NCJ Number
104150
Date Published
1986
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the implications of public, particularly minority group, attitudes toward police for police community and race relations training programs.
Abstract
Studies of general public, minority group, and police attitudes and of the effects of police community and race relations training conducted in England suggest that there are limits to what such training can actually achieve. First, general population surveys indicate that police-public relations generally are good, with the majority of people finding the police helpful, understanding, and efficient. Second, animosity toward police among minorities varies by age, race, and residence of the respondent and is not directly related to actual encounters with police or discriminatory police behaviors. Third, evaluations of police training programs indicate that recruits do not enter the force with any significant antiminority perceptions, although they do distinguish between West Indians and Asians. More negative perceptions of West Indians tend to increase with time on the force. Overall, these findings suggest that human relations training should focus on raising officers' consciousness of the need to treat all citizens as people and to be aware of the effects of cultural differences on police-citizen encounters. 29 references.