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A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CITIZENS’ PERCEPTIONS OF
THE POLICE IN THE CITY OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN
By
Allison K. Anadi

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
School of Criminal Justice
1994

UMI Number: 9524888

Copyright 1994 by
Anadi, Allison Kenenna
All rights reserved.

UNI Microfora 9524888
Copyright 1995, by UMI Coapany. All rights reserved.
This aicrofora edition is protected against unauthorized
copying under Title 17, United States Code.

UMI
300 North Zeeb Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48103

ABSTRACT
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CITIZENS’ PERCEPTIONS OF
THE POLICE IN THE CITY OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN
By
Allison K. Anadi
Citizens’ perceptions of the police play a significant role in determining the
nature of the relationship between the police and the people they serve. In fact, a
crucial issue confronting police agencies today is police-community relations.
The researcher’s primary purpose in this study w as to identify the association
of selected sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., race, gender, age, education,
income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status) of residents of Saginaw,
Michigan, with these citizens’ perceptions of the police. More specifically, citizens’
perceptions with regard to (a) public support of the police, (b) fair treatment by the
police, (c) police aggressiveness, (d) harassm ent by the police, and (e) overall police
performance were investigated.
A stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting the sample for
this study from a cross-section of citizens of the City of Saginaw. Two hundred sixtynine people participated in the study. A community survey questionnaire was used
to collect the data. Descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies, percentages,
and m eans were used in reporting sociodemographic information on the

Allison K. Anadi
respondents. The chi-square test of statistical significance and analysis of variance
were used in analyzing the data.
The following conclusions were drawn from the study findings:
1.

Respondents' race had a statistically significant relationship with their

perceptions of the police. Whites consistently had more positive perceptions of the
police than did blacks and Hispanics.
2.

Respondents' age had a statistically significant relationship with their

perceptions of the police. Older respondents perceived the police more positively
than younger ones. As respondents’ age increased, their perceptions of the police
becam e more positive.
3.

Respondents’ religiosity had a statistically significant relationship with

their perceptions of the police. Respondents who attended church perceived the
police more positively than those who did not. As respondents’ church attendance
increased, their positive perceptions of the police also increased.
4.

A statistically significant relationship was found between respondents'

marital status and their perceptions of the police. Married respondents consistently
had more positive perceptions of the police than did those who were single.
The overall results suggest that the police should make changes to improve
police-community relations.

Copyright by
ALLISON K. ANADI
1994

To my parents
and
Dr. Robert Trojanowicz.

v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am very thankful to the numerous individuals who helped make the
completion of this dissertation possible.
My sincere appreciation to Dr. Charles Corley, chairperson of my dissertation
committee, for having helped me conceptualize the study and for providing strong
guidance and moral support throughout the length of the study.
I am very grateful to ail the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Bruce
Benson, Dr. Daniel Kruger, Dr. Kenneth William, and the late Dr. Robert
Trojanowicz, for guidance and relentless support.
My appreciation also goes to Dr. Joseph Ofori-Dankwa, Saginaw Valley State
University’s computer services, and student volunteers for their help and support.
My sincere thanks to Dr. Joshua Bagakas for his support and suggestions,
and to Chief Perez, the City of Saginaw police chief, for the information and data he
made available to me.
To my parents, Beatrice Anadi and the late I. C. K. Anadi, go my love,
appreciation, and gratitude for their moral and financial support and for raising me
to value education. However, I do regret that my father did not live to witness and
rejoice with me at the completion of my work. Special thanks to my brothers and

sisters:

Cosmas Anadi (late), Sunday Anadi, Chioma Okey-Umeh (late), Dr.

Cordelia Anadi, Jane Obiakor, and Ngozi Anadi, for their support and faith in me.
To my wife, Ijeoma, whose love and tenderness brought the happiness and
peace of mind that facilitated the completion of this work.
My thanks to ail others who helped me in one way or another throughout my
Ph.D. program.
Finally, and most important, is my gratitude and appreciation to God, without
whom, I strongly believe, this work would not have been possible.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................x
Chapter
I.

INTRODUCTION TO THE STU D Y .................................................... 1
Background and Statement of the Problem ..................................... 1
Theoretical Background for the S tu d y ................................................3
Purpose of the S tudy............................................................................5
Importance of the Study ..................................................................... 6
Research Questions ............................................................................7
General H y p o th eses............................................................................8
Definition of Terms ..............................................................................9
O verview ............................................................................................. 11

II.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE...................................................... 13
Introduction.........................................................................................13
Origins of the American Police .........................................................14
Cultural E ffects................................................................................ 19
Critical Issues in Policing...................................................................20
Excessive Use of F o r c e .................................................................20
Race and the P o lice....................................................................... 21
Patterns of A b u se........................................................................... 24
Civil Rights and American P olicing..................................................25
The Police Reform Movement.......................................................... 27
improvements in Policing...............................................................33
Differing Perceptions of the Police ..................................................37
Policing Styles ................................................................................41
A Conflict Perspective on Policing....................................................43
Selective Law E nforcem ent.......................................................... 44
The Relationship of Selected Sociodemographic
Characteristics to Citizens’ Perceptions
of the P o lic e .................................................................................... 45
Race and Ethnicity......................................................................... 45
A g e ................................................................................................... 46
G e n d e r.............................................................................................48
In co m e .............................................................................................48
E ducation........................................................................................ 51
Religiosity........................................................................................ 51
viii

III.

METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 52
Introduction....................................................................................... 52
Research Q u estio n s.........................................................................53
General H ypotheses.........................................................................53
The Dependent V ariables................................................................ 54
The Independent V ariables.............................................................. 54
The Population ................................................................................. 56
Selection of the Sample .................................................................. 56
Composition of the City of Saginaw Police D ep artm en t............... 57
Questionnaire Construction.............................................................. 57
Data-Collection Procedures ............................................................60
Data-Analysis Techniques................................................................ 60

IV.

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA................................. 62
Introduction....................................................................................... 62
Sociodemographic Characteristics of the R esp o n d en ts............... 63
Results of Hypothesis Testing..........................................................65
Importance of Public Support of the Police ................................ 65
Fair Treatment of Citizens by the Police .................................... 71
Police A ggressiveness.................................................................. 75
Harassment by the Police ............................................................ 79
Overall Police Perform ance.......................................................... 83

V.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .................................................. 89
Sum m ary........................................................................................... 89
Theoretical Framework ................................................................ 91
Summary of Impact of Independent Variables .............................. 92
Discussion......................................................................................... 96
Recommendations ...........................................................................99
Recommendations for Practice ....................................................99
Recommendations for Further R e sea rc h ...................................101

APPENDICES
A.

Census Tracts of the City of Saginaw, Michigan...........................102

B.

The Survey Instrum ent................................................................... 103

C.

Volunteer Orientation on Data Collection ..................................... 106

REFERENCES...............................

108

ix

LIST OF TABLES
Table

P age

3.1

Composition of the City of Saginaw Police D ep artm en t................................ 58

4.1

Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Entire S a m p le ..............................64

4.2

Results of Chi-Square Analysis of R espondents’ Perceptions
of the Importance of Public Support of the Police, by
Their Sociodemographic C h aracteristics....................................................... 67

4.3

Results of ANOVA for Differences in R espondents’ Perceptions
Regarding the Importance of Public Support of th e Police,
Based on Their Sociodemographic C h a ra cte ristic s.....................................69

4.4

Results of Chi-Square Analysis of R espondents' Perceptions
of Fair Treatm ent of Citizens by the Police, by Their
Sociodemographic Characteristics ................................................................ 73

4.5

Results of ANOVA for Differences in R espondents’ Perceptions
Regarding Fair Treatment of Citizens by the Police, B ased on
Their Sociodemographic C h aracteristics....................................................... 74

4.6

Results of Chi-Square Analysis of R espondents’ Perceptions
of W hether Aggressive Police Behavior Is a Problem, by Their
Sociodemographic Characteristics ................................................................ 76

4.7

Results of ANOVA for Differences in R espondents’ Perceptions
of Aggressive Police Behavior, Based on Their Sociodemographic
C h a ra cte ristic s.....................................................................................................78

4.8

Results of Chi-Square Analysis of R espondents' Perceptions
of Police H arassm ent as a Problem, by Their Sociodemographic
C h a ra cte ristic s.....................................................................................................80

x

4.9

Results of ANOVA for Differences in Respondents’ Perceptions
of Police Harassm ent as a Problem, Based on Their Socio­
demographic C haracteristics.......................................................................... 82

4.10

Results of Chi-Square Analysis of Respondents' Perceptions
of Overall Police Performance, by Their Sociodemographic
C h aracteristics................................................................................................... 85

4.11

Results of ANOVA for Differences in R espondents’ Perceptions
Regarding Overall Police Performance, Based on Their Sociodemographic C haracteristics.......................................................................... 87

4.12
i

Summary of the Findings for Each Research Q u e stio n ............................ 88
■ -

.

xi

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
Background and Statem ent of the Problem
In the field of law enforcement, one of the most crucial issues confronting
police agencies today is police-community relations (Edwards, 1979).

The

problem, however, is not a new one. When Sir Robert Peel sought to reform the
London police through enactm ent of the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829, he and
others em phasized that the police should work in cooperation with the people
and that the police should protect th e rights, serve the needs, and earn the trust
of the population they serve (Critchley, cited in Mayhall, 1985).
Historically, the roles or functions of the police in a dem ocratic society
have included law enforcement, order m aintenance, and social services
(Dunham & Alpert, 1989; Walker, 1992). The law enforcem ent role refers to the
police applying legal sanctions (usually arrest) to people w hose behaviors violate
the law. In their order-maintenance function, police take step s to control events
and circum stances that disturb or threaten to disturb the peace. The social
services function of the police refers to a broad range of services, which include
assisting injured persons, helping children, controlling animals, and the like.

1

Good police-community relations are important for th e stability of
communities that are confronted with social conflicts (Miller & Brasswell, 1993).
Such relations have been the focus of study for nearly 40 years. The aim of
th e se investigations has been to bring the police and the community into greater
interaction and harmony (Greene, 1989). Concern about police-community
relations in urban a re a s throughout the United S tates has prompted researchers
in the field of criminal justice to investigate the nature of community m em bers’
attitudes toward the police and police services (Scaglion & Condon, 1980).
In essen ce, good police-community relations are b ased on the principle
that, in a dem ocratic society, the police are an integral part of the public they
serve and are inseparable from that public. Good police-community relations are
manifested by positive interactions between the people and the police, and
represent their unity and common purpose (Coffey, 1990).
Ju st a s th e community depends on and n eed s th e criminal justice system ,
so, too, the system depends on and needs the community.

It is a classic

symbiotic relationship in which each part benefits from the other and in which the
whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Given this mutual dependence, it is
expected that there should be an easy and open flow of information and
cooperation betw een citizens and the criminal justice system (McDowell, 1984).
But too often the reverse is the case.
Program s to improve police-community relations have been on the
agenda of police m anagers for many years (Greene, 1989). However, for th e se

programs to work, research is needed to explore the determ inants of positive
perceptions of th e police, which could facilitate cooperative effort by community
m em bers and encourage better relations betw een the police and the community.
In th e future, police work will depend more on public cooperation than it
does now. Thus, the police cannot regard public relations a s something separate
from the way they perform their everyday work (Banton, 1964). The challenge
that police m ust confront is developing and maintaining meaningful relationships
with the citizens they serve in an atm osphere of change (Mayhall, 1985).
Theoretical Background for the Study
Conflict theory, which is derived from Marxist ideology, suggests that
within a society there are two c lasse s—the procuring and appropriating class
(Messerschmidt, 1986)—that is, the workers and the bourgeoisie or ruling class.
The ruling class com prises the powerful individuals who own the m eans of
production and influence the appropriation of resources to serve their own
interests. B ecause the producing and appropriating classes have antagonistic
interests, class struggle becom es inherent in any class society (Messerschmidt,
1986). Marx’s theory of class conflict em phasizes the struggle betw een the
exploiter and the exploited and asse rts that such struggles are economic,
ideological, and political in nature (Rius, 1976).
The m ode of production is considered an important determinant of class
relations. It is the backbone of a society (Balkan, Berger, & Schmidt, 1980), and,
according to the economic base/superstructure paradigm, social institutions

develop and operate in particular w ays according to th e nature of th e m ode of
production they support.
The United States has a capitalist system of production.

Under this

system , production is driven and shaped by th e profit imperative, and profits
result b ecau se th o se who own and control productive capital can exploit tabor
power.

The concept of social class is central to the capitalist system

(M esserschmidt, 1986). According to M esserschmidt, capitalism maintains four
classes: the bourgeoisie (capitalists), the petty bourgeoisie (professionals and
small business people), the proletariate (workers), and the lumpenproletariate
(the im poverished-unem ployed or sporadically employed).
The capitalist class (the powerful) h as an objective interest in maintaining
a social structure that reinforces and increases its power, w hereas th e working
class (the powerless) h as an objective interest in eliminating th e se power
differentials.

Consequently, conflict is inherent in the class structure of

capitalism. The capitalist class is served by and thus controls, at least indirectly,
the m eans of organized violence represented by the s ta te -th e military and the
criminal justice system (Messerschmidt, 1986).
The state is more than a mediator of the class conflict in a society. The
state (the criminal justice system) is also the "enforcer" for the ruling class
(M esserschmidt, 1986). In other words, the legal system best represents the
interests of th e powerful in society. This legal system regulates and controls the

5

behaviors of the poor, a substantial proportion of whom will be minority-group
m em bers (Quinney, 1970).
B ecause a large proportion of minorities are poor and m em bers of the less
powerful group, their perceptions of the police a s oppressors will differ from the
perceptions that middle-class citizens have of th e police. Correspondingly,
various groups’ perceptions of the police will influence the nature of those
groups' relations with the police.
Purpose of the Study
The researcher’s primary purpose in this study w as to identify the
association of selected sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., race, gender, age,
education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status) of residents of
Saginaw, Michigan, with th ese citizens’ perceptions of the police.

More

specifically, citizens’ perceptions with regard to (a) public support of the police,
(b) fair treatm ent by the police, (c) police aggressiveness, (d) harassm ent by the
police, and (e) overall police performance were investigated.
In general, not all m em bers of a community perceive the police in a similar
m anner. For example, w hereas the ruling class may perceive th e police a s a
necessary device to restrict the dysfunctional behavior of a dissatisfied minority,
those in th e minority may be expected to perceive the police a s an instrument of
the ruling gentry to control and dominate m em bers of the minority.

6

Importance of the Study
Exploring citizens' perceptions of the police and improving on those
perceptions should be advantageous to both the police and the community. This
study is important b ecau se the research findings can be used to facilitate an
improvement in the perceptions of citizens of the City of Saginaw, Michigan,
toward the police in that community. In addition, an understanding of citizens'
perceptions of the police can be useful in shaping police practices, training, and
the eventual influence of th e police on different neighborhoods. As a result,
police-community relations in the City of Saginaw might be improved. As Kelling
(cited in Radelet, 1986) asserted:
The critical need is to improve the quality and quantity of potice-citizen
interaction. This m ust be a central task, not for the purpose of improving
th e police image, but rather to encourage the normal social control
exercised by a healthy community. The police m ust be se en a s only an
aid to the community, a s the community itself deals with social problems.
The police certainly are essential, but policing is too important to be left
to the police a lo n e .. . . We should concentrate hard on learning what it is
that the police should and can do. (p. 523)
Today’s problems with police-community relations have a long history.
The most violent urban racial riots in this century w ere sparked by an incident
involving the police (Walker, 1992). In 1967, the President’s Crime Commission
stated that a majority of th e recent big-city riots had been touched off by
commonplace occurrences between policemen and citizens (Norris, 1973).
During the 1960s, the Kemer Commission reported that d eep hostility existed
between the police and ghetto residents (the poor). The Commission said that
hostility w as the cau se of th e riots. In the early 1990s, th e Los A ngeles riot

7

caused by the police beating of a black motorist, Rodney King, and their acquittal
by the jury, raised many concerns in the community regarding police-community
relations.
Olmos (1974) indicated that the report published by the President’s
Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice showed strong
evidence that minority-group people were concerned with the type of treatm ent
they received from the police. It was alleged that, in police-citizen encounters,
the minority group person w as less likely than an Anglo-American to avoid arrest.
The Commission’s report also stated that many poor people believed that they
did not receive all of their rights to due process under the law.
The nature of contact between the police and citizens can breed a general
feeling of resentm ent and hostility among certain groups (based on their
sociodemographic characteristics) toward the police. Such resentm ent and
hostility influence police-community relations. This study is an important first
step in improving police-community relations in a particular community by
investigating the association between the sociodemographic characteristics of
the residents of that community and those residents' perceptions of the police in
their community.
R esearch Questions
The following research questions were posed to guide the collection of
data for this study.

