Trust in police: an exploratory study among Hispanic college students

Abstract

ABSTRACT Trust in police is crucial for optimal police performance. Accordingly, much scholarly attention has focused on examining correlates of trust in police in the U.S., particularly with respect to racial and ethnic minorities. While often considered to have less trust in police than other citizens, trust in police is a multi-faceted metric, and this study examines several aspects that interact with it among a Hispanic population. The dimensions that influence trust in police examined here include assimilation, perceptions of procedural justice, and neighborhood factors such as disorder and community engagement. This research studied a sample of 732 mostly Hispanic college students located in a mid-size border city in southern Texas to examine the impact of assimilation on their trust in police as indicated by their willingness to call the police. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the structural relations among a variety of factors. The results confirmed the importance of context and indicated that assimilation, perceptions of procedural justice, and neighborhood context all had a profound impact on trust in police. These findings have important implications for policing practice.