Police Work and the Police Profession: Assessing Attitudes of City Officials, Spanish-Speaking Hispanics, and Their English- Speaking Counterparts

• NCJ Number: 177499
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: March/April 1999 Pages: 87-100
• Author(s): S Cheurprakobkit; R A Bartsch
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This exploratory study examined attitudes toward police work and the police profession among whites, blacks, English-speaking Hispanics, and Spanish-Speaking Hispanics.

Abstract

A sample of 581 residents and 18 city officials in Midland and Odessa, Tex., were randomly interviewed by telephone. One significant finding was that, compared to English-speaking Hispanics, Spanish-speaking Hispanics and whites were more likely to cooperate with the police. A second significant finding was that Spanish-speaking Hispanics, compared to whites and English- speaking Hispanics, were more likely to agree with the concept of a house visit by a police officer and the concept of a racially and ethnically diverse police department. Further, Spanish- speaking Hispanics felt more comfortable talking with an officer of the same ethnic background, expressed a greater desire to become police officers compared to whites and blacks, and were more likely to believe that excessive use of force by the police existed in their neighborhoods compared to whites. This paper also presents a summary of the methodology and the findings regarding the impact of demographic measures on attitudes. 7 tables and 47 references