1.

Are respondents* perceptions that public support of the police is

important for keeping law and order conditioned by their sociodemographic
characteristics?
2.

Are respondents’

perceptions of fair treatment by the police

conditioned by their sododem ographic characteristics?
3.

Are respondents’ perceptions of police aggressiveness conditioned

by their sociodemographic characteristics?
4.

Are respondents’

perceptions of harassm ent by the police

conditioned by their sododem ographic characteristics?
5.

Are respondents'

perceptions of overall police performance

conditioned by their sododemographic characteristics?
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were formulated to test the data gathered in the
study, in an attempt to answer the research questions.
Hypothesis 1: Respondents’ perceptions that public support of the police
is important for keeping law and order are conditioned by their
sododem ographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender, age, education,
income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status).
Hypothesis 2 : Respondents' perceptions of fair treatm ent by the police
are conditioned by their sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., race,
gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital
status).
Hypothesis 3: Respondents' perceptions of police aggressiveness are
conditioned by their sododemographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender,
age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status).

9

Hypothesis 4 : R espondents’ perceptions of harassm ent by the police are
conditioned by their sododem ographic characteristics (e.g.. race, gender,
age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status).
Hypothesis 5: Respondents’ perceptions of overall police performance
are conditioned by their sododem ographic characteristics (e.g., race,
gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital
status).
Definition of Terms
The following term s are defined in the context in which they are used in
this study.
Community/city. The term s "community" and "city" were used inter­
changeably in this study. They were used in the generic sen se, referring to all
people in the City of Saginaw who are served by the police.
Culture. The way of life developed by people in sodety; the learned and
shared behaviors of a particular group of people (Kneller, 1965). T hese learned
and shared behaviors embody the ideas, attitudes, and major values of the group
(Mayhall, 1985). Culture provides the blueprint that determines the way an
individual thinks, feels, and behaves; culture itself is manifested in an infinite
number of ways through the sodetal institutions and daily habits of living
(Gollnick & Chinn, 1983).
Ethnic group. A collectivity within a larger sodety having real or putative
common ancestry, memories of a shared historical past, and a cultural focus on
one or more symbolic elements defined as the epitome of their peoplehood.
Examples of such symbolic elem ents are kinship patterns, physical contiguity (as

10

in localism or sectionalism), religious affiliation, languages or dialects, tribal
affiliation, nationality, phenotypical features, or a combination of these.

A

necessary accompaniment is som e consciousness of kind among members of
the group (Schermerhom, 1978).
Perception of the police. The cognitive image of the police that is formed
through a person’s experience and/or interaction with the police.
Selective enforcement. An arbitrary discretionary decision made by police
officers a s to when, where, and how to enforce the law with selected or targeted
citizens in the community.

The officers' decisions directly affect individual

citizens and neighborhoods and can be m ade arbitrarily on the basis of
subjective factors; they also can reflect the officers' bias and favoritism. The
officers, in effect, have the opportunity to abuse power (Mayhall, 1985).
Sociodemographic characteristics. Personal characteristics ofthesam ple
members in this study.

These characteristics include race, gender, age,

education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status.

These

characteristics were used in this study in the sam e manner in which they have
been defined by the U.S. C ensus Bureau.
Definitions of the dependent variables used in the study are given in the
following paragraphs.
Fair treatment by the police. Citizens’ perceptions of equity of treatment
by the police in their interactions with the public, regardless of an individual’s
sododem ographic characteristics.

11

H arassm ent by the police. Citizens’ perceptions of th e ability of the police
to carry out their police roles without intended or deliberate annoyance of the
general public.
Overall police performance.

Citizens’ perceptions of th e police

departm ent’s ability to carry out their service, law enforcem ent, and order
m aintenance functions.
Police aggressiveness. The general perception by the public that the
police employ a reasonable amount of determination and assertiveness in
carrying out their functions.
Public support of the police. The cognitive, social, and emotional support
of the police departm ent in carrying out their duties.
Overview
Chapter I contained the background of the study and a statem ent of the
problem, th e theoretical background of the study, purpose and importance of the
study, the research questions and hypotheses, and a definition of key term s used
in the dissertation.
Chapter II contains a review of literature on topics related to the study.
T hese topics include the origins of the American police, critical issu es in policing,
civil rights and American policing, the police reform movement, differing
perceptions of the police, a conflict perspective on policing, and th e relationship
of selected sociodemographic characteristics to citizens’ perceptions of the
police.

12

The methodology used in conducting the study is explained in C hapter III.
The research questions and hypotheses are restated, and the dependent and
independent variables are se t forth. The population and sam ple are described,
a s is the composition of the City of Saginaw Police Department. Construction of
the instrument used to collect data for this study is discussed, and the datacollection procedure is explained. Data-analysis m ethods also are described.
Results of the data analyses are presented in Chapter IV. Chapter V
includes a summary of the study, major findings, conclusions drawn from the
findings, implications for practice, recom m endations for further research, and the
writer’s reflections.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Introduction
The researcher's primary purpose in this study w as to identify the
association of selected sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., race, gender, age,
education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status) of residents of the
City of Saginaw, Michigan, with th ese citizens’ perceptions of the police. More
specifically, citizens' perceptions with regard to (a) public support of the police,
(b) fair treatm ent by the police, (c) police aggressiveness, (d) harassm ent by the
police, and (e) overall police performance were investigated.
Citizens’perceptions of the police play a significant role in determining the
nature of the relationship between the police and the people they serve.
However, different segm ents of the community view the police differently (Bayley
& Mendelsohn,

1969).

The logical assumption, then, is that certain

sociodemographic factors play a part in shaping citizens’ perceptions of the
police, a s well a s in forming police officers’ perceptions of the public.
This chapter contains a review of literature on the following topics that are
relevant to this study: the origins of the American police, critical issues in
policing, civil rights and American policing, the police reform movement, differing
13

14

perceptions of the police, a conflict perspective on policing, and the relationship
of selected sociodemographic characteristics to citizens’ perceptions of the
police.
Origins of the American Police
A brief history of the American police will be helpful in understanding the
police today. A discussion of how the American police have changed over time
will also help in understanding how and why th ese changes have occurred
(Walker, 1992).
The American policing system originated in Great Britain. The British
colonists brought with them the criminal justice system of their country, which
included English common law, the value of individual rights, the court system,
forms of punishment, and law enforcement institutions (Walker, 1992). Thus, to
understand American law enforcement requires a brief excursion into the history
of British policing (Bucqueroux & Trojanowicz, 1990).
Formal law enforcement agencies em erged in England in the thirteenth
century. At that time, England established the position of constable and the
watch and ward practice. The constable w as an elected official of the county
w hose primary responsibility w as to keep the peace. In 1285, the Statute of
W inchester established the watch and ward practice, which required all men in
a given town to serve on the night watch to guard against fires, crimes, and
suspicious persons (Walker, 1992).

15

From the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, the English law enforcement
tradition developed in an unsystematic manner, during which time new positions
were created. The post of sheriff w as established, on which the role of the
American sheriff w as based.

The sheriff w as an influential and powerful

individual w hose functions included enforcing the law, collecting taxes, and
apprehending criminals. In the United States, the sheriff w as an elected official.
The primary functions of the modem sheriff include collecting taxes and serving
civil processes, providing bailiffs and security for the court system , operating jails
and other correctional facilities, maintaining peace and order, providing general
law enforcement service, and, in some counties, providing contract law
enforcement services (Roberg & Kuykendall, 1993).
By the nineteenth century, London had grown into a large industrial city,
with problems of poverty, public disorder, and crime. Walker (1992) noted:
The Industrial Revolution ted to an increase in the number of factories,
tenem ents, vehicles and marketplaces. With the industrial growth cam e
a breakdown in social control, as crime, riots, disorder, and public health
problems disrupted the cities. . . . The upper and middle classes were
concerned about these problems, so they sought for more protection and
preventive m easures (Alpert & Dunham, 1989). The old system of law
enforcement began to collapse, to give way to the creation of London
Metropolitan Police in 1829. (p. 5)
Sir Robert Peel, the Londoner acknowledged as the father of modem
policing, introduced the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829, which helped modernize
policing activities (Bucqueroux & Trojanowicz, 1990).

Elements that were

introduced included a new mission, strategy, and organizational structure for
London policing. The revised mission w as primarily crime prevention. Police

16

officers were to prevent crime through a strategy of preventive patrol—that is,
they would maintain a visible presence in the community.

The new police

organizational structure required London police to follow a "quasi-military style"
of wearing uniforms, having rank designations (chief, captain, lieutenant,
sergeant, and so on), and having an authoritarian system of command and
discipline (Walker, 1992).
Roberg and Kuykendall (1993) explained the following principles of
policing introduced by Sir Robert Peel:
1.

The police must be under the control of government.

2.

The police must be organized along military lines to ensure stability
and efficiency.

3.

Police buildings should be located so they are easily accessible to
citizens.

4.

The public should be informed about the extent and nature of
crime. The most appropriate method of evaluating the police is the
amount of crime in a community.

5.

Police officers should be distributed by time and area. To do this,
it is important to keep records of police activities.

6.

If a police organization is to be effective, its selection process and
training programs must be of high quality. New officers should be
employed on a probationary status.

7.

Police officers who have a good appearance will be more
respected by the public.

8.

Police officers should be able to control their tem per and should
em phasize a determined manner, rather than violent action in
dealing with citizens.

17

9.

To ensure public confidence in the police, all officers m ust be
easily identified; therefore, all officers should be given a number,
(p. 56)

Bucqueroux and Trojanowicz (1990) indicated that one of th e se nine
principles attributed to Sir Robert Peel ad d resses how police should treat the
public:
To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to
the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are
the police; the police being only m em bers of the public who are paid to
give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in
the interest of community welfare and existence, (p. 45)
The law enforcement institutions in colonial America were the constable,
the sheriff, the watch, and the slave patrol. The primary functions of the sheriff,
the constable, and the watch were shaped by the British concepts from which the
institutions were borrowed (Uchida, 1989).

Thus, the constable had law

enforcem ent responsibilities, the sheriff enforced the law butalso collected taxes,
and the watch guarded against fires, crime, and disorder. The slave patrol (a
distinctly American form of law enforcement) w as created in the southern states
to guard against slave revolts and to capture runaway slaves. The Charleston,
South Carolina, slave patrol w as possibly the country's largest police force at that
time; it had 100 officers in 1837 (Walker, 1992).
From the London model, Americans borrowed the mission of crime
prevention in the community, a strategy of visible patrol of their beats, the
elem ents of a quasi-military organizational structure (the authoritarian

18

management style), and the idea of having a chief, captain, lieutenant, sergeant,
and so on (Walker, 1992).
American policing also encountered some of the problems that faced
British policing. During colonial times, law enforcement was inefficient, corrupt,
and subject to political interference. As in England, the old system of law
enforcement broke down under the impact of urbanization, industrialization, and
immigration. Beginning in the 1830s, a wave of riots struck American cities,
among them the Boston riots of 1834, 1835, and 1837. In 1838, Abraham
Lincoln, then a member of the Illinois state legislature, warned of the increased
disregard for the law. Many riots actually were clashes between different ethnic
groups, such as Irish or German immigrants against native-born English
Protestants. Racial violence began years before the Civil War, with pro-slavery
whites attacking Abolitionists and free black citizens in northern cities (Walker,
1992). Numerous conflicts occurred because of ethnic and racial differences,
economic failures, and moral questions.
The nineteenth-century police officers in America enjoyed little respect
from the citizens they served; in fact, they faced much open hostility. Citizens
regarded them as political hacks rather than public servants. For instance, the
police were regularly called on to break up striking workers. Juvenile gangs
made a sport of throwing rocks at the police or taunting them. People who were
arrested often fought back. The officers responded by beating hostile individuals
into submission. Discipline was virtually nonexistent, and excessive use of force

19

was commonplace. Citizen violence in the United States led to greater use of
police firearms, and public disrespect was usually met with police brutality, which
went unpunished. The continued use of force by the police only encouraged
more public hostility, and this vicious cycle engendered a complete lack of public
respect for police officers and a lack of professionalism in American policing
(Walker, 1992).
Cultural Effects
The United States is primarily a nation of immigrants. It is often likened
to a melting pot that is made up of people of diverse races, cultures, ethnicities,
religions, and so on. Traditionally, people came from around the world and threw
their own cultures into the American melting pot, but not all cultures and races
melted into the pot equally (Weaver, 1993).
In a similar vein, Bucqueroux and Trojanowicz (1990) suggested that the
United States is undeniably a polyglot culture, a heady stew made up of various
ethnic groups who continue to arrive in search of the American dream. This
unlikely mix has blended together to produce a uniquely American psyche, with
its distinct way of doing things. However, most of this country’s institutions still
show the profound early influence of the British culture, seasoned with a hint of
Puritan values.
African Americans and other minority groups did not "melt" into the "pot"
on an equal footing with Anglo American immigrants. African Americans (once
slaves) were denied access to the social, political, educational, and economic

20

mainstream of American society. As a result, a significant proportion of African
Americans are still in poverty and have not been totally assimilated into the
mainstream. Bayley and Mendelsohn (1969) indicated that the way people are
socially, economically, racially, educationally, and religiously gives an indication
of how they will react and behave. Also, such conditions could determine how
others perceive or treat them.
The criminal justice community cannot afford to ignore the diversity of
cultures in American society or within the profession itself. Maintaining the
traditional expectations and norms of police in America will only serve to broaden
the chasm between law enforcement agencies and the citizens they serve
(Weaver, 1993).
Critical Issues in Policing
Excessive Use of Force
Many forces in society cause the competition for limited resources to lead
to individual behaviors that are forbidden by law, actions that society cannot or
will not accept. When scarce resources are acquired through lawless behavior
such as robbery and burglary, society is in urgent need of someone with the
power and authority to regulate that behavior (Coffey, 1990).
Police officers are responsible for enforcing the law. They also are
authorized to use the force necessary to ensure compliance with the law (Coffey,
1990). However, in some instances, citizens have complained about the police
abusing this authority. Most of these complaints have come from minority

21

groups. In 1931, the Wickersham Commission’s report entitled Lawlessness in
Law Enforcement exposed unethical police behavior, which included infliction of
pain, physical or mental abuse for purposes of extracting confessions, corruption,
and graft. The report further revealed that police officers routinely beat suspects,
threatened them with worse punishment, and held them illegally for protracted
questioning (Walker, 1992).
Lawson (1982) explained that many police simply believe that the key to
law and order is for citizens to have considerable respect for individual
policemen. He said they believe the way to instill such respect is to use a
nightstick, a blackjack, or mace. In addition, because police officers’ work
requires them to deal continually with potential violence, they unnecessarily
develop a perceptual shorthand to identify certain kinds of people as symbolic
assailants-that is, as persons who use gestures, language, and attire that the
police officers have come to recognize as a prelude to violence. Because of this
perception, the police officer overreacts to the vague indication of danger
suggested solely by a person’s appearance (Skolnick, 1986). Such overreaction
could influence those citizens' perceptions of and relations with the police.
Race and the Police
Many researchers have found that disproportionate numbers of blacks are
shot or kilted by the police in relation to their representation in the general
population (Blumberg, 1989). Goldkamp (1976) noted that the high number of
shootings of minority citizens is indicative of racial discrimination by the police.

