Attitudes Towards Police: What are Young Adults' Perception of Police?

Data shows the racial profiling and illegal pullovers and search of cars driven by Black, and Hispanic males are a police action performed throughout the nation. “Even Famous Black celebrities and prominent African Americans say police have victimized them. They say they have been pulled over and subjected to a vehicle and physical search by police without probable cause, based on none other than the fact they are the black men driving an expensive car. Thus, the Police assumed they must be a drug dealer or involved in some criminal behavior to afford such an expensive car. “DWB” protocols by police and their departments according to the ACLU is also a violation of a person’s civil rights that are illegal, invasive as well as intrusive (8).”

Racial disparity in the Criminal Justice system has been a issue of discussion in our law enforcement for years. Statistics say the likelihood of imprisonment in a lifetime is 1 in 3 black men, 1 in 6 Latino men and 1 in 17 white men. (Bonczar2003) The search and seizure 4th amendment was passed in 1789 which was supposed to protect all persons of unreasonable searches, etc. In 1944 Gunner Myrdal wrote “it’s part of a policeman’s philosophy that Negro criminals or suspects that show any sign of insubordination should be punished bodily, to keep the negro in his place.” In the late 1960’s early 70’s there were many riot commissions that recommended changes in police practices, especially aggressive stop-and-risk procedures.(Skolnick1969) Racial disparities have been an issue for years, especially in traffic stops. There are a couple different approaches to help reduce or end racial profiling. The ACLU’s 5 part battle plan to end racial profiling (Harris2003), and The Racial Justice Improvement project (ABA2010). Racial profiling is an issue in many aspects of the Criminal Justice system. This paper will mainly be based on traffic stops and in sentencing.

Based on the statistics of NYPD’s 2016 second quarterly reports, 1,862 people in the African American community are stopped versus 342 Caucasians (NYPD second quarter reports, 2016). Consequently, this implies policemen classify “blacks” as delinquent even though they are uninvolved in any unlawful acts the majority of the time. The product of racial discrimination furthers the understanding that the country still does not hold minorities equal next to the other ethnicities. This demonstrates just one example on how the Stop and Frisk law variously inflates negative predigest to further the understanding that “blacks” are synonymous with barbarous criminals.

Apart from periodically publishing stop and search records, supervisors and managers of police force are now required to closely monitor such statistics and take timely actions if something wrong is being observed. Also stricter rules on stop and search have since been imposed, along with the requirement of police officers writing a detailed report on spot about every single incident which subjects to review seems helpful in improving police conduct (Fyfe 1979; Skogan and Frydl 2004 in Miller 2010). While stop and search practice has been somehow improved, racial discrimination can still be seen in stop and search statistics. The notion of “Black and minority ethnic groups, particularly black people, have for many years been disproportionately at the receiving end of police stop and search—a fact associated with profound community resentment towards the police” (Bowling and Phillips 2002 in Miller 2010) still largely applies today. Miller’s (2010) analysis indicate that black people are about 6 times more likely to be stopped and searched, while it is about 2 times more likely for Asians. Similar idea is seen in Bennetto’s (2009) report, which draws on police statistics that shows in 2009 “black people are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white”, worse than Miller’s analysis with the most recent figures in 2008. No official explaination is provided by Police, but Bennetto (2009) assumes this may be caused by simply discrimination of

In “The Reality of Racial Profiling”, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights shows absolute statistical report evidences from Department of Labor’s Bureau of Justice that proves the existence of Racial Profiling on the country’s highways. The year 2005 data resulted that Black and Hispanic Drivers and Motorists have larger percentage that is more likely to be arrested by the police compare to Whites. Further, a study from Arizona that has similar results and supports this statistical data. The Arizona study proves that Racial Profiling is “counterproductive and a misallocation of scarce law enforcement resources”. Included in this report, an African-American Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree stated “If I 'm dressed in a knit cap and hooded jacket, I 'm probable cause” (Leadership Conference, 33).

There is data collected from the Richmond Police Department throughout this article proving Blacks and minorities to be ticketed more often than Whites. “Overall, female officers stopped 104 minority drivers and 71 Whites drivers, yielding a minority-to-White stop ratio of 1:46:1. In contrast, the minority-to-White stop ratio among male officers was significantly higher at 2:17:1 (1,710 minority drivers stopped vs. 788 Whites)” (Petrocelli, Smith 14). There are many tables throughout the article showing the difference between White and minority stops. One thing that was interesting on Table 4 of page 16, was that the consent for a car search was much greater among minorities, at 70 people, compared to Whites, at 42 people, and that the incident

The New York City “stop and frisk” strategy of policing is such that an individual is stopped by a police officer and potentially frisked, searched, arrested if necessary. This program of policing has been subject to prevalent accusations of racial discrimination and profiling. The impact of the perceived racial discrimination has been the motivation for public protests and social activism. The program has been frequently disputed in the court system where U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin stated “that the disproportionate numbers of Latinos and blacks compared to whites in the criminal justice system is an issue of great public concern” \footnote[1]{Cited from ``court strikes challenge to stop-and-frisk trial; courthouse news service,

