alex, 1969: Ch. 5; Alex, 1976: Ch. 5 and 6). Proper assessment of the degree of police isolation requires comparison of affective as well as instrumental evaluations of police to evaluations of other well-known organizations.4 Such a strategy allows a contextual interpretation of police isolation-their degree of isolation in relation to other organizations rather than measured against some arbitrary standard. Our purpose is to provide such a comparison. Specifically, we shall investigate the degree to which the general public like the local police in relation to how well they like 15 other well-known organizations. We will also examine comparative evaluations of the police within racial and age segments of the public, since the literature cited earlier suggests the most variation in attitudes toward police among these