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01-10-2015 | Social Science and Public Policy

American Policing Under Fire: Misconduct and Reform

Author: Ronald Weitzer

Published in: Society | Issue 5/2015

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Abstract

A cluster of recent police killings of African American men has sparked an unprecedented amount of public debate regarding policing in the United States. Critics and protesters have made sweeping allegations about the police; a presidential commission has been formed to study police misconduct; and reforms are being debated. These events provide a backdrop for this article’s review of recent poll data and discussion of research regarding police relations with African Americans, Latinos, and whites.

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In March, 1988, approval of the LAPD’s job performance was remarkably high for all groups: 80 % for Latinos, 74 % for whites, and 64 % for blacks. Approval ratings declined substantially four days after the March 3, 1991 videotaped beating (51, 47, 26 %, respectively) and then eroded further in a March 20 poll (31, 41, 14 %, respectively) as a result of the repeated broadcast of a video of the beating (Weitzer 2002).

In 2009, the vast majority of Los Angeles residents approved of the LAPD’s job performance: 68 % of blacks, 76 % of Latinos, and 81 % of whites (Rubin 2009; see also Stone et al. 2009).

When asked, in a 1999 Gallup poll, whether they had ever been stopped by the police solely because of their race or ethnicity, black males aged 18–34 were much more likely to answer affirmatively (73 %) than older black males (40 %), same-age black females (38 %), and same-age white males (11 %). When asked generically about being stopped (rather than about racially-biased stops), one study found that blacks were twice as likely as whites to report being stopped in just the past year: 25 % vs. 12 %, respectively (Epp et al. 2014: 52).

This database is available at: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database#.

Some of these studies find that minority officers treat citizens better than white officers, while other studies find the opposite (Sklansky 2006).

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Baker, A. 2015. Police unions, facing public anger, rethink how to address shootings. New York Times, April 19.

Brown, D. 2009. The time to impart lessons on authority: Parents teach truths to “post-racial” youth. Washington Post, July 30.

Brunson, R., & Weitzer, R. 2011. Negotiating unwelcome police encounters: The intergenerational transmission of conduct norms. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 40, 425–456.CrossRef

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Correll, J. 2007. Across the thin blue line: Police officers and racial bias in the decision to shoot. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 1006–1023.CrossRef

Epp, C., Maynard-Moody, S., & Haider-Markel, D. 2014. Pulled Over. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRef

Fagan, J., Geller, A., Davies, G., & West, V. 2010. Street stops and broken windows revisited. In S. Rice & M. White (Eds.), Race, Ethnicity, and Policing (pp. 309–348). New York: NYU Press.

Greene, J. 1999. Zero tolerance: A case study of police policies and practices in New York City. Crime and Delinquency, 45, 171–187.CrossRef

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Kindy, K. 2015. In 5 months, police fatally shoot 385. Washington Post, May 31.

Lawrence, R. 2000. The Politics of Force: Media and the Construction of Police Brutality. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Lowery, W. 2015. A softer approach to policing gains believers in Calif. City. Washington Post, May 8.

Mastrofski, S., Reisig, M., & McCluskey, J. 2002. Police disrespect toward the public: An encounter-based analysis. Criminology, 40, 519–551.CrossRef

Moskos, P. 2008. Two shades of blue: Black and white in the blue brotherhood. Law Enforcement Executive Forum, 8, 57–86.

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Rubin, J. 2009. LAPD gains new approval from the public. Los Angeles Times, June 22.

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Skogan, W. 2006. Asymmetry in the impact of encounters with police. Policing and Society, 16, 99–126.CrossRef

Skogan, W. 2008. Why reforms fail. Policing and Society, 18, 23–34.CrossRef

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Weitzer, R. 2014. The puzzling neglect of Hispanic Americans in research on police-citizen relations. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37, 1995–2013.CrossRef

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Title: American Policing Under Fire: Misconduct and Reform
Author: Ronald Weitzer
Publication date: 01-10-2015
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Society / Issue 5/2015
Print ISSN: 0147-2011
Electronic ISSN: 1936-4725
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-015-9931-1

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