Second, The police youth dialogue program “is a workshop in city high schools that offers high school students an opportunity for positive interaction and dialogue with NYPD officers.” Police officers are generally viewed by the youth as “good time killers” or fear the police by their culture. When a police officer encounters anyone it is generally because the person or persons have broken the law. This creates a skewed view of the police in a youth’s mind. The youth old sees the police officer as someone who is only there to enforce the law. The truth is the police are here to serve in many different aspects. One of those aspects is to enforce the

Showing youngsters at youthful ages could diminish the details of reprobate in the United States. Children and adults knowing how to communicate with officers can be even more a train activity or instructing about having regard for authority. Understanding the historical backdrop of policing can enable many individuals to comprehend the distinction amongst workplaces and the group in the

Officers in a Texas McDonald’s parking lot saw a black man and a white man in the process of exchanging seats on a road trip from Florida to California, while leaving the parking lot; the officer implied that the man driving did not use his right turn signal. The men alleged that their privacy was invaded when the vehicle was searched without a warrant or permission from the driver. When one of the men attempted to video tape the incident on a cell phone he was told to stop. The term “driving while black has been used to describe the practice of law enforcement officers to stop African American drivers without probable cause” (Weatherspoon, 2004). The United States Justice System is based upon a flawed designed through miseducation of students in the school system, maintaining of a slave mentally in the prison system, and the perceptions of African Americans in America.

Throughout the 20th-century cop’s views on juveniles and adults has drastically changed. Cops are a huge part of the authority because he or she are the ones who save people 's life when they are in danger. The reason why cop’s views on juveniles and adult have drastically changed is because in general, cops believe they are a threat to the society, they use theories to understand the reason why juvenile’s offenders and adult act the way do or from where they learned to act the way they do. On the other hand, police tend to act in an injustice way towards other.

Attitudes, which are beliefs, feelings and behavioral tendencies towards groups (Hogg & Vaughn, 2012), are used to understand attitudes toward police. Understanding attitudes toward police contributes not only to an understanding of race relations in the U.S. but also to better understand citizens willingness to participate in community policing initiatives, which are designed to help residents and police officers put their differences aside to come together to help identify problems and come up with possible solutions to improve crime . Racial predispositions, social class, and intersectionality are theories that have been used in determining Americans’ attitudes toward the police (Schuck et al., 2008; Weitzer & Tuch, 2005; Cochran & Warren,

“In our daily life, we encounter people who are angry, deceitful, intent only on satisfying their own needs. There is so much anger, distrust, greed, and pettiness that we are losing our capacity to work well together” a quote phrased by Margaret J. Wheatley. (Margaret J. Wheatley. Brainyquote.com.Website). For some this particular quote sums up their first encounter with law enforcement. This present research examined the characteristics and results of encounters between law enforcement and citizens and the common factors associated. The study acknowledges 11 questions pertaining; personal encounters, perspective of police officers, were you advised on how to act, and would you join law enforcement. One may believe they can predict the results of this; however surprisingly the results came back slightly different. I found supporting evidence to less women liking police officer than men, which is shocking considering that males have more encounters with the police. Furthermore my findings shows that both male and females and advised on how to interact with the police in the south more than any other region. The following data have given me the proper research needed to make a policy to ensure satisfying results when encountering a police officer using the intergroup perceptions.

Police have been linked to citizens since the reform era redefined the nature of the relationship between police and citizens (Kelling, & Moore, 1988). The new model demanded an impartial law officer who related professionally, neutrally, and in distant terms to citizens. Weaknesses in the model were displayed through a decentralized organizational structure which failed to provide supervision to patrol officers, resulting in a rise in police corruption (Kelling, & Moore, 1988). Continuing reformations put officers in automobiles reasoning that the automobile would increase the extent of the patrol and give the officers a greater advantage over criminals (Kelling, & Moore, 1988).

Police officers were implemented into society to be protectors of the public and to serve the community whenever they were in need of help or justice. They are here to enforce the “laws of the land” and to keep society safe from any harm. The police are suppose to be our “unsung heroes.” With this knowledge, citizens should respect these individuals and trust the officers to implement justice and protection. However, not all citizens respect the law enforcement or trust them. Many would like to see police officers like this, but there are a lot that happens in society that make’s one rethink their image of a police officer. There are many people in the community that have negaitve attitudes towards the police and see them as corrupt or brutal (Brown & Benedict, 2002, p. 551). The individuals that are unfavorable towards the police are those from a low social statues, minorities like blacks, from areas of high crime, single or divorced or widowed individuals, and especially juveniles. Juveniles that have had high contact with officers, minorities, tolerance to illegal behavior, and low socioeconomic group status believe that they are treated unfairly, targeted by the police, and believe that they were wrongly accused (Janeksela, 1999, p. 314). Juvenile attitudes toward the police is an important issue to examine because these children are the next generation and outline the perception of authority to future generations and a negative attitude towards police can lead the youth