Distrust Of Police Research Articles

Recognizing “camera cues”: policing, cellphones and citizen countersurveillance

AbstractOver the past decade, recording technologies have enabled organized activists and ordinary residents to capture and circulate videos of police misconduct. Existing research focuses primarily, however, on organized activists who rely on formal training programs to record police behaviors. If formal programs train organized activists to capture police abuses on camera, how then do ordinary residents determine when they should record police behavior? Drawing on in-depth interviews with Black men who live in a Southside Chicago neighborhood, this study finds that residents’ recurrent interactions with police enable them to interpret officers’ words and actions as symbols of police misconduct, which, in subsequent exchanges, serve as signals to record events with their cellphones – what I term “camera cues.” Camera cues facilitate situated conceptions of legal authority that trigger residents’ distrust of police, reflecting the micro-dynamic connections between individuals’ legal consciousness and legal cynicism. Equipped with cellphones, residents scrutinize officers’ outward displays and police–citizen interactions to challenge police misconduct. While recording police behavior makes it possible at least occasionally to resist the dominance of legal authority, doing so often involves additional risks, including the destruction of their cellphones, verbal and physical threats, and arrests.

Community perspectives on gun violence and safety: The role of policing in Baltimore City

IntroductionGun violence plagues many communities that simultaneous experience other threats to their health and safety. Policing strategies to address illegal gun carrying may exacerbate or even contribute to gun violence. MethodsWe conducted a mixed-methods study to understand community perspectives on gun violence, safety, and the Baltimore Police Department (BPD)’s approaches to gun violence reduction. Using an explanatory-exploratory approach – we conducted household surveys (n = 200) and then explored key survey findings with focus groups. Descriptive statistics were generated from the surveys and key themes were identified from the focus groups. ResultsOne-quarter of survey respondents reported having been a victim of a gun crime, one-third reported not feeling safe in their neighborhood, and slightly less than one-half thought police would respond quickly if shots were fired. Many participants expressed distrust in police as a result of their strategies to reduce gun carrying and address violence. DiscussionResidents in Baltimore's neighborhoods besieged by gun violence perceive the police to be ineffective in their gun violence prevention efforts. Several strategies were identified that could improve trust and reduce violence, including improving officer accountability and training, and developing tools for officers to address their own mental health and trauma.

Violence, worry and trust in the emergence of weapon-carrying

This paper identifies longitudinal predictors of weapon-carrying in a sample of 10–25 year olds in England and Wales. It conceptualises weapon-carrying as anticipation of an adverse event and proposes hypotheses about the origins of weapon-carrying derived from the field of risk analysis. Specifically, it tests if worry about victimisation and experience of violence predict later weapon-carrying and assesses the moderating influence of trust in the police. The results indicate that worry about victimisation does not predict weapon-carrying, but experience of violence does. Distrust of police and peer criminality were also identified as important precursors to weapon-carrying. The study provides further evidence that, at least over longer periods, weapon-carrying is a product of experience of violence and criminogenic factors rather than a response to concern about victimisation.

Militarization Of Police Doesn't Reduce Crime, It Increases Public Distrust Of Police

Militarization Of Police Doesn't Reduce Crime, It Increases Public Distrust Of Police

Action Research at the Intersection of Structural and Family Violence in an Immigrant Latino Community: a Youth-Led Study

The current study addresses the lack of research exploring the social and emotional impact of anti-immigrant policy on Latino communities, and the intersection of anti-immigrant climates with other family stressors, like domestic violence (DV). In this paper we describe a qualitative study led by the participatory action research group La Voz Juvenile de Caminar Latino. Youth researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with Latino men, women, and youth participating in a domestic violence program. Using an inductive approach to thematic analysis, researchers identified themes that reflect how Latino families with histories of DV experience an increasingly anti-immigrant climate. All participants in this study described emotional stress, fear, and restrictions in their day-to-day life attributed to the anti-immigrant sociopolitical climate, and adults also spoke to work-related stress and economic insecurity. Both adults and children described harassment by strangers, coworkers, and/or peers. With regard to DV, women tended to describe immigration stress as exasperating family conflict, while men viewed these external stressors as discouraging DV. Distrust of police and other formal supports was a key theme underlying adult and youth perceptions of help-seeking for DV. The findings of this study suggest that anti-immigrant sentiment and policy creates undue stress for Latino families and barriers to formal help-seeking for DV. The participatory research process provided a corrective experience for youth witnesses of DV and prioritizes the voices of those most affected by immigration policies and violence.

“Get off me”: Perceptions of disrespectful police behaviour among ethnic minority youth gang members

Recent media accounts have highlighted issues of use and abuse of police force and policing practices targeted at ethnic minorities within inner city areas. To date, little research has focussed specifically on the experiences and perceptions of youth gang members in dealing with police. Using data from 253 in-depth interviews with ethnic minority San Francisco-based youth gang members, we examine perceptions of respectful and disrespectful police behaviour. Premised on a procedural justice model, we explore how frequently disrespectful police behaviour is reported and how these negative experiences shape gang members’ attitudes towards the police more generally. We refine our investigation by comparing adverse encounters to examples in which gang members are treated respectfully. Using a data-driven inductive and qualitative theory testing deductive approach, our data revealed that male and female gang members regularly experience disrespectful police behaviour in terms of physical and verbal abuse. Our findings indicate that these exchanges contribute to negative attitudes, fear and distrust of police, while respectful interactions are meaningful and can contribute to positive attitudes towards officers.

