Impact of Police on Victims (From Crime and Its Victims: International Research and Public Policy Issues, P 71-77, 1989, Emilio C Viano, ed. -- See NCJ-119600)

• NCJ Number: 119607
• Author(s): W G Skogan
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: Hemisphere Publishing Corp
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

What the police say and do for victims makes a difference in how victims view their predicament and enhances their support for the police.

Abstract

Data was utilized from a two-wave panel survey which identified a sample of crime victims, inventoried their contacts with the police, and gathered their impressions of the quality of service they had received. The interviews also gathered data on two potential consequences of their treatment by the police: (1) their fear of crime and their perceptions of neighborhood crime problems, and (2) their general assessment of police service. The impact of the police on these victims seems to have been beneficial. Victims who came into contact with the police were more favorable toward them afterward, and they were not more fearful despite their recent experience with crime. Victims who thought the officers they talked to were helpful, fair, polite, and informative were more likely to think that the police in general were the same way and had performed their job well. These victims also were less likely than those who thought they were treated badly to feel vulnerable to personal crime. 3 tables and bibliography