Race Relations

In 1967, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice found that, in general, the public holds favorable attitudes toward the police. Despite this general finding, when attitudes are examined across race, most contemporary studies of race and attitudes toward the police reveal that blacks are far less favorable than their white counterparts. This pattern has held for the past 30 years. In the 1970s, only one fifth of blacks polled thought that local police officers applied the law equally (Feagin & Hahn, 1973). A majority (between 62% and 72%) believed that

• 1.
  Cops were “against” blacks.
• 2.
  Local law enforcement agents were dishonest.
• 3.
  Police officers were more concerned with injuring African Americans than with preventing crime.

Nearly 19 years later, a 1989 Gallup poll revealed that 50% of all blacks interviewed believed that most police officers view all blacks as suspects, and that in cases involving black suspects, the police are likely to arrest the wrong person. Survey results from the early 1990s found that 25% of the black men polled reported that they had been harassed by the police while driving through predominantly white neighborhoods.

In the search for the answer to why negative relations exist between black communities and police agents, researchers have found that the explanations include both historical and contemporary factors. Among these factors are the police role in enforcing slavery, the police role in enforcing racially discriminatory laws and social practices, and contemporary police practices such as targeted enforcement and racial profiling.