The Cedar Project: Impacts of policing among young Aboriginal people who use injection and non-injection drugs in British Columbia, Canada

BackgroundPolicing has profound health implications for people who use illicit drugs. Among Aboriginal communities, distrust of police is common, due partly to legacies of colonial policing. In response to the paucity of research among Aboriginal people who use drugs, this paper aims to: (1) Describe the policing experiences of young Aboriginal people who use drugs; (2) Identify policing activities associated with unsafe injection practices; and (3) Elucidate barriers to positive police relations. MethodsThe Cedar Project is a cohort study involving young Aboriginal people in Vancouver and Prince George, British Columbia, who use illicit drugs. This mixed-methods study (N=372) used period prevalence from 2007 to 2010 to describe policing experiences, mixed effects regression models to identify correlates of policing activities, and thematic qualitative analysis to assess attitudes to police relations. ResultsMany participants were stopped by police (73%), experienced physical force by police (28%), had drug equipment confiscated (31%), and changed location of drug use because of police (43%). Participants who reported dealing drugs (40%) were significantly more likely to experience police engagement. Among participants in Prince George, 4% reported to have had non-consensual sex with members of the criminal justice system. Policing activity was significantly associated with syringe sharing, rushed injection, and reused syringe.Due to personal experience, practical concerns, and intergenerational legacies of unfair policing practices, most participants did not want a positive relationship with police (57%). Desire for a positive relationship with police was directly associated with being helped by police, and inversely associated with being stopped by police and experiencing physical force by police. ConclusionPolicing activities may be impacting the well-being of Aboriginal people who use drugs. Due to focused prosecution of street-level drug dealing, some police may favor enforcement over harm reduction. Positive police engagement and less aggressive policing may enhance perceptions of police among young Aboriginal people who use drugs.

“Haitian Paradox” or Dark Side of the Security-Development Nexus? Canada’s Role in the Securitization of Haiti, 2004–2009

Drawing on analysis of government records obtained using Access to Information Act requests, the author examines the securitization of Canada’s aid program to Haiti between 2004 and 2009. The author discusses how Canadian agencies, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), and the Canadian International Development Agency, were involved in capacity-building initiatives that focused on police reform, border surveillance, and prison construction/refurbishment across Haiti in the aftermath of a coup that ousted the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The author demonstrates how these efforts at securitization resulted in what officials referred to as the “Haitian Paradox,” whereby reorganization of the Haitian National Police force led to higher arrest rates and jail bloat, creating conditions that violated rather than ameliorated human rights. While the securitization project may have been based on the rule of law and human rights in Canadian policy makers’ official discourse, in practice these securitization efforts exacerbated jail overcrowding, distrust of police, and persecution of political opposition. The author therefore demonstrates one way that international development, aid, and criminal justice intersect, with emphasis on the transnational aspects of RCMP and CSC activities.

Accounting for Variation in Distrust of Local Police

This paper tests a variety of explanations for variation in distrust of local police in the US. As with other attitudes toward the police, there is a substantial race gap in distrust of the police. Our analysis is based upon citizen survey data from 33 cities and data on policing characteristics and the city context for those same cities. It reveals that individual‐level factors representative of a psychological model are of substantial importance in accounting for variation in distrust of the police. City‐level attributes tapping differences in police performance are also important predictors of citizen distrust of the police, even once individual‐level attributes are controlled; and there are important racial differences in the impact of these police performance variables as well, resulting in a largely full accounting of the initial race gap.

The Multiple Dimensions of Trust in Resident/Police Relations in Boston

What is it about resident/police relations in poor urban communities that results in many community members' deep distrust in police? This question is addressed by applying a framework of the “four trust questions” to analyze the complexities of community members' perceptions of police and police action aimed at reducing youth violence in Boston's high-crime neighborhoods. To differentiate residents' multiple—and sometimes conflicting—expectations of police, trust is broken down into four questions about priorities, competence, dependability, and respectfulness. Based on more than 50 qualitative interviews with community members, findings reveal that many residents considered the police to meet their expectations of competence and dependability but not of shared priorities or respect. Respect, in particular, was important to residents, although they recognized a tension between police acting competently and respectfully.

Juvenile Diversion: A Look at the Record

A recent article by Binder and Geis (1984) observed that the negative response to diversion on the part of sociologists is at variance with the actual record of juvenile diversion, and concluded that this response results from disciplinary narrowness, distrust of police, and overidentification with the underdog. An alternative explanation is that sociologists are, in fact, responding precisely to the empirical record available regarding diversion. That record suggests that although some research reports positive effects of diversion, it is difficult to ignore the data which show that diversion programs may either have no effect or may possibly even be harmful. That record indicates that diversion may not be achieving its stated goal of diverting offenders away from the juvenile justice system, but instead may be a device for expanding both the size of the juvenile justice system and the forms of behavior that come under its control. An argument can be made grounded in data which suggests that diversion programs may be taking on particular functions with respect to girls, and thus may be leading to unanticipated forms of hidden sexism. In gathering data and in making these arguments, sociologists may not be engaged as much in some antidiversionist frenzy as they are expressing their concern for the drift of an important policy away from its intended course.