22

Also, Takagi (1974) argued that "the police have onetrigger-finger for Whites and
another for Blacks’*(p. 30). For instance, many police officers have a tendency
to arrest or shoot blacks more often than whites, given similar circumstances.
In a follow-up investigation after a riot in Miami, Florida, in 1989, it was
found that citizens had a "pervasive perception" that police officers can mistreat,
abuse, and apply excess and deadly force against black residents (particularly
young black males) with relative impunity (Walker, 1992). Walker noted that
shootings of blacks were a highly explosive issue in police-community relations
and that many of the riots in the 1960s had been sparked by a shooting incident.
He also noted that research has indicated that eight times more black citizens
than whites were shot; the disparity was even higher in some cities.
Discrimination was particularly blatant in the case of unarmed fleeing felons.
The controversial shootings of black citizens by white police officers have
continued to create mistrust between police departments and the minority groups
they serve (Blumberg, 1989). Walker and Fridell (1989) asserted that conflict
between the police and racial minorities has been one of the most controversial
aspects of American policing. Complaints about discriminatory patterns in police
shootings have been a major point of controversy (Alpert & Fridell, 1992). As a
result, perceptions of the police as violators of the law and public trust reduce
public confidence in the police.
In a report published in February 1978, the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights contended:

23

Allegations of police abuse, brutality and harassm ent of citizens,
particularly minorities, have for too many years constituted an unresolved
and galling public problem in America. Instances of police misconduct,
beatings, shootings, and intimidation of citizens undermine public safety,
trust and confidence in law enforcement. In 1977, the Commission on
Civil Rights received an increasing number of citizen complaints and
reports indicating that police misconduct remains a widespread
phenomenon that has, in som e cities, becom e so pervasive a s to appear
to be officially sanctioned. (Radelet, 1986, p. 201)
Although an estimated 1,800 black people have been brutally lynched in
America in the twentieth century, the 1917 race riots In East St. Louis, Illinois.
eclipsed all other instances of brutality and savagery (Coffey, 1990). The riots
during the Democratic Party's national convention in Chicago in 1968 were also
violent and ended in allegations of police overreaction and use of excessive force
(Coffey, 1990).
The May 17,1980, riots in Miami, Florida, also were related to perceptions
of police brutality. Following th ese explosive and deadly riots, the public image
of the police reached a low point. The reaction to an all-white jury’s acquittal of
four police officers accused of beating a black man to death ultimately resulted
in 18 riot-related deaths, 1,300 arrests, and upwards of $125 million in dam ages
(Coffey, 1990). The beating of motorist Rodney King by Los Angeles police
officers following a car chase on March 3,1991, and the officers' acquittal by the
jury, also cost more than 50 lives and millions of dollars in dam age (Mydans,
1993).
The most dramatic charge that can be m ade against the police in their
relations with the public is that of brutality. Blacks and young people are more

24

prone to believe that police brutality exists than are whites and older people
(Bayley & Mendelsohn, 1969; Norris, 1973).
Policemen interviewed by Bayley and Mendelsohn (1969) were
surprisingly candid about their own experiences with police brutality. Fifty-three
percent of the officers said that they had personally witnessed an incident that
someone might consider to constitute police brutality.

One-third of those

incidents the officers dismissed as involving the necessary and justifiable
application of force, usually in connection with making an arrest.

But it is

significant that 27% of the officers who were interviewed had witnessed an
incident that they thought involved harassment or the excessive use of force.
Patterns of Abuse
it is an organizational imperative that the police role in a democratic
society be carried out through the enforcement of the law within the limits of the
law. So the "means and ends" of law enforcement require that, in performing
their duties, the police should conform at all times to the rule of law (Greene,
1989).
Negative attitudes toward the police on the part of community members,
especially minority groups, are nothing new. Police brutality, excessive use of
force, and mistreatment of minorities in the community have created feelings of
resentment and hostility within these groups toward the police.
In their study, the National Commission on Law Observance and
Enforcement (the Wickersham Commission), which reported to President Hoover

25

in 1931, found considerable evidence of police brutality (Walker, 1992). The
President's Commission on Civil Rights, appointed by President Truman,
reported similar findings in 1947. And in 1961, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission
concluded that police brutality remains a serious problem throughout the United
States. In 1971, Reiss reported that almost all of the victims of excessive force
by the police were young, lower-class males. The oppressive nature of such
behaviors by the police, who tend to be "enforcers" for the ruling class, creates
an inevitable conflict between the powerful and the powerless classes in society.
Police brutality still exists today; it is an institutionalized problem that will continue
to ignite negative perceptions of and hostility toward the police among various
groups in the community.
Civil Rights a nd American Policing
According to Hegel, humanity advances and progresses because of
conflicts, wars, revolutions, and so on-in other words, through the struggles of
the oppressed against the oppressor (Rius, 1976). The Civil Rights Acts, which
emerged from such a struggle in the United States, obligated the government to
ensure that its citizens are not prevented from exercising their rights in the face
of unlawful actions of others, whether individuals or government agencies. Many
people share the views of Thomas Jefferson, who stated, "I would rather be
exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending
too small a degree of it" (Walker, 1991, p. 72).

26

Through civil rights movements, civil rights acts, and Supreme Court
decisions, progress has been made in ensuring all citizens equality and equal
protection of the law. But there is still some resistance by certain agencies or
individuals who decide not to implement the provisions of the civil rights acts and
continue in their racist, discriminatory practices. Institutions and individuals who
consciously or unconsciously function with bias based on race, gender, national
origin, social status, and/or religion still pose a major problem for the poor,
women, and minorities. When such bias is evident in police departments, it
generates problems in police-community relations. Supreme Court decisions
such as those in Mapp v. Ohio, 1961 (exclusionary rule), Escobedo v. Illinois,
1964 (right to an attorney), and Miranda v. Arizona (Miranda warning) represent
an attempt to provide ail citizens equal protection of the law. However, many
police officers consider these Supreme Court decisions, which curtail some
traditional police behavior, as tools that have handcuffed law enforcement
(Olmos, 1974).
The civil rights movement reflected racial minority groups’ anger at what
they perceived as the repressiveness and inequality of American society (Alpert
& Fridell, 1992). The civil rights movement made an immense contribution to the
development of first amendment law, the law of equal protection, and the law of
due process. Walker (1977,1980) noted that the social forces resulting from the
civil rights movement were major stimuli for closer scrutiny of police practices,

27

the police-community relations movement, and further advancement of police
professionalism. Williams and Murphy (cited in Alpert & Fridell, 1992) wrote:
It was that movement, led primarily by Black Americans, and that political
empowerment that finally began to produce the putative benefits of
professional policing: a fairer distribution of police services, less use of
deadly force, greater respect for individual rights, and equal opportunity
for minorities within the nation’s police departments, (p. 143)
The civil rights movement was the spark that ignited reform in many
institutions in society, including police organizations.

In his book Police

Revitalization. Caiden (1977) wrote:
Reform movements do not appear by magic. They are caused by
dissatisfaction with the status quo and optimism about the efficiency of
remedial action. The dissatisfaction must carry people over their
threshold of tolerance and inertia to the point where they demand action
and support promising prescriptions, (p. 3)
The Police Reform Movement
In 1931, the Wickersham Commission reported that only 20% of the 383
cities it surveyed conducted police training programs (President’s Commission
on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, 1967). Forty years later, the
Crime Commission’s Task Force on Police indicated that police recruit training
programs did not adequately meet the vocational needs of most police
departments’ recruits. The study further revealed that:
Some police departments are just beginning to recognize the significance
of improving the relationship of the police with the community, and
particularly with the minority community. Although several departments
have incorporated courses on police-community relations, these units are
limited in time and substance
It can be said of police training schools,
that the recruit is taught everything except the essential requirements of
his calling, which is howto secure and maintain the approval and respect

28

of the public whom he encounters daily in the course of his duties. (Norris,
1973, p. 12)
Actually, a police training program that encompasses instruction in interpersonal
skills and police-community relations can contribute significantly to a positive
relationship between the police and community members (Norris, 1973).
A police department is a bureaucratic organization. A bureaucracy is a
system of administration characterized by specialization of functions, adherence
to fixed rules, and a hierarchy of authority (Radelet, 1986). Norris (1973) noted
that any discussion of police behavior as it affects police-community relations
must begin with an examination of the police bureaucracy.

Police officers’

distinctive uniforms, their badges, their weapons, and the authority and
responsibility of their job necessarily set the police somewhat apart from the
general public.
A police department is considered a bureaucratic organization because
it has the following characteristics:
1.

It is a complex organization whose members perform many

different tasks in pursuit of a common goal-maintenance of law and order.
2.

The different tasks are grouped into separate divisions (bureaus).

3.

The overall organizational structure is hierarchical.

4.

Higher-ranking officers delegate responsibilities to lower-ranking

employees.
5.

There is a clear chain of command (chief, captain, lieutenant,

sergeant, and so on).

29

6.

There is a span of control in which each supervisor is responsible

for only the number of employees he or she can effectively supervise.
7.

There are written rules, which serve as guidelines for the

performance of duties to ensure uniformity and consistency.
8.

There is unity of command so that each employee answers to only

one supervisor.
9.

There are clear career paths by which each officer can move

upward in rank (Walker, 1992).
The above-mentioned characteristics of bureaucracies play a significant
part in shaping police behavior.

The quasi-military style of the police

organization (uniforms and ranks), the authoritarian command structure, the
carrying of weapons, and the legal authority to use force produce in officers a
"war on crime" mentality. This outlook encourages police officers to think of
criminal suspects as enemies (Walker, 1992). Such an approach does not
facilitate positive police-community relations. Rather, it tends to cause citizens
to have negative perceptions of the police.
American policing has experienced dramatic changes during the twentieth
century. There have been two primary forces underlying these changes. First
was the movement to establish professional standards in policing, in order to
enhance the quality of policing. The second was the introduction of modem
communication technology in the middle of the century (Walker, 1992).

30

President Hoover created the National Commission on Law Observance
and Enforcement (the Wickersham Commission) in 1929. This Commission
conducted the first national study of the American criminal justice system. Two
of the 14 reports on police administration written by August Vollmer, who headed
the Commission, gave new support to and direction for higher personnel
standards. The second report focused on the lawlessness in law enforcement
and exposed police brutality. In this report, Vollmer concluded that the police
extensively inflicted physical and/or mental pain to extract confessions or
statements (Walker, 1992).
The crisis of confidence in the police set the stage for a dramatic police
reform movement, which was launched in the 1930s (Bucqueroux &Trojanowicz,
1990).

A new generation of leaders initiated an organized effort to

professionalize the police. Prominent leaders of the movement included Richard
Sylvester, superintendent of the District of Columbia police from 1898 to 1915,
and August Vollmer, president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police
and head of the Wickersham Commission (Walker, 1992).
Vollmer supervised the preparation of 10 principles that were considered
vital to reforming the police in America. These were simitar to the principles
attributed to Sir Robert Peel, which provided the foundation for British policing
(Bucqueroux & Trojanowicz, 1990). The 10 principles for reform, as explained
by Bucqueroux and Trojanowicz, suggested that:

31

1.

The corrupting influence of politics should be removed from the

police organization.
2.

The head of the department should be selected at large for

competence; he or she should be a leader, preferably a person of considerable
police experience, and should be removed from office only after preferment of
charges and a public hearing.
3.

Patrolmen should be able to rate a "B" on the Alpha test, be able-

bodied and of good character, weigh at least 150 pounds, be at least 5 feet 9
inches tall, and be between 21 and 31 years of age. The chief may disregard
these requirements for a good and sufficient reason.
4.

Salaries should permit decent living standards; housing should be

adequate. Police should work eight hours a day and have one day off weekly.
They should be provided an annual vacation, fair sick leave with pay, just
accident and death benefits when in performance of duty, and reasonable
pension provisions on an actuarial basis.
5.

Adequate training is imperative for recruits, officers, and those

already on the roll.
6.

The communication system should provide for call boxes,

telephones, a recall system, and (in appropriate circumstances) teletype and
radio.

32

7.

Records should be complete and adequate, but as simple as

possible. They should be used to secure administrative control of investigations
and of department units in the interest of efficiency.
8.

A crime-prevention unit should be established if circumstances

warrant this action, and qualified female police should be engaged to handle
juvenile delinquents and women’s cases.
9.

State police forces should be established in states where rural

protection of this nature is required.
10.

A bureau of criminal investigation and information should be

established in every state.
Bucqueroux and Trojanowicz (1990) further noted that, although Voltmer’s
specific principles may seem dated, this progressive doctrine established vital
concepts that served as the underpinning for modern policing. These vital
concepts and principles include:
1.

The necessity of eliminating political corruption.

2.

The need for an independent chief.

3.

The importance of an educated and trained police force that would

be compensated as professionals.
4.

The judicious use of the latest technology.

5.

An awareness of the benefits of preventing crime.

6.

The beginning of an expanded role for women.

33

7.

An understanding of the need for different approaches for police in

urban and rural areas.
8.

The importance of the service role in policing.

George Keiting and Mark Moore of Harvard University declared that Vollmer's
moral vision, coupled with O. W. Wilson’s work in police administration,
revolutionized policing in the twentieth century (Bucqueroux & Trojanowicz,
1990).
Improvements in Policing
New technology has radically transformed basic routine police work.
Officers once were accustomed to patrol on foot, but technological advances led
to the use of patrol cars, the two-way radio communication system, and the
telephone (Walker, 1992). Walker explained that patrol cr.r» motorized the police
force, promising more efficient patrol coverage and quicker response to citizens’
calls.

However, an unintended consequence of patrol cars was that they

reduced the informal face-to-face contact police officers often had with lawabiding citizens.
The two-way radio communication system improved on the earlier "call
boxes" (the primitive communication system). The two-way radio allowed police
departments to dispatch officers faster in response to citizens’ calls. It also
revolutionized police supervision because supervisors could maintain contact
with patrol officers over the radio.

34

Although the telephone had existed since 1877, its effect on policing
became more evident with the use of patrol cars and two-way radios (Walker,
1992). Together, these technologies facilitated a good communication link
between citizens and the police. The telephone enabled citizens to contact the
police easily, the two-way radio enabled the police department to dispatch a
patrol officer to the scene, and the patrol car, in turn, allowed the patrol officer to
reach the scene quickly.
In the late 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson created the National
Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission). In its final
report, published in 1968, the Commission identified institutional racism a s the
underlying cause of rioting, discrimination, and unequal justice at the hands of
the law, which were among the problems generating conflict between police and
citizens (especially minorities). The report also emphasized the need for more
research on police-citizen relations. With funding from the Law Enforcement
Assistance Administration and private organizations, researchers began to
scrutinize racial discrimination in police employment practices, in arrests, and in
the use of deadly force (Benner, 1989).
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited private-sector employers from
discriminating in hiring on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, or national
origin. One might expect that this law would extend to the public sector,
including the police, but this was not the case. However, Title VII was passed,
amending the Civil Rights Act, so that by 1972 the mandate did include the public

35

sector.

