Evaluations of police performance in an african american sample

Abstract

Research has indicated that minority group members generally hold less positive attitudes toward police than do Whites. This study examined evaluations of police performance among a sample of African Americans. Regression analysis indicated that age, education, victimization, respondents' evaluations of the safety of their neighborhoods, their evaluations of their neighborhoods, and their evaluations of police response time getting to their neighborhoods all had significant effects upon evaluations of local police performance. These results are consistent with studies that emphasized the neighborhood context of evaluations of local police performance. They also indicate that evaluations of police response time are a significant factor in evaluations of police performance among African Americans.