Public Perceptions/ Attitudes toward Police

The idea that the police should concern themselves with their public image would seem to be common sense. Only in recent decades, however, has this ideal truly entrenched itself within America. Largely driven by the civil unrest and discontent with the government that emerged in the 1960s, public perceptions of the police have become a legitimate police concern, as well as a growing area of social science inquiry. Despite what many police officers may believe, the majority of citizens hold favorable impressions of their local police. Factors shaping individual impressions include citizen demographics, contact with the police, and community context.

A founding principle of modern policing is that the efficacy of the police depends upon the trust and support of the general public. This notion emerged in England with the 1829 establishment of the London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and its “Peelian Principles” (named after Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, who championed the creation of the MPS). According to the Peelian Principles, the MPS would be able to achieve its goals and objectives only when it had the consent, support, and confidence of the London citizenry (an ideal termed “policing by consent”). The public's consent was earned, in part, by caring about public perceptions of the police. To this day, police officers throughout England are conditioned to remember this principle and keep it in mind as they perform their daily duties.

In America, the extent to which the police have concerned themselves with their public image has varied across place and time. Most American communities did not adopt the ideal of policing by consent when modern police forces were instituted in the mid-19th century. The civil unrest of the 1960s generated numerous violent clashes between the police and the public. Police leaders, politicians, community advocates, scholars, journalists, and [Page 389]average citizens began to question the public's view of the police, as well as other branches of the government. In response, a new form of public opinion research emerged, focusing on citizen perceptions of the police and policing services.

Early efforts aimed at understanding public perceptions of the police tended to be simplistic and narrowly focused. Researchers and pollsters asked citizens about their attitudes toward the police, perceptions of police officers, and opinions about policing services in their community. Surprisingly, these early surveys found that despite the turbulent relationship between the police and some segments of the population, most citizens expressed positive views of the police. Although ratings tended to be lower among groups of citizens who had strained relations with the police, the average minority or youth citizen still expressed positive views.

Early studies tended to consider only the relationship between perceptions of the police and independent citizen basic demographics (age, race, gender, and income). In the intervening decades, social scientific inquiry into public perceptions of the police has become increasingly sophisticated. Using more powerful statistical techniques, scholars are better able to understand how a range of variables influences citizen attitudes about the police. This information is meaningful for more than just academic reasons. Since the 1960s, police leaders and organizations have become more concerned with how they are viewed by the public. Although agencies may not use the term “policing by consent,” they recognize that their ability to serve their community effectively is contingent upon maintaining positive and supportive relations with the public.

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