Police agencies were among the earliest targets of class-action

discrimination lawsuits brought before the federal courts (Benner, 1989).
In 1978, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued
its Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. The guidelines
stipulated that any hiring practice that had an "adverse impact" on women or any
racial or ethnic group was illegal, unless the employer could show that the hiring
practices were directly related to a prospective employee’s ability to do the job.
The courts interpreted adverse impact to mean that recruitment, testing, and
promotional practices had failed to include members of minority groups or
women in numbers equivalent to their representation in the local labor force. As
a result of these guidelines, in som e police departments selection has now taken
a back seat to efforts to obtain "proportional representation" of minorities and
women (Benner, 1989).
The racial composition of the police agency has raised serious concerns,
especially a s it relates to reducing violence in police-community interactions. It
has been recommended that the police department should employ minoritygroup employees in proportion to their representation in the community they
serve (Community Relations Service, U.S. Department of Justice. 1989). The
Kerner Commission found that the employment of black officers lagged far
behind the growth of the black population (Uchida, 1989).
The employment of blacks in police agencies has improved only recently.
According to Kuykendall and Bums (1980), employment of blacks frequently was

36

the result of political pressures from church and civic groups. Blacks were hired
to improve law enforcement in black areas and to appease black community
members who complained about the behavior of white officers. The Kemer
Commission's 1968 report placed a large part of the blame for the riots in
American cities on racism in society and on the severe underrepresentation of
blacks in police departments (Sullivan, 1989).
Dunham and Alpert (1989) indicated that the Annual Statistical Abstracts
for the United States showed that, in 1970, the percentage of blacks in the United
States population was 11.1%, whereas their representation in police agencies
was only 3.9%.

Also, the percentage of Hispanics in the United States

population was 4.5%, compared to their 2.7% representation in police agencies.
In recent years, the overall representation of minorities in the police force has
gradually improved. However, minorities still are underrepresented, especially
when their number in each police department is considered in relation to their
representation in the population of the community the department serves.
Vollmer’s commitment to upgrading police officers is evident in the
dramatic increase in the educational levels of police officers. Results of the
PERF police education study showed the educational levels of police officers by
race and ethnicity. Of the white police officers who were studied, 34% had no
college education, 62% had some undergraduate work, and 4% had a graduate
degree. Twenty-eight percent of the black officers had no college education,
63% had some undergraduate work, and 9% had a graduate degree. Of the

37

Hispanic police officers, 27% had no college, 68% had som e undergraduate
work, and 5% had a graduate degree. The PERF study also showed that, of all
the male officers studied, 34.8% had no college education, 61.7% had some
undergraduate work, and 3.3% had a graduate degree. About 24.1% of the
female officers had no college education, 45.1 % had som e undergraduate work,
and 30.2% had a graduate degree (Carter & Sapp, 1991).
Differing Perceptions of the Police
A number of issues in police organizations directly or indirectly influence
citizens' perceptions of the police and police-community relations. Such issues
include role conflict, departmental practices (racism, discrimination, hiring,
selection, training, and promotion), police bureaucratic structure, and police
subculture.
Yinger (cited in Walker, 1992) defined role a s "a unit of culture that
includes the rights and duties, the normatively approved patterns of behavior for
the occupants of a given position" (p. 63). People believe certain things about
the police and expect certain kinds of behavior from them. The police officers
themselves internalize certain attitudes and beliefs about their job. Hence,
officers often experience internal role conflict when they are faced with tasks that
are inconsistent with their expectations about their job. For example, an officer
may have an image of himself or herself as a crime fighter, w hereas citizens'
expectations include supportive services from the police (Walker, 1992).

38

Role conflict stems from the fact that various models of policing
emphasize different police functions. For example, according to the legalistic
model of policing, crime fighting should be the primary purpose of police
functions. Crime fighting is the primary goal of the traditional policing method.
On the other hand, the service model of policing tends to create a police-public
partnership in solving crime problems (Roberg & Kuykendall, 1993). The primary
concern of the service model is the manner in which police officers exercise their
authority. Whereas the traditional/legalistic model of policing isolates the police
from the public, the service model tends to bring both the police and the public
together.
The effect of the traditional/legalistic approach to policing is that it
reaffirms the difference between ordinary citizens (primarily the powerless class)
and the powerful few (the ruling class), whom the police represent. Because of
the animosity and lack of trust inherent in the class struggle, police-community
relations may not be positive, and perceptions that different social classes have
about the police will vary.
Miller applied rote theory to a consideration of police morale, and Preiss
and Ehrlich applied sociological role theory to policing (Radelet, 1986). Preiss
and Ehrlich (1966) wrote:
Since many of the policeman’s audiences were not in agreement about
their perceptions and expectations of him, they also varied in their
evaluative criteria and their judgements of his performance. This
variability could have lessened the impact that a precise and uniform
evaluation procedure would have had on the role performance of a

39

policeman by providing him with options and alternatives rather than one
highly constrained set of role prescriptions, (p. 92)
Goldstein (1977) warned that anyone attempting to construct a workable
definition of the police role will typically come away with old images shattered
and a new-found appreciation for the intricacies of police work.
Police officers’ role ambiguity results not only from the conflicting and
often contradictory job-description mandates they receive from the public, but
also from conflicting values within their own group. Officers are often caught in
a bind between the traditionalists, who occupy almost all of the top-ranking
positions in police departments across the country, and a small number of new

police professionals, often college trained, who are critical of the established
procedures and policies (Bouma, 1969).
The traditionalists believe mainly in crime control, maintenance of law and
order. They oppose the U.S. Supreme Court decisions relating to the rights of
the accused, believe in unlimited use of guns and clubs, endorse a tough
reaction to lawbreakers, and have a lukewarm attitude toward the recruitment of
nonwhite officers and the human-relations programs designed to improve
communication with inner-city residents (Bouma, 1969).
The new professionals, on the other hand, emphasize restraint in the use
of force and support court decisions relating to human rights. They oppose racial
bias among officers and are sensitive to community social problems.
The traditionalists believe that community-relations programs are a lot of
academic m ish-m ash-that it is the community that needs changing, not the

40

police department.

In contrast, the new professionals believe that the

understanding of people’s backgrounds and motivations is important, that
stereotyping and overgeneralization are hazardous, that most people approve
of the police function, and that both the police and the community need to work
at the problem of improving relations.
Walker (1989) suggested that political ideologies are influential in shaping
a society's response to crime. There are conservatives who believe that those
who violate the criminal law do so because they lack self-control and a sen se of
morality; therefore, they should be severely punished. On the other side are
liberals who tend to believe that criminal behavior results from social influences.
Hence, individuals who commit crimes do so because of dysfunctional families,
peer-group influences, lack of educational and economic opportunities,
discrimination, and so on.
T hese political ideologies are represented in a community's expectations
concerning how police should respond to crime problems.

In other words,

political ideologies determine, in part, community or neighborhood expectations
of the police and also influence the values, beliefs, and norms of the
organizational culture with regard to appropriate police methods and behavior
(Walker, 1989).
The requirements inherent in a system of rules or laws that police must
follow and adapt to a changing political environment have resulted in the police
being given what Manning (1978) called "the impossible mandate" (p. 13). This

41

means that the police believe they cannot possibly satisfy their many "publics"-that is, the victims, criminals, politicians, and residents of a particular
neighborhood.

In fact, these publics cannot all be satisfied because their

expectations of the police may be in conflict (Roberg & Kuykendall, 1993), and
this situation affects police-community relations.
Police-community relations are made inordinately difficult by conflicting
values and opinions in the black community a s well as in the white community.
The public have genuine concerns about overpolicing and underpolicing.
W hereas many residents of black communities believe they are the target of
police harassment, many members of the white community believe that the
police coddle the lawless (Bouma, 1969).
Policing Styles
Police agencies practice one or a combination of the following styles of
policing: the legalistic style, the watchman style, and the service style. In the
legalistic style of policing, all types of incidents are disposed of legally.
Characteristically, many traffic citations are issued, vigorous action is taken
against illicit enterprises, and a large number of misdemeanor arrests are made.
Organizationally, in departments having a legalistic style, there is centralized
control, with formal authority; a written account is maintained on each incident,
there is specialization of tasks, and the overall administration is professional
(Moore, 1970; Wilson, 1978).

42

The watchman style of policing requires police to react a s if maintaining
order w as their primary function, except in the case of serious crimes.
Characteristically, officers in a department practicing the watchman style ignore
minor violations, tolerate a certain amount of vice and gambling, and informally
treat family assaults and juvenile cases. Maintaining public peace is the central
issue, and little em phasis is placed on officers’ appearance and manner. In
these organizations, salaries are low, policemen are recruited locally, they are
given minimum training, there is little specialization of tasks, and administration
generally is lax (Moore, 1970; Wilson, 1978).
The service style of policing allows the community to determine the
functions of the police or at least to have a significant influence on the police
agenda. The police take seriously all requests for law enforcement and order
maintenance but are not likely to respond by making an arrest or otherwise
imposing formal sanctions. Characteristically, the police intervene frequently but
not "formally," and the pace of police work is leisurely. Service-style policing
usually is found in middle- or upper-class communities; policemen are expected
to be courteous and neat and to display a pleasant attitude. In the service-style
organization, good records are maintained, salaries are high, the department has
up-to-date facilities and equipment, training is extensive, and a large percentage
of the officers have som e college training. The service style engenders positive
perceptions of the police and improves on police-community relations (Moore.
1970; Wilson, 1978).

43

A Conflict Perspective on Policing
Conflict theorists have suggested that the powerless members of society
are more likely than those in positions of wealth and power to have their
deviance detected, labeled, and sanctioned (Lemert, 1967; Messerschmidt,
1986; Quinney, 1970; Tannenbaum, 1938) because these individuals do not
have the necessary resources to manipulate the system to their benefit (Curran,
1983). Quinney claimed that the legal system best represents the interests of
those who have power (the ruling class) in society. Thus, the legal system
becomes a tool for regulating and controlling the behaviors of the powerless.
It has also been suggested that police officers treat females more harshly
than males (Chesney-Lind, 1977). For instance, female delinquents are more
likely than their male counterparts to be dealt with in more severe and formal
ways. The police arrest these females and refer them to the courts, especially
when their deviant acts violate sex-role norms (Chesney-Lind, 1977). This
position is consistent with the labeling theory, which maintains that females are
more likely to be labeled deviant and receive harsher sanctions than their male
counterparts. Women generally occupy less powerful positions in society and
have fewer economic and political resources at their disposal. Therefore, they
may be more likely than males to have their deviance detected, labeled, and
sanctioned (Curran, 1983).
The ruling class (the powerful), which often is composed primarily of white
males, tends to support the legalistic model of policing. On the other hand, the

44

powerless group, which is often composed of minorities and women, tends to
support the service model of policing because they also want equal protection
and respect from the legal system. Police role conflict results from differences
in perceptions between the ruling class (the oppressor) and the powerless (the
oppressed) concerning what police functions and behavior should be.
Selective Law Enforcement
The reality of selective law enforcement is that the police’s judgment and
situational discretion determine which laws can be enforced with available
resources and when and where such enforcement can take place (Coffey, 1990).
According to Marxist ideology, as a result of class struggle, the criminal law that
the police enforce tends to reflect the interests of the powerful (the capitalist
class) because they have more capacity to influence legislation. Criminal law
mainly defines those harmful behaviors that are readily accessible to the
powerless as criminal, while simultaneously hiding or ignoring the harmful
behaviors of the powerful (Messerschmidt, 1986). In selective enforcement, the
attention of the police is diverted from the powerful to the powerless, who are
primarily minorities and the poor.
In fact, selective law enforcement can be perceived as persecution or
prejudicial discrimination against those who are singled out (the powerless). The
power to arrest is essential to the police’s ability to regulate human behavior. But
this power becomes discriminatory and dangerous when it is applied to selected
geographical areas or persons, based on their race, gender, age, education,

45

income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status. Because the police represent
the interests of the powerful (the capitalist class), selective law enforcement is
directed at the powerless (the working class and the poor). When the state (the
police) becomes more than the mediator of class conflict in society, acting as the
enforcer for the ruling class (Messerschmidt, 1986), the public comes to view the
police differently, in accordance with their status in society.
The Relationship of Selected Sociodemographic
Characteristics to Citizens’ Percep­
tions of the Police
Race and Ethnicity
The tradition that slavery established has made blacks the targets of
abuse. Citizen patrols, which were used to capture runaway slaves, were one
of the precursors of formal police forces, especially in the South.

This

unfortunate legacy of abuse persisted as an element of the police role. Many
times, police harassment simply meant that minorities such as blacks were more
likely than whites to be stopped and questioned. However, at the other extreme,
blacks have suffered beatings and sometimes murder at the hands of white
police officers (Bucqueroux & Trojanowicz, 1990).
Minorities, both blacks and Hispanics, are more likely than whites to be
killed by the police. Of all the citizens who have been killed by the police since
1949, almost one-half have been blacks. That number is disproportionate to
blacks’ representation in the population (Kuykendall & Roberg, 1993).

46

In Memphis, Tennessee, before the adoption of more restrictive policies
concerning police use of deadly force, blacks were more likely than whites to be
shot by the police (Fyfe, 1982). Gosnell (cited in Kuykendall & Roberg, 1993)
indicated that, in Chicago, blacks complained about the "stupidity, prejudice, and
brutality" of white police officers.
As a result of the killing and harassment of minorities, many of these
individuals, in turn, see the police as paid thugs and oppressors. With the mind­
set of "us against them," both sides attempt to justify aggression against each
other. The problem is exacerbated when, as Bucqueroux and Trojanowicz
(1990) indicated, "some law enforcement officials made it clear that they not only
tolerate but encourage their officers to keep Blacks in their place" (p. 61).
Based on the preceding discussion, it is reasonable to suggest that
individuals or groups who feel alienated from the political process or who believe
that the justice system in unresponsive to their needs or see it as a symbol of
oppression might transfer their dissatisfaction to the agents of that system who
are most visible to them -in this case, the police (Alpert & Dunham, 1988). Such
dissatisfaction is translated into negative perceptions of the police, which
invariably influence police-community relations.
Age
Tom Fulcher, president of the San Jose chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said that
problems often arise as a result of police departments’ efforts to stop drug

47

trafficking, which often focus on young black males. Many times these efforts
have led to the unwarranted harassm ent of other black males who have nothing
to do with drugs. Many people, therefore, perceive that the police believe that
most young black males are involved in the drug trade (Kuykendall & Roberg,
1993).
In a similar vein, Piliavin and Briar (1964) found that the police stopped
and questioned black juveniles more frequently than they did whites. They also
discovered that black juveniles expressed more hostility toward the police than
did white youngsters.
A follow-up investigation on the January 1989 riot in Miami, Florida,
revealed a "pervasive perception" that police officers can mistreat, abuse, and
apply excess and deadly force against young black males with relative impunity
(Walker, 1992). J. Rubinstein, a former Philadelphia policeman and crime
expert, noted that, in the inner cities, there are "thousands of kids in these
neighborhoods who have had endless contact with cops, who have been
arrested, who s e e people get arrested" ("Blacks and Cops," 1993, p. 96). This
experience, he claimed, creates mutual distrust between police and young
people. "Young Black men have an even harder time escaping the presumption
that they are guilty until proven innocent" (p. 96). Thus, youths (in accordance
with the conflict perspective), and black youths in particular, are perceived as
less powerful members of society. Their negative interactions with the police are
likely to influence their perceptions of the police.

48

Sander
According to data from the 1986 National Crime Survey (NCS), gender
has little effect on attitudes toward the police. Overall, in this survey, men and
women gave police the sam e ratings. About 9% of the males and 7% of the
females In the study rated the police poorly (Walker, 1992). In the past, women
have voiced their opinions or complained about inadequate police protection,
particularly in domestic-violence cases, and about police insensitivity in handling
rape cases. However, some researchers have found that gender does not have
a significant effect on citizens' perceptions or attitudes concerning the police.
For most Marxist feminists, the class division and the sexual division of
labor are both responsible for the position of women in society and how they are
treated. The sexual division of labor, they argue, is derived from the class
division of labor. Messerschmidt (1986) indicated that patriarchal capitalism
generally creates two groups in a society: a powerless group, which includes
women and the working class, and a powerful group, which includes men and the
capitalist class. He argued that, under patriarchal capitalism, individuals are
affected structurally by their class and gender positions, in interaction. Thus,
because individuals are enm eshed in class and gender structures that influence
the way they think about their circumstances, it is plausible that women view the
police differently than men do.

49

Income
Bucqueroux and Trojanowicz (1990) observed that:
The early law enforcement efforts in England show that even within a
seemingly cohesive culture, where everyone shared the sam e ethnic
roots, the sam e language and the sam e customs, differences in class
determined how the law w as applied, (p. 59)
Although the United States was founded on the ideal of a classless
society, various groups have been and to some degree still are being
discriminated against on the basis of income. Because the law enforcement
agency is part of the overall American social system, many members of lower
income groups suffer at the hands of the police. As indicated earlier, the police
represent the powerful (capitalists, the rich), whereas the poor are powerless and
have less influence in society. The experiences of the powerless with the police
determine their perceptions of and relations with the police.
During the Spoils Era, it was not uncommon to view police departments
that harassed minorities a s solidifying mainstream support. The "have-nots"
(minorities), those without substantial clout and income, frequently had good
reason to fear police violence, which often played out the interwoven them es of
"rich against poor," "us against them" (Bucqueroux & Trojanowicz, 1990), and
"the powerful” versus "the powerless" (Messerschmidt, 1986). Bucqueroux and
Trojanowicz also indicated that there is evidence that the police pay more
attention to the problems of the rich and powerful than they do to those of the
poor and powerless.

50

Quinney <1970) suggested that economic structure provides a grounding
for social and political institutions, for everyday life, and for social consciousness.
He further suggested that, with the development of capitalism, with class
divisions and class struggle, the state becam e necessary to serve a s a mediator.
The state, however, rose to protect and promote the interests of the dominant
class, who owned the m eans of production. Gold, Clarence, and Wright (1975)
suggested that:
[The] Capitalist State is oppressive not only because it supports the
interests of the dominant class, but also because it is responsible for the
design of the whole system within which the capitalist ruling class
dominates and the working class is dominated, (p. 36)
The coercive force of the state, embodied in law and legal repression, has
been the traditional m eans of maintaining the social and economic order. Hence,
law is an instrument of the state, serving the interests of the capitalist class
(Diamond, 1971).
Quinney (1970) suggested that individuals who do not own and control the
m eans of production, especially the working class, composed of minorities,
women, and the poor, accomm odate to and resist capitalist domination. He
further suggested that the dialectic between oppression by the capitalist class
(and the legal system) and the daily struggle for survival by the oppressed will
continue. It is therefore suggested that the perceptions of the police held by
citizens with high incomes will differ from those of the poor or those with low
incomes.

51
E d u c a t io n

Occupational prestige, income, and education usually are related to the
position one occupies in society. Those with higher statuses in society are held
in high regard by both the state and the police (Bucqueroux & Trojanowicz,
1990). Thus, these factors could condition one's perceptions of the police.
Religiosity
Conflict theorists suggest that religion is the opium of the people, teaching
acceptance of one’s status in life. Thus, even those who are oppressed and who
accept their status are likely to accept the police as well. Therefore, it w as
hypothesized in this study that citizens’ perceptions of the police will be
conditioned by their religiosity.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY
Introduction
The researcher’s primary purpose in this study was to identify the
association of selected sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., race, gender, age,
education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status) of residents of the
City of Saginaw, Michigan, with these citizens’ perceptions of the police. More
specifically, citizens’ perceptions with regard to (a) public support of the police,
(b) fair treatment by the police, (c) police aggressiveness, (d) harassm ent by the
police, and (e) overall police performance were investigated.
Information was obtained from a cross-section of citizens of the City of the
City of Saginaw, Michigan, by means of a community questionnaire.

This

approach w as useful in identifying citizens’ existing perceptions and gaining
deeper insights into both the police department and residents of the City of
Saginaw.
This chapter contains a discussion of the methodology used in conducting
the study. The research questions and hypotheses are restated, followed by a
discussion of the dependent and independent variables. The population is
described, and the sample-selection technique is explained. The composition
52

53

of the City of Saginaw Police Department is described next, followed by a
discussion of the questionnaire used in this study. The procedures used in
collecting and analyzing the data for this study also are explained.
Research Questions
This research w as undertaken in an attempt to answer the following
questions:
1.

Are respondents' perceptions that public support of the police is

important for keeping law and order conditioned by their sociodemographic
characteristics?
2.

Are respondents’

perceptions of fair treatment by the police

conditioned by their sododemographic characteristics?
3.

Are respondents’ perceptions of police aggressiveness conditioned

by their sociodemographic characteristics?
4.

Are respondents’

perceptions of harassm ent by the police

conditioned by their sododemographic characteristics?
5.

Are respondents’

perceptions of overall police performance

conditioned by their sododemographic characteristics?
General Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were tested in this study:
Hypothesis 1: Respondents’ perceptions that public support of the police
is important for keeping law and order are conditioned by their
sododemographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender, age, education,
income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status).

54

Hypothesis 2 : Respondents’ perceptions of fair treatment by the police
are conditioned by their sododemographic characteristics (e.g., race,
gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital
status).
Hypothesis 3: Respondents’ perceptions of police aggressiveness are
conditioned by their sododem ographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender,
age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status).
Hypothesis 4 : Respondents’ perceptions of harassm ent by the police are
conditioned by their sododem ographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender,
age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status).
Hypothesis 5: Respondents' perceptions of overall police performance
are conditioned by their sododemographic characteristics (e.g., race,
gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital
status).
The Dependent Variables
This study w as designed to examine the relationship of selected
sododem ographic characteristics (i.e., race, gender, age, education, income,
occupation, religiosity, and marital status) of the residents of the City of Saginaw
to these citizens’ perceptions of the police. Thus, the dependent variables in this
study were respondents' perceptions of public support of the police, fair
treatment by the police, police aggressiveness, harassm ent by the police, and
overall police performance.
The Independent Variables
The independent variables in this study were the following sododem o­
graphic characteristics:

race, gender, age, education, income, occupation,

religiosity, and marital status.

55

Conflict theory suggests that perceptions of the police vary by race.
Blacks, whites, and Hispanics were the racial groups included in this study. It
w as hypothesized that th ese groups would differ from each other in their
perceptions of the police.

In addition, m ales’ and females' perceptions of the

police were examined to determine whether th ese perceptions were conditioned
by gender.
In accordance with conflict theory, persons with less power in society (in
this case, younger people) may perceive the police differently than those who
have greater power or influence (in this case, older citizens).

Thus, the

researcher posited that younger citizens (12 to 21 years of age), adults (22 to 35
years of age), and older citizens (36 and above) might have differing perceptions
of the police.
It w as further hypothesized that citizens’ perceptions of the police are
conditioned by such sododemographic characteristics as education, income, and
occupation. In particular, less educated individuals might perceive the police
differently than those with higher levels of education, and those with higher
incomes and/or more prestigious occupations might view the police differently
than those with lower incomes and/or less occupational prestige.
The researcher further hypothesized that individuals with a higher level of
religiosity would view the police differently than those with a lower level of
religiosity, and that citizens’ marital status would condition their perceptions of
the police.

56

The Population
The population from which the study sam ple w as drawn comprised the
residents of the City of Saginaw, Michigan.

As of the 1990 census, the

population of the City of Saginaw w as 69,512. Of that number, 36,324 were
whites, 28,046 were blacks, 7,304 were Hispanics, and 677 were other
ethnicities (American Indian, Eskimo or Aleut, and Asian or Pacific Islander);
32,025 were mates, and 37,487 were females.
Selection of the Sample
A stratified random sampling technique w as used in selecting the sample
for this study. With this technique, every member of the population has an equal
probability of being included in the sample, in accordance with their position in
each stratum. In short, this technique w as used to draw a representative sample
from residents of the City of Saginaw, across racial/ethnic categories. The
random stratified sampling technique is a method of obtaining a greater degree
of representativeness by decreasing probable sampling error.
The 1990 census tracts for the City of Saginaw provided knowledge of the
city’s racial composition across census tracts. C ensus tracts 1 through 11 were
predominantly blacks (about 78%, on average), w hereas census tracts 12
through 21 were predominantly whites (about 86%, on average) (see Appendix
A). In census tracts 6,10, and 11, there were more Hispanics than in any other
tract (about 19.4%, on average).

57

Random samples of black, white, and Hispanic residents were drawn from
the respective racially identified census tracts.

More specifically, upon

identification of the appropriate census tracts, a reverse directory of addresses
allowed random selection of residences for the purpose of conducting door-todoor interviews. A representative sample of 303 City of Saginaw residents w as
selected for the study, in accordance with the city's racial composition. Thus,
approximately 50% of the initial sample were white, 40% were black, and 10%
were Hispanic. Other sododemographic characteristics of the sample are
discussed in detail in Chapter IV.
Composition of the City of Saginaw Police Department
The City of Saginaw Police Department has a total of 175 staff members,
according to the department’s May 1994 Affirmative Action Monthly Utilization
Report. Of that number, 158 were sworn officers and 17 were civilians. Of the
158 sworn officers, 95 were white males, 10 were white females, 28 were black
males, 9 were black females, 14 were Hispanic males, 1 w as a Hispanic female,
and 1 w as an Asian male. The 17 civilians included four white males, six white
females, five black females, and two Hispanic females. (See Table 3.1.)
Questionnaire Construction
The instrument used to gather the data for this study was similar to those
used in the Aurora Police Department, the Lansing Police Department, and the
Flint community policing project. (See Appendix B for a copy of the survey.) It

58

was also comparable to the standard community policing survey used by the
U.S. Department of Justice.

Table 3.1:

Composition of the City of Saginaw Police Department.
W/M

W/F

B/M

B/F

H/M

H/F

Al/M

Al/F

A/M

A/F

Total

Employees

99

16

28

14

14

3

0

0

1

0

175

Sworn
officers

95

10

28

9

14

1

0

0

1

0

158

4

6

0

5

0

2

0

0

0

0

17

Civilians

Source:
Key:

City of Saginaw Police Department. (1994, May). Affirmative
Action Monthly Utilization Report. Saginaw: Author.

W/M = White male
W/F = White female
B/M = Black male
B/F = Black female
H/M = Hispanic male

H/F = Hispanic female
Al/M = American Indian male
Al/F = American Indian female
A/M = Asian male
A/F = Asian female

The purposes of the Aurora Police Department's and the Lansing Police
Department’s community surveys were to determine the concerns and views of
Aurora and Lansing residents about their police departments and how the police
could best serve their communities’ needs. The surveys were sent to crosssections of the communities.
In the Flint community policing project, a series of interviews was
conducted with community residents to provide data on a wide range of
variables. These variables included experience of crime, crime reporting, the

59

performance of Flint police officers, and recommendations for improving the
police.
The purpose of the U.S. Department of Justice’s standard community
policing survey is to determine the concerns and views of the residents of a
particular community about their police. Survey results are used in planning
ways to improve police-community relations.
The questionnaire items that were used in this study pertained to
respondents' perceptions of public support of the police, fair treatment by the
police,

police aggressiveness,

police harassment,

and

overall police

performance. The items were a s follows:
15.

Public support of the police is important for keeping law and order.

17.

Do the local police treat people fairly?

36.

Aggressive police officers is a problem in my neighborhood.

38.

Unnecessary police harassm ent is a problem in my neighborhood.

41.

Police officers are usually. . . .

Participants responded to the first four of these items using a five-point Likerttype scale ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. They indicated
their perceptions of overall police performance using a five-point Likert-type scale
ranging from Very Helpful to Very Unhelpful.

For data-analysis purposes,

responses in the "Don't Know" category were treated as missing data because
they were considered neither a neutral nor a meaningful response. Moreover,
the number of responses in the "Don’t Know" category was very small.

60

A pilot test was conducted with a sample of 20 volunteers from Saginaw
Valley State University (juniors, seniors, and graduate students) to check on the
clarity of the items. Responses from the volunteers confirmed the items' clarity.
The average time it took sample members to complete the questionnaire w as 10
minutes.
Data-Collection Procedures
Questionnaires were hand delivered (door to door) to potential
respondents by 20 trained college-student volunteers, to facilitate a high
response rate. Volunteers received an extensive orientation and training on how
to administer the questionnaires (see Appendix C). The training also covered
appropriate appearance and attitude on the part of the volunteers, a s well as the
purposes and goals of the study.

Volunteers also learned how to assist

respondents who were not able to read the questions or who needed further
explanations. Volunteers were informed of the high ethical standards expected
of them and the strict level of supervision the researcher would maintain.
Although volunteers administered questionnaires personally, return-addressed
stamped envelopes were made available to respondents who could not complete
the survey at the time of the volunteer's visit.
Data-Analysis Techniques
A chi-square test of statistical significance w as used to determine the main
effects of respondents’ sododemographic characteristics on their perceptions of

61

the police. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare and contrast
respondents’ perceptions of police behaviors across categories of race, gender,
age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status.

More

specifically, respondents’ perceptions of the police were examined in terms of
public support of the police, fair treatment by the police, police aggressiveness,
police harassment, and overall police performance. Although attempts were
m ade to use all factors that were statistically significant in the chi-square results
in the ANOVA model, higher-order interaction terms in the ANOVA model were
limited due to the problem of empty cells. Although logistic regression would
have yielded more insights into the effect of individual independent variables, the
focus of this study was on differences in the perceptions of police behaviors
among groups; therefore, ANOVA w as chosen a s the appropriate statistical
technique. Results of the data analyses are reported in Chapter IV.

CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
Introduction
The researcher's primary purpose in this study w as to identify the
association of selected sododemographic characteristics (i.e., race, gender, age,
education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status) of residents of the
City of Saginaw, Michigan, with these citizens’ perceptions of the police. More
specifically, citizens’ perceptions with regard to (a) public support of the police,
(b) fair treatment by the police, (c) police aggressiveness, (d) harassm ent by the
police, and (e) overall police performance were investigated.
The research questions were as follows:
1.

Are respondents’ perceptions that public support of the police is

important for keeping law and order conditioned by their sododemographic
characteristics?
2.

Are respondents' perceptions of fair treatment by the police

conditioned by their sododemographic characteristics?
3.

Are respondents' perceptions of police aggressiveness conditioned

by their sociodemographic characteristics?

62

63

4.

Are respondents' perceptions of harassment by the police

conditioned by their sociodemographic characteristics?
5.

Are respondents’ perceptions of overall police performance

conditioned by their sociodemographic characteristics?
A stratified random sampling technique was used to draw the sample for
this study. The 1990 census tracts for the City of Saginaw, Michigan, were
examined to obtain information on the racial composition of the city so that a
sample proportionate to that of the entire city in terms of racial composition could
be selected. In total, 303 questionnaires were distributed; 269 of them were
returned, for a response rate of 89%.
Results of the data analysis are presented in this chapter. In the first
section, sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents are described.
Specific findings pertaining to the research hypotheses are presented in the
second section.
Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Respondents
In all, 269 residents of the City of Saginaw participated in this study. Of
that number, 115 (43%) were whites, 106 (39%) were blacks, and 37 (14%) were
Hispanics (see Table 4.1). One hundred thirty (49%) were males, and 137 (51 %)
were females.
Thirty respondents (13%) were between the ages of 12 and 21, 84 (36%)
were between 22 and 35, and 121 (52%) were 36 or older. This categorization
of age is based on previous research (cf. Trojanowicz, n.d.).

In terms of

educational experience, 30 (11%) had no high school education, 127 (48%) had
high school experience, and 108 (41%) had college experience. High school
experience included those who had graduated from high school and those who
had attended but had not graduated, whereas college experience included those
respondents who had attended college but had not graduated, those who had
graduated, and those who had attended graduate school.

Table 4.1:

Sociodemographic characteristics of the entire sample
(N - 269).

Characteristic

Category

Number

Percent

Race

White
Black
Hispanic

115
106
37

43
40
14

Gender

Male
Female

130
137

49
51

Age

12-21
22-35
36+

30
84
121

13
36
51

Education

< High school
High school exp.
College exp.

30
127
108

11
48
41

Income

< $10,000
$10,000-520,000
> $20,000

60
33
73

36
20
44

Occupation

Blue collar
White collar
Not working
Other

52
77
89
44

20
29
34
17

Religiosity

Never
About weekly
More frequently

95
142
26

36
54
10

Marital status

Single
Married

149
117

56
44

65

Table 4.1 also shows that 60 respondents (36%) had incomes below
$10,000 per year, 33 (20%) had incomes between $10,000 and $20,000, and 73
(44%) had incomes above $20,000. Respondents’ occupations were classified
as blue-collar (included factory worker, plumber, welder, and construction
worker), white-collar (included teacher, doctor, banker, counselor, secretary/
typist, restaurant worker, and salesperson), not working (included retirees and
unemployed people), and other. Fifty-two respondents (20%) were blue-collar
workers, 77 (29%) were white-collar workers, 89 (34%) were not working, and 44
(17%) were classified as other.
Ninety-five respondents (36%) said they never attended church, 142
(54%) attended church about weekly, and 26 (10%) said they attended church
more frequently than once a week. Of the 266 respondents who indicated their
marital status, 149 (56%) were single (never married, divorced, separated, or
widowed), whereas 117 (44%) were married.
Results of Hypothesis Testing
In the following pages, each hypothesis is restated, followed by the
findings regarding that hypothesis.
Importance of Public Support
of the Police
Hypothesis 1: Respondents’ perceptions that public support of the police
is important for keeping law and order are conditioned by their
sododemographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender, age, education,
income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status).

66

In Item 15 of the survey, respondents were asked to indicate the extent
to which they agreed that public support of the police is important for keeping law
and order, using the following four-point Likert-type scale: Strongly Agree (SA),
Agree (A), Disagree (D), and Strongly Disagree (SD).

For data-analysis

purposes, the four possible responses (SA, A, D, and SD) were collapsed into
two categories: positive (SA and A) and negative (D and SD).
A chi-square test of statistical significance was conducted to determine
whether respondents' perceptions of the importance of public support of the
police were related to their race, gender, age, education, income, occupation,
religiosity, and/or marital status. The chi-square results are shown in Table 4.2.
As indicated in the table, the respondents’ perceptions of the importance of
public support of the police were significantly related to their race (X2 = 10.8, p
< .05), gender (X2 = 3.6, p < .05), age (X2 = 8.2, p < .05), education (X2 = 25.0,
p = .05), income (X2 = 6.1, p = .05), occupation (X2 = 9.6, p = .05), religiosity (X2
= 5.8, p = .05), and marital status (X2 = 4.0, p = .05).
Results of the chi-square tests indicated that white respondents (100%)
perceived the importance of public support of the police more positively than did
black (91 %) and Hispanic (90%) respondents. Females (98%) had more positive
perceptions regarding public support of the police than did males (93%).
Likewise, older respondents (99%) had more positive perceptions than did
younger respondents (88% and 96%).

67

Table 4.2:

Results of chi-square analysis of respondents’ perceptions of the
importance of public support of the police, by their soctodemographic characteristics.
Posi­
tive (%)

Nega­
tive (%)

df

ChiSquare

p-Value

White
Black
Hispanic

100
91
90

0
9
10

2

10.8

.0046"

Gender

Male
Female

93
98

8
2

1

3.6

.0568'

Age

12-21
22-35
36+

88
96
99

12
4
1

2

8.2

.0163'

< High school
High school exp.
College exp.

76
95
100

24
5
0

2

25.0

.0000” *

< $10,000
$10,000-$20,000
> $20,000

96
91
100

4
9
0

2

6.1

.0476*

Blue-collar
White-collar
Not working
Other

90
100
96
89

10
0
4
11

3

9.6

.0225*

Never
Weekly
More frequently

91
97
100

9
3
0

2

5.8

.0547*

93
98

7
2

1

4.0

.0464'

Demographic
Characteristic
Race

Education

Income

Occupation

Religiosity

Marital status

Category

Single
Married

'Significant at the .05 level.
"Significant at the .01 level.
"'Significant at the .001 level.

68

Respondents with high school (95%) and less than high school education
(76%) had less positive perceptions regarding the importance of public support
of the police than did respondents with college-level experience (100%).
Respondents who earned more than $20,000 per year (100%) perceived the
importance of public support of the police more positively than did those who
earned less than $20,000 per year (91% and 96%). Respondents who were
white-collar workers (100%) perceived the importance of public support of the
police more positively than did blue-collar workers (90%), those not working
(96%), and "other" respondents (89%). Respondents who attended church more
frequently than once a week (100%) were more positive in their perceptions of
the importance of public support of the police than were respondents who never
attended church (91%) and those who attended church weekly (97%).
Respondents who were married (98%) had more positive perceptions of the
importance of public support of the police than did those who were single (93%).
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) allows one to observe the differences
between groups with interaction effects being recorded. In this study, ANOVA
was used to examine differences in respondents’ perceptions of the importance
of public support of the police according to their race, age, education, income,
and marital status. The statistically significant differences that were observed are
reported in Table 4.3. As shown in the table, respondents' perceptions of the
importance of public support of the police varied by race (F = 5.54, p < .01), age
(F = 5.24, p < .01), and education (F = 4.39, p < .01). Moreover, the following

69

significant interactions were observed: race by age (F - 2.37, p < .05), race by
education (F = 7.80, p < .001), age by education (F = 3.43, p < .01), and race by
marital status (F = 3.24, p < .05).

Table 4.3:

Results of ANOVA for differences in respondents’ perceptions
regarding the importance of public support of the police, based on
their sociodemographic characteristics.
Main Effects
Age
5.24“

Race
4.54*

Education
4.39“

Two-Way Interactions
Race x Age
2.37*

Race x Education
7.80“ *

Age x Education
3.43“

Three-W ay Interactions
Race x Age x Education
0.52
•Significant at the .05 level.
“ Significant at the .01 level.
•“ Significant at the .001 level.

White respondents (mean = 3.47) had more positive perceptions
regarding the importance of public support of the police than did black (mean =
3.15) and Hispanic (mean = 2.44) respondents. However, black respondents
had more positive perceptions than did Hispanicrespondents. Respondents' age
also conditioned their perceptions of the importance of public support of the

70

police. As respondents’ age increased, their perceptions becam e more positive
(12-21 year olds’ mean = 2.63, 22-35 year olds’ mean = 3.14, 36 and over mean
~ 3.45). Furthermore, the effect of race was more pronounced among younger
respondents than among older respondents. Young blacks (mean = 2.74) and
young Hispanics (mean = 1.83) had more negative perceptions than did young
whites (mean = 3.20). However, older respondents of all races had similar
positive perceptions of the importance of public support of the police (whites’
mean = 3.50, blacks’ mean = 3.37, Hispanics1 mean = 3.25).
Respondents’ educational level also had a significant influence on their
perceptions of the importance of public support of the police. Respondents who
had high school experience (mean = 3.21) and those with college experience
(mean = 3.41) had more positive perceptions concerning the importance of public
support of the police than did respondents with less than high school experience
(mean - 2.52).
The interaction between race and education also was significant. White
respondents with less than high school education (mean - 3.67) had more
positive perceptions regarding the importance of public support of the police than
did black (mean = 2.25) and Hispanic (mean = 2.60) respondents with the sam e
education. But both white (mean = 3.47) and black (mean = 3.28) respondents
with high school education had more positive perceptions of the importance of
public support of the police than did Hispanic respondents (mean = 2.39) with
similar educational experience.

71

The interaction between education and age also was significant. Among
respondents who were between 12 and 21 years of age, those with college
experience had more positive perceptions regarding the importance of public
support of the police than did individuals with other educational levels. Similarly,
among respondents who were 22 years and older, those with less than high
school experience had more negative perceptions regarding the importance of
public support of the police than did respondents with other levels of education.
Also significant was the interaction between race and marital status.
White respondents who were single (mean = 3.49) had more positive perceptions
regarding the importance of public support of the police than did single black
(mean - 2.97) and Hispanic (mean = 2.62) respondents.
Fair Treatment of Citizens
by the Bolice
Hypothesis 2: Respondents' perceptions of fair treatment by the police
are conditioned by their sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., race,
gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital
status).
In Item 17 of the survey, respondents were asked to rate the extent to
which they agreed that the local police treat people fairly, using the following
four-point Likert-type scale: Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D), and
Strongly Disagree (SD). For data-analysis purposes, thefour possible responses
(SA, A, D, and SD) were collapsed into two categories: positive (SA and A) and
negative (D and SD).

72

A chi-square test of statistical significance was used to determine whether
respondents' perceptions regarding fair treatment of citizens by the police were
related to their race, gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity,
and/or marital status. The chi-square results are shown in Table 4.4. As
indicated in the table, respondents’ perceptions regarding fair treatment of
citizens by the police were significantly related to their race (X2 = 10.3, p < .05),
age (X2 = 17.1, p < .05), religiosity (X2 = 10.5, p < .05), and marital status (X2 =
9.6, p < .05).

No statistically significant relationship was found between

respondents’ perceptions regarding fair treatment of citizens by the police and
their gender, education, income, and occupation.
White respondents (81%) had more positive perceptions regarding fair
treatment of citizens by the local police than did blacks (62) and Hispanics (52%).
Black respondents did, however, have more positive perceptions than did
Hispanics. Respondents' perceptions regarding fair treatment of citizens by the
police also varied by age.

Older respondents (83%) had more positive

perceptions in this area than did younger respondents (38%).
In addition, respondents who attended church more frequently than once
a week (79%) had more positive perceptions regarding fair treatment of citizens
by the police than did those who never attended church (53%). Marital status
also influenced respondents’ perceptions in this area. Respondents who were
married (80%) had more positive perceptions regarding fair treatment of citizens
by the police than did those who were single (58%).

73
Table 4.4:

Results of chi-square analysis of respondents’ perceptions of fair
treatment of citizens by the police, by their sociodemographic
characteristics.

Demographic
Characteristic

Posi­
tive (%)

Nega­
tive <%)

df

ChiSquare

p-Value

White
Black
Hispanic

81
62
52

19
38
48

2

10.3

.0059*

Gender

Male
Female

66
71

34
29

1

0.7

.3942

Age

12-21
22-35
36+

38
64
82

62
36
18

2

17.1

< High school
High school exp.
College exp.

65
69
66

35
31
34

2

0.2

.9107

< $10,000
$10,000-$20,000
> $20,000

63
56
80

37
44
20

2

4.8

.0909

Blue-collar
White-collar
Not working
Other

67
73
69
52

33
27
31
48

3

3.7

.2975

Never
Weekly
More frequently

53
76
79

47
24
21

2

10.5

.0054*

Single
Married

58
80

42
20

1

9.6

.0020*

Race

Education

income

Occupation

Religiosity

Marital status

Category

'Significant at the .01 level.
"Significant at the .001 level.

.0002"

74

ANOVA was used to examine differences in respondents' perceptions
regarding fair treatment of citizens by the
sociodemographic characteristics.

police,

based

on their

As shown in Table 4.5, no statistically

significant differences were found in respondents' perceptions in this area, based
on their sododemographic characteristics.

Table 4.5:

Results of ANOVA for differences in respondents' perceptions
regarding fair treatment of citizens by the police, based on their
sociodemographic characteristics.
Main Effects
Race
0.21

Age
0.73

Religiosity
0.02

Two-Way Interactions
Race x Age
2.20

Race x Religiosity
0.59

Age x Religiosity
1.35

Three-W ay Interactions
Race x Age x Religiosity
0.49
Main Effects
Race
0.29

Marital Status
2.88
Two-Way Interactions
Race x Marital Status
0.72

75

Police Aggressiveness
Hypothesis 3: Respondents’ perceptions of police aggressiveness are
conditioned by their sododemographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender,
age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status).
In Item 36 of the survey, respondents were asked to rate the extent to
which they agreed that aggressive police behavior is a problem in their
neighborhood, using the following four-point Likert-type scale: Strongly Agree
(SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D), and Strongly Disagree (SD). For data-anaiysis
purposes, the four possible responses (SA, A, D, and SD) were collapsed into
two categories: positive (D and SD) and negative (A and SA). Because of how
Item 36 was framed, disagreement with the statement indicated a positive
perception of police behavior and vice versa.
A chi-square test of statistical significance was used to determine whether
respondents' perceptions of aggressive police behavior were related to their
race, gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and/or marital
status. The chi-square results are presented in Table 4.6. As seen in the table,
respondents’ perceptions of police aggressiveness were significantly related to
their race (X2 = 13.6, p < .06), gender (X2 = 6.3, p < .05), occupation (X2 = 9.3,
p < .05), and marital status (X2 = 4.4, p < .05). No statistically significant
relationship was found between respondents' perceptions of police aggressive­
ness and their age, education, income, and religiosity.

76
Table 4.6:

Results of chi-square analysis of respondents' perceptions of
whether aggressive police behavior is a problem, by their socio­
demographic characteristics.
Posi­
tive (%)

Nega­
tive (%)

df

ChiSquare

p-Value

White
Black
Hispanic

90
70
58

10
30
42

2

13.6

.0011"

G ender

Male
Female

69
85

31
15

1

6.3

.0118*

Age

12-21
22-35
36+

68
77
86

32
23
14

2

4.7

.0939

< High school
High school exp.
College exp.

61
81
74

39
19
26

2

3.4

.1818

< $10,000
$10,000-$20,000
> $20,000

68
74
83

32
26
17

2

2.8

.2430

Blue-collar
White-collar
Not working
Other

61
89
76
81

39
11
24
19

3

9.3

.0252*

Never
Weekly
More frequently

70
79
82

30
21
18

2

2.0

.3735

Single
Married

70
84

30
16

1

4.4

.0349*

Demographic
Characteristic
Race

Education

Income

Occupation

Religiosity

Marital status

Category

'Significant at the .05 level.
"Significant at the .001 level.

77

Black (30%) and Hispanic (42%) respondents perceived aggressive police
behavior as more of a problem than did white respondents (10%). However,
black respondents perceived the police as less aggressive than did Hispanic
respondents. Also, more males (31%) than females (15%) agreed (negative
perception) that aggressive police behavior was a problem.
The perception that aggressive police behavior was a problem was more
prevalent among blue-collar workers (40%) than among respondents in other
occupational categories (not working = 24%, "other" -19% , white-collar = 11%).
White-collar workers were the least likely occupational group to perceive
aggressive police behavior as a problem. In addition, respondents who were
married (84%) had more positive perceptions of the police than did those who
were single (70%).
ANOVA was used to further examine significant differences among
respondents' perceptions of aggressive police behavior relative to race, gender,
education, occupation, and marital status. There were no significant main effects
or interactions relative to perceptions of police aggressive behavior. As shown
in Table 4.7, there was a statistically significant three-way interaction in relation
to respondents’ perceptions of aggressive police behavior.

A significant

interaction was observed among race, occupation, and marital status (F = 2.26,
p < .05). In particular, single white respondents who were blue-collar workers
(mean = 3.00) did not perceive aggressive police behavior to be as much of a
problem as did single black blue-collar (mean = 1.89) or single Hispanic blue-

78

collar (mean = 1.50) respondents. Respondents who were white married whitecollar workers (mean = 2.52) were more positive in their perceptions that
aggressive police behavior was not a problem than were black (mean = 1.00) or
Hispanic (mean = 1.00) respondents who were married white-collar workers.

Table 4.7:

Results of ANOVA for differences in respondents’ perceptions of
aggressive police behavior, based on their sociodemographic
characteristics.
Main Effects
Gender
3.17

Race
2.02

Education
1.24

Two-Way Interactions
Race x Gender
1.28

Race x Education
2.02

Gender x Education
0.14

Three-W ay Interactions
Race x Gender x Education
1.24
Main Effects
Race
2.36

Occupation
0.37

Marital Status
0.53

Two-Way Interactions
Race x Occupation
1.07

Race x Marital Status
1.38

Occupation x Marital Status
0.82

Three-W ay Interactions
Race x Occupation x Marital Status
2.26*
"Significant at the .05 level.

79

Harassment by the Police
Hypothesis 4 : Respondents’ perceptions of harassment by the police are
conditioned by their sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender,
age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status).
In Item 38 of the survey, respondents were asked to rate the extent to
which they agreed that unnecessary police harassment is a problem in their
neighborhood, using the following four-point Likert-type scale: Strongly Agree
(SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D), and Strongly Disagree (SD). For data-analysis
purposes, the four possible responses (SA, A, D, and SD) were collapsed into
two categories: positive (D and SD) and negative (A and SA).
A chi-square test of statistical significance was used to determine whether
respondents’perceptions of police harassment were related to their race, gender,
age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and/or marital status. The chisquare results are presented in Table 4.8. As shown in the table, respondents’
perceptions of police harassment were significantly related to their race (X2 =
34.8, p < .05), gender (X2 = 9.6, p < .05), age (X2 = 14.7, p < .05), education (X2
= 11.3, p < .05), income (X2 = 6.0, p < .05), occupation (X2 = 12.2, p < .05), and
marital status (X2 = 11.1, p < .05). No statistically significant relationship was
found between respondents' perceptions of police harassment and their
religiosity.
As shown in Table 4.8, black (33%) and Hispanic (56%) respondents had
more negative perceptions of police harassment than did white (4%)
respondents. However, Hispanic respondents perceived police harassment

80
Table 4.8:

Results of chi-square analysis of respondents' perceptions of
police harassment as a problem, by their sociodemographic
characteristics.

Demographic
Characteristic

Posi­
tive (%)

Nega­
tive (%)

df

ChiSquare

p-Value

White
Black
Hispanic

96
67
44

4
33
56

2

34.8

.0000“ *

G ender

Male
Female

67
87

33
13

1

9.6

.0019“

Age

12-21
22-35
36+

60
77
92

40
24
8

2

14.7

.0006’“

< High school
High school exp.
College exp.

48
78
82

52
22
18

2

11.3

.0035“

< $10,000
$10,000-$20,000
> $20,000

68
74
90

32
26
10

2

6.0

.0510’

Blue-collar
White-collar
Not working
Other

55
89
73
79

45
11
27
21

3

12.2

.0068“

Never
Weekly
More frequently

67
81
80

33
19
20

2

4.0

Single
Married

67
88

33
12

Race

Education

Income

Occupation

Religiosity

Marital status

Category

‘Significant at the .05 level.
“ Significant at the .01 level.
‘“ Significant at the .001 level.

1

11.1

.1332

.0009*“

81

more negatively than did black respondents.

The perception of police

harassment by male respondents (33%) was more negative than that of female
(13%) respondents. Young respondents between the ages of 12 and 21 (40%)
had more negative perceptions of police harassment than did those who were
22 to 35 years old (24%) and 36 years or older (8%). Thus, as respondents got
older, their perceptions of police harassment became less negative.
Respondents who had less than high school experience (52%) perceived
police harassment more negatively than did those with high school (22%) and
college (18%) experience. Hence, as respondents’ educational level increased,
their perceptions of police harassment became less negative. Respondents who
earned more than $20,000 per year (90%) had more positive perceptions that
police harassment was not a problem than did respondents who made less than
$20,000 per year. The white-collar respondents were more positive (89%) that
police harassment was not a problem than were blue-collar workers (55%), those
not working (73%), and other respondents (79%). Respondents who were
married (12%) perceived police harassment less negatively than did single
respondents (33%).
ANOVA was used to examine differences in respondents’ perceptions of
police harassment, based on significant differences found regarding race,
gender, age, education, and occupation. The statistically significant observed
differences are reported in Table 4.9. As shown in the table, respondents'
perceptions of police harassment varied according to race (F = 4.72, p < .01).

82

In addidtion, a significant interaction was observed between race and age (F =
2.71, p < .05).

No significant differences were observed relative to other

interactions.

Table 4.9:

Results of ANOVA for differences in respondents’ perceptions of
police harassment as a problem, based on their sociodemographic
characteristics.
Main Effects
Race
2.35

Gender
0.45

Age
2.83

Two-Way Interactions
Race x Gender
0.55

Race x Age
2.71*

Gender x Age
0.21

Three-W ay Interactions
Race x Gender x Age
0.28
Main Effects
Race
4.72**

Education
0.95

Occupation
0.29

Two-Way Interactions
Race x Education
0.66

Race x Occupation
1.04
Three-W ay Interactions
Race x Age x Occupation
1.07

"Significant at the .05 level.
""Significant at the .01 level.

Education x Occupation
1.08

83

Similar to the chi-square results, the ANOVA results showed that more
white respondents than black and Hispanic respondents perceived police
harassm ent a s not being a problem. The effect of age was more pronounced
among black and Hispanic respondents than among whites. In particular, black
respondents who were between 22 and 35 years of age (mean = 1.25) had more
negative perceptions of police harassm ent than did those who were between 12
and 21 years old (mean = 2.37) and those who were 36 years or older (mean =
2.44). Hispanic respondents who were 36 years or older (mean = 3.00) had
more positive perceptions that police harassment w as not a problem than did
younger Hispanics—those who were between 12 and 21 years of age (mean =
1.33) and between 22 and 35 years of age (mean = 1.27).
Overall Police Performance
Hypothesis 5: Respondents’ perceptions of overall police performance
are conditioned by their sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., race,
gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital
status).
In Item 41 of the survey, respondents were asked to rate how helpful
police officers were, using the following four-point Likert-type scale: Very Helpful
(VH), Helpful (H), Unhelpful (U), and Very Unhelpful (VU). For data-analysis
purposes, the four possible responses (VH, H, U, and VU) were collapsed into
two categories: positive (VH and H) and negative (U and VU).
A chi-square test of statistical significance was used to determine whether
respondents’ perceptions of overall police performance were related to their race,

84

gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and/or marital status.
The chi-square results are presented in Table 4.10. As shown in the table,
respondents’ perceptions of overall police performance were significantly related
to their race (X2 = 9.4, p < .05), gender (X2 = 3.6, p < .05), age (X2 = 18.8, p <
.05), income (X2 = 7.8, p < .05), religiosity (X2 = 12.6, p < .05), and marital status
(X2 = 12.4, p < .05). No statistically significant relationship was found between
respondents’ perceptions of overall police performance and their education and
occupation.
White respondents (89%) had more positive perceptions of overall police
performance than did black (73%) and Hispanic (67%) respondents. However,
blacks had more positive perceptions of police performance than did Hispanics.
Females (85%) perceived police performance more positively than did males
(75%). Young respondents between the ages of 12 and 21 (46%) had more
negative perceptions of police performance than did older respondents-those
who were between 22 and 35 years of age (26%) and those who were 35 or
older (8%). Thus, as respondents got older, their perceptions of overall police
performance becam e less negative.
Respondents who earned less than $10,000 per year (30%) had more
negative perceptions of overall police performance than did those who earned
$10,000 to $20,000 per year (27%) and those who earned more than $20,000
per year (9%). Thus, as respondents’ income increased, their perceptions of
police performance becam e less negative.

85
Table 4.10:

Results of chi-square analysis of respondents' perceptions of
overall police performance, bytheir sociodemographic characteris­
tics.

Demographic
Characteristic

Posi­
tive (%)

N ega­
tive (%)

df

ChiSquare

p-Value

White
Black
Hispanic

89
73
67

11
27
33

2

9.4

.0 0 8 9 "

G ender

Male
Female

75
85

26
15

1

3.6

.0575*

Age

12-21
22-35
36+

55
74
92

46
26
8

2

18.8

< High school
High school exp.
College exp.

70
78
83

30
22
17

2

2.1

.3573

< $10,000
$10,000-$20,000
> $20,000

70
73
91

30
27
9

2

7.8

.0 1 9 9 "

Blue-collar
White-collar
Not working
Other

77
89
76
71

23
11
24
29

3

4.9

.1799

Never
Weekly
More frequently

67
85
95

33
15
5

2

12.6

.0 0 1 9 "’

Single
Married

70
90

30
10

1

12.4

.0004*"

R ace

Education

Income

Occupation

Religiosity

Marital status

Category

'Significant at the .05 level.
"Significant at the .01 level.
'"Significant at the .001 level.

.0001"*

86

Respondents who were white-collar workers (89%) perceived police
performance more positively than did respondents who were blue-coliar (77%),
not working (76%), and "other" (71 %). Respondents who never attended church
(33%) had more negative perceptions of overall police performance than did
those who attended church about weekly (15%) and more frequently than once
a week (5%).

Also, respondents who were single (30%) perceived police

performance more negatively than did married respondents (10%).
ANOVA was used to examine differences in respondents’ perceptions of
overall police performance, based on their race, age, income, religiosity,
occupation, and marital status. A statistically significant difference w as observed
with regard to marital status (F = 4.83, p < .05) (see Table 4.11). In particular,
the ANOVA results indicated that married respondents (mean = 2.49) had more
positive perceptions of overall police performance than did those who were single
(mean = 2.06). No significant differences were observed relative to race, age,
income, occupation, religiosity, or the interactions.
A summary of the findings for each research question is given in Table
4.12. A summary and discussion of the study findings and recommendations for
practice and further research are presented in Chapter V.

87
Table 4.11:

Results of ANOVA for differences in respondents’ perceptions
regarding overall police performance, based on their sociodemo­
graphic characteristics.

Main Effects
I
I

Age
1.46

Race
0.61

Income
0.17

Two-W ay Interactions
Race x Age
0.47

Race x Income
0.77

Age x Income
0.35

Three-W ay Interactions
Race x Age x Income
1.02
Main Effects
Religiosity
2.03

Race
2.31

Occupation
0.79

Two-W ay Interactions
Race x Religiosity
1.75

Race x Occupation
0.78

Religiosity x Occupation
0.62

Three-W ay Interactions
Race x Religiosity x Occupation
0.87
Main Effects
Race
1.37

Marital Status
4.83*
Two-W ay Interactions
Race x Marital Status
1.35

*Significant at the .05 level.

Table 4.12:

Summary of the findings for each research question.

Sociodemographic
Characteristic
R ace

R esearch Question
1

2

3

4

5

AA

AA

AA

AAA

AA

*

A*

A

AAA

AAA

Gender

*

Age

*

Education

AAA

***

AA

*

Income
Occupation

A

*

A

Religiosity

*

AA

Marital Status

*

AA

Key:

1
2
3
4
5

“ Significant at the .01 level.
“ ‘Significant at the .001 level.

AA

AAA

*

= Importance of public support of the police.
= Fair treatment by the police.
= Police aggressiveness.
= H arassment by the police.
= Overall police performance.

‘Significant at the .05 level.

AA

AAA

AAA

CHAPTERV

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Summary
The researcher’s primary purpose in this study w as to identify the
association ofselected sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., race, gender, age,
education, income, occupation, religiosity, and marital status) of residents of the
City of Saginaw, Michigan, with perceptions of the police. More specifically,
citizens' perceptions with regard to (a) public support of the police, (b) fair
treatm ent by the police, (c) police aggressiveness, (d) harassm ent by the police,
and (e) overall police performance were investigated.
The target population from which the study sam ple w as drawn comprised
residents of the City of Saginaw, Michigan. According to the 1990 census, the
population of th e City of Saginaw is 69,512.

The city is a heterogeneous

community, inclusive of whites, blacks, and Hispanics. The 1990 cen su s data
for the City of Saginaw were used to identify census tracts that had reasonable
representations of whites, blacks, and Hispanics. Thus, census tracts 1 ,2 ,6 ,1 0 ,
12, 14, 15, 18, and 20 were selected. Three hundred three residents were
chosen from these tracts by m eans of a stratified random sampling technique.
This w as done in an effort to achieve a sam ple from the three racial/ethnic
89

90

groups proportionate to their representation in the population.

Of the 303

questionnaires distributed among interviewers, 269 were completed, for a
response rate of 89%.
A community survey was used to collect the data for this study (see
Appendix B for a copy of the survey). The questionnaire w as based on those
used by the Aurora, Michigan, Police Department and the Lansing, Michigan,
Police Department; the Flint, Michigan, Community Policing Project; and a
standard community survey used by the U.S. Department of Justice. The
questionnaire included 47 statem ents pertaining to crime and citizens'
perceptions of the police. Participants were asked to respond to each item.
Questions were phrased using an ordinal Likert-type scale format. In addition,
the questionnaire contained 14 items designed to elicit sociodemographic
information about the respondents.
A te st pilot was conducted with a sample of 20 volunteers from Saginaw
Valley State University (juniors, seniors, and graduate students). Responses
from the volunteers confirmed the items’ clarity. The average time it took sample
members to complete the questionnaire was 10 minutes.
Twenty college-student volunteers were given an extensive orientation
and training on how to administer the questionnaires and how to conduct
themselves with the potential respondents. To maximize the response rate,
volunteers administered the questionnaires door to door to potential respondents.

91

Descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages were
used in reporting sociodemographic information on the respondents. A chisquare test of statistical significance w as used to determine whether
respondents’ perceptions of the police relative to the importance of public support
of the police, fair treatment by the police, police aggressiveness, harassm ent by
the police, and overall police performance varied significantly by their
sododem ographic characteristics (i.e., race, gender, age, education, income,
occupation, religiosity, and/or marital status). ANOVA w as used to examine
differences in respondents' perceptions of the police, based on their
sododem ographic characteristics, with the interaction effects being recorded.
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework for this study w as derived from conflict theory.
More specifically, conflict theory suggests that crime and criminal law evolve from
the struggles individuals are engaged in relative to resources available,
constraints, and social forces that exist in a society.
To that end, conflict theorists suggest that m em bers of the ruling class
implement laws that benefit themselves. Therefore, indiscretions of m em bers of
the working or nonruling class are more likely to be perceived a s deviant and
com e to the attention of legal authorities. Hence, hypotheses for this study were
derived from the conflict perspective, which suggests that marginal-status people
are more likely to view the police negatively than are individuals from higherstatus backgrounds.

92

Summary of Impact of Independent Variables
The following observations were m ade concerning the impact of
respondents' race, gender, age, education, income, occupation, religiosity, and
marital status on their perceptions of the police in term s of the importance of
public support of the police, fair treatment by the police, police aggressiveness,
harassm ent by the police, and overall police performance.
R ace. Respondents’ race had a statistically significant relationship with
their perceptions of the police in term s of the importance of public support of the
police, fair treatm ent by the police, police aggressiveness, harassm ent by the
police, and overall police performance.

Race w as consistently found to be

statistically significant in all of the chi-square test results. More specifically, white
respondents consistently had more positive perceptions of the police than did
black and Hispanic respondents.
G ender. Respondents' gender had a statistically significant relationship
with their perceptions of the police in terms of the importance of public support
of the police, police aggressiveness, harassm ent by the police, and overall police
performance. In particular, fem ales consistently had more positive perceptions
of the police than did males. The differences in female and male respondents’
perceptions of fair treatment by the police were not statistically significant.
Age. Respondents' age had a statistically significant relationship with their
perceptions of the police in term s of the importance of public support of the
police, fair treatment by the police, harassm ent by the police, and overall police

93

performance. More specifically, older respondents’ perceptions of the police in
th ese respects were consistently more positive than those of younger
respondents. The chi-square test results showed that, as respondents’ age
increased, they becam e more positive in their perceptions of the police. The
difference

in older and

younger respondents'

perceptions

of police

aggressiveness was not statistically significant.
Education. Respondents' educational level had a significant impact on
their perceptions of the importance of public support of the police and
harassm ent by the police. In particular, respondents who had college experience
consistently had more positive perceptions of the police in the above areas than
did those with less than college experience. In addition, the chi-square test
results showed that, a s the respondents’ educational experience increased, their
perceptions also becam e more positive. The relationship between respondents’
educational level and their perceptions of fair treatment by the police, police
aggressiveness, and overall police performance w as not statistically significant.
Income. Respondents' income had a statistically significant relationship
with their perceptions of the importance of public support of the police,
harassm ent by the police, and overall police performance. More specifically,
respondents who earned more than $20,000 per year had more positive
perceptions of the importance of public support of the police, harassm ent by the
police, and overall police performance than did respondents who earned less
than $20,000 annually.

No statistically significant relationship w as found

94

between respondents’ income and their perceptions of fair treatm ent by the
police and police aggressiveness.
Occupation. A statistically significant relationship w as observed between
respondents’ occupation and their perceptions regarding the importance of public
support of the police, police aggressiveness, and harassm ent by the police.
More specifically, white-coliar respondents had more positive perceptions of the
police than did those in the other three work categories. However, no statistically
significant relationship was found between respondents’ occupation and their
perceptions of fair treatment by the police and overall police performance.
Religiosity.

R espondents’ religiosity had a statistically significant

relationship with their perceptions regarding the importance of public support of
the police, fair treatment by the police, and overall police performance.

In

particular, respondents who attended church more frequently than once a week
had more positive perceptions of the police than did those who never attended
church or who attended church about weekly.

No statistically significant

relationship w as found between respondents’ religiosity and their perceptions of
police aggressiveness and harassm ent by the police.
Marital status. The chi-square test revealed a statistically significant
relationship between respondents’ marital status and their perceptions regarding
th e importance of public support of the police, fair treatm ent by the police, police
aggressiveness, harassm ent by the police, and overall police performance. More

95

specifically, married respondents consistently had more positive perceptions of
the police in these areas than did respondents who were single.
Analysis of variance. ANOVA results showed that the effect of race w as
more pronounced among young respondents than among older respondents. In
particular, young white respondents had more positive perceptions regarding the
importance of public support of the police than did young black and young
Hispanic respondents.

Older respondents of all three races had relatively

positive perceptions of the police.
The effect of race w as more pronounced among respondents with less
than high school experience than among those with college experience. More
specifically, white respondents with less than high school education had more
positive perceptions than did black and Hispanic respondents with similar
education regarding the importance of public support of the police.
The effect of race also w as more pronounced among single respondents
than among married ones. In particular, single white respondents had more
positive perceptions regarding the importance of public support of the police than
did single black and single Hispanic respondents.
The effect of race w as more pronounced among single blue-collar
respondents than among married white-collar respondents. More specifically,
single white respondents who were blue-coliar workers had more positive
perceptions that police aggressiveness was opt a problem than did single black
or Hispanic respondents who were blue-collar workers. In addition, married

96

white white-collar respondents had more positive perceptions that police
aggressiveness w as not a problem than did married black and Hispanic whitecollar workers.
The interaction of age and education had a statistically significant effect
on respondents' perceptions regarding the importance of public support of the
police. More specifically, among respondents between 12 and 21 years of age,
those with college experience had more positive perceptions than did those with
less than college experience. Among the respondents who were 22 years or
older, those with high school experience and college experience had more
positive perceptions regarding the importance of public support of the police than
did those with less than high school experience.
Discussion
Conflict theory suggests that conflict in society is a product of scarce
resources and inequality in the distribution of those resources, notably power.
This inequality creates a conflict of interest between two classes in society-those
with and those without power. Void (1958) em phasized that the whole process
of law making, law breaking, and law enforcement directly reflects the deepseated and fundamental conflicts between th ese group interests.
Quinney (1970) suggested that the legal system (i.e., the police) best
represents the interests of those who hold power in society. The legal system
is, therefore, a method of regulating and controlling the behaviors of the less

97

powerful (i.e., predominantly poor, minorities—black and Hispanics, and the
disadvantaged).
B ecause the police are seen a s protectors and enforcers of th e powerful
or dominant class (mainly white males) interests in society, the conflict of
interests betw een the powerless and the powerful will spill over to them . Thus,
th e police could be negatively perceived by the less powerful b ec au se of the
interests of those (the powerful) they represent.

Furthermore, th e police

generally will be perceived positively by those w hose interests they protect.
The results of this study supported the assum ptions underlying conflict
theory. Results of the chi-square test of statistical significance indicated that
white respondents consistently had more positive perceptions of the police (who
represent and protect their interests) than did black and Hispanic respondents
(disproportionate num bers of whom belong to the less powerful group).
Furthermore, the social-class characteristics (i.e., income, education, and
occupation) that contribute to one’s status or position in society help to determ ine
on what side of the class conflict an individual belongs and, therefore, how that
individual will perceive th e police.

According to the results of this study,

respondents with higher incomes, better education, and white-collar jobs (mostly
whites) had significantly more positive perceptions of the police than did
respondents with low incomes, less than high school education, and th o se who
w ere

not white-collar workers (mostly minorities, the

disadvantaged).

poor,

and

the

98

Attainment of high social class (i.e., high income, advanced education,
and a white-collar job) requires time and experience. This position is occupied
primarily by older people who, because of their age, have had a better chance
of becoming part of the powerful group than have younger individuals, who are
disproportionately represented in the less powerful group. More specifically, the
older respondents in this study expressed more positive perceptions of the police
than did younger respondents because the older individuals had a greater
tendency to be part of the powerful group whom the police represent.
While Marx suggested that religion is an opiate of the m asses in society
in that it teach es acceptance of one's situation in life, structural practices found
in religious sects may enable their members to identify with the structural
dimensions of the law and order functions of the police more than non-churchattending individuals. Thus, even those who are oppressed but who accept their
status are likely to accept the police as well. It is not surprising, then, that the
hypothesis that citizens’ perceptions of the police will be conditioned by their
religiosity w as sustained. More specifically, it w as found that respondents who
attended church (who were religious) had more positive perceptions of the police
than did those who never attended church (who were not religious). Also, the
more religious the respondents were (as evidenced by more frequent church
attendance), the more positive were their perceptions of the police.

99

Recommendations
Based on the findings from this study, the following recommendations are
offered.
Recommendations for Practice
1.

It has been suggested that the citizens of a community are co­

producers of police service. Thus, their support of the police is deem ed crucial.
The findings from this study showed that respondents’ sociodemographic
characteristics had a statistically significant relationship with their perceptions of
the importance of public support of the police. Thus, it is recom mended that the
City of Saginaw police department intensify its efforts to motivate and encourage
all segm ents of the community to be supportive of their police.
2.

The findings from this study showed that more minorities and young

respondents of all races than whites and older respondents believed that the
police did not treat people fairly. Therefore, it is recommended that the City of
Saginaw police department em phasize the importance of its officers’ treating all
citizens fairly, through implementation of policy and training.
3.

According to the results ofthis study, respondents’ perceptions that

police aggressiveness w as a problem in their neighborhood had a statistically
significant relationship with their race, gender, occupation, and marital status.
More specifically, more minorities, males, blue-collar workers, and single
respondents believed that police aggressiveness w as a problem. Therefore, it
Is recommended that the City of Saginaw police administrators understand and

100

take into consideration the fact that an individual officer's behavior can influence
people’s perceptions of the department a s a whole.
4.

A statistically significant relationship w as found

between

respondents’ perceptions of harassm ent by the police and their race, gender,
age, education, income, occupation, and marital status. In particular, more
minorities, males, younger, less educated, low-income, single, and blue-collar
respondents believed that there w as unnecessary police harassm ent in their
neighborhoods. It is, therefore, recommended that the City of Saginaw police
department em phasize via policy to its officers that harassm ent of citizens by
officers will not be tolerated.
5.

Respondents who were white, older, and of higher income status

perceived overall police performance more positively than did minorities, younger
respondents, and those with low incomes. Earlier, it w as suggested that the
police, as part of the legal system, represent the interests of the powerful. It
should not be surprising, then, that minorities, the young, and low-income
respondents had more negative perceptions of overall police performance than
did white, older, and higher-income respondents. It is, however, recom mended
that the police should consider their position as a neutral one. The police are
expected to protect and be helpful and fair to all citizens, regardless of their
position in society.
6.

Overall, it is recommended that the police be committed to efforts

and strategies that will build strong, positive police-community relations through

101

the behavior of the officers, quality training for officers, police-communityrelations programs, and departmental policies. The police should not forget that
citizens are essential elem ents to law enforcement, and they should make
necessary efforts to break the cyclical nature of the antagonism between the
police and som e segm ents of the community.

Based on their training and

professionalism, the police are expected to understand more the need to
encourage and work for positive police-community relations.
Recommendations for Further Research
This study had a sam ple size of 269 people. It is recommended that
future studies of a similar nature include a larger sample, for more effective use
of the ANOVA technique. Moreover, a qualitative study involving an examination
of why minorities, low-income individuals, and younger citizens perceive the
police more negatively might help the police find better ways to improve relations
with such groups.
In this study, it w as found that sododem ographic variables had a
statistically significant relationship with respondents' perceptions of the police.
Thus, it is recommended that future researchers examine other factors (i.e.,
media, police behavior, political action committees, and so on) that might also be
significantly related to citizens' perceptions of the police.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A
CENSUS TRACTS OF THE CITY OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN

102

CENSUS TRACTS- 1990
CITY OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN

20

JO.
JJO.

JOSL

1L

r "

Source: U.S. Census (1990).

APPENDIX B
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

103

this tine ". • '
K> 0

,

CO M M U N ITY SURVEY

cn

Thank you for participating in thii survey. H ie putpoas o f thii curvey ii to determine the concerns, perceptions
end views o f the City o f Stginew citizens toward the police. It is an attempt to measure attitude and perceptions with
regard to police-community relations.
Therefore, your opinion is very important to us. Your re s p o n se s w ill re m a in c o m p le te ly confidential. Do not
write your name. Please take a few minutes to complete this questionnaire. Use a number 2 pencil and fill in the circle
which moat doeely matches your answer. Participation is voluntary. You indicate your voluntary agreement to
participate by completing and returning this questionnaire.

X

pL

''

1

krc
Irar rv

-tj ;

Ai

ii

• l l f i W . 2 PENCIL....FILL IN SIMILE COMPLETELY *
ALL SESPONSES WILL IE COMPLETELY CONFIDENTIAL
1 . During th e day, hou o fte n do you w a lk /r u i/r id e a b ik e In your neighborhood?
'I1 every dey
once or tw ice a week
.. : a few t ie e * a month
: a few tin e a e year
: never
1 2 7 A tte r * » iM a t( how"oft»n do you w a lk /ru n /rid e a bik e in your neighborhood?
every day
once or tw ice a week
: a few tin e a a month
a few tim es e year
i

; 3 . How many o f your neighbors do you know by name?
. la s s than 2SX
. between 2>SX and h a lf
between h a lf and 75X
alm ost a l l your neighbors

i!

; 4 . How s a fe i s your neighborhood at night?
very s a fe
s a fe
not s a fe
very dangerous
: 5 . How iaportant i s i t fo r neighbors to think you always obey th e taw.
v ery isg n r ta n t
iaportan t
somewhat fraportant
not iaportan t
; 6 . As long as no one g e ts hu rt, i t i s O.K. to break scam laws.
. .. yea
no
unsure
[7 7 How o fte n do you ta lk to p o lic e o f f ic e r s ?
' every day
: once or tw ice a week
' a few tim es a month
a few tim es e year
|B . How o fte n do you s e e p o lic e o f f ic e r s in your neighborhood?
every day
lip
once or tw ice a week
&
a feu tim es a month
|p
a few tim es a year
I V. How Is th e le v e l o f s a f e t y in your neighborhood changing?
becoming s a fe r
' no change
d o n 't know
becoming le s a a a fe
becoming more dangerous
r i0 .iie v e you been th e v ic tim o f a v io le n t crime ( l i k e a f ig h t , rape or a tta c k ) in tlie la s t 3 years7
7 no
.Have you been th e v ic tim o f a n o n -v io le n t crime ( l i k e vandalism or th a ft) in th e l e s t 3 years?
. no
1 2 .Have you c a lle d th e p o lic e to report a problem (oth er then to rep ort a crim e) in your neighborhood s in c e la s t simmer?
no
' 1 3 .Would you lik e to s e e p o lic e o f f ic e r s walking through your neighborhood?
no
d o n 't know
| filen am e • ccami.aa

iO C o p y rlg h t 1 9 9 * ,Saginaw V a lle y S ta te U n iv e rs ity

•PH form S 03-21-199* 16:30 Generated by Scanning Dynamics Inc software.

104

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PLEASE INDICATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE FOLLOWING ARE PR06LEMS IN TOUR
NEIGHBORHOOD.
STRONGLY

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AGREE

AGREE

D O N 'T

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AGREE

STRONGLY
D ISAG REE

1 4 .The la u i a r t j o p r o t e c t y o u .
^ ^ S !,fc ^ iT ic *t4^ r V b f r t « p b ir c * i * < < ^ r t » ^ t f<>r k«*plrHj l«w end o r d e r .
< 16i.bb th e ^ b c il pb V lce hove a good u n d e rsta n d in g o f what p e o p le in th e
neighb orh ood c o n s id e r a c c e p t a b le b eh a v io r ?
17.'6ovi h ¥ ’’,io e ii \ p o t 1ice'V rea c "peopl'e f a ta*ty^'r

I D V F e a r ^ f ^ r f e e ^ ia ajp rb b le m ' fn m y n e fg h b o irh b o d .................
v EO.EHisesaTve^Rnh'Tng b f e t c o i i o i I s a p r b b le m 't n my n eighb orh ood.
" 2 1 p L o u d '^
a p r ^ l^
: ^ T X bohdone^
b o i l d l n g e l s a problem in my n eighb orh ood.
.. * T M i o * t ^ r w *t" "talk 't o ea ch ‘o t h e r . "
24V lniad iiqu at^
''^ x ^ i' e is '' I n' my n eigh b orh ood .
• " 2 5 .S e x w e l''« t a u lt e l a a"problem In my n eig h b orh ood .
: 26.Gsng e e t1 v lty * T s a " problem Th my neighborhood.
2 7 . G eneraI'~appe a r*nicm o f my' rval gh borh o od V s'a problem .
2HVHomeleam p e o p l V T ^
n eig h b orh ood .
2 9 .'H o » t ^
"about t h i s n eig h b orh ood .
J O . t h e r V i a a ' g r e a t " efcajniee t h a t I w i l l b e a v i c t i m o f a v i o l a n t c r im e in
t h i s n e ig h b o rh o o d .
S t .b o y o u t h f n V t h a t y i J u r c h a n c e * p f b e in g th e v ic t im o f a robbery or t h e f t
a r e g r e a t In t h i s neighborhood?
3 2 , C e n t h e i b c a l p o l t c e p r o t e e t you from crim e?
3 3 .b o V ^ 1 « V th a t y w a r e more l i k e l y t o be a crim e v ic t im th an moat o th e r
p eo p le?
: 3 4 .0 r u g d e a lin g " 'is '" a problem In my n eig h b o rh ood .
■3 5 E i s y ' a c c e s s “to ' guns T s a problem in my n eigh b orh ood .
• ^ ^ 6 .A g g ressiv e p o l ic e o f f i c e r s I t a problem In my n eigh b orh ood .
37.We hiBve' r a c i a l p r b b L em a in my n eig h b o rh o o d .
^ d ^ ^ 'U n n ecessa ry p b t ic e harassm en t i s a problem in my n eigh b orh ood ,
■: 39.Mow i a f e do you f e e l o u t a lo n e In your neighb orh ood a t n ig h t?
very s a fe
un sure
u n s a fe
very u n sa fe
i 4 0 . H o w « a f e d b y o u f e e l o u t a l o n e In your neighb orh ood d u rin g th e day?
very s a fe
sa fe
un sure
not sa fe
v e ry u n sa fe
j ^ 4 t . > b i f c e o f f i c e r s a r e u s u a lly :
^ v e r y ^ h e lp fu lw
h e lp f u l
d o n 't know
n ot h e lp f u l
v e ry u n h e lp fu l
4 2 .ifd u ld Y ou ^ tlK e tb^seei th e same p o l i c e o f f T c e r s working In your n eigh b orh ood e v er y day?
yes
d o n 't know
no
' . 4 3 . In 'the ' p e s t ' y e s r / p o i i e * s e r v i c e h a s become; '
jmuch b a t t e r ^
b e tter
d o n 't know
w orse
much w orse
44.'Hbw' s a t lla f f ^ ^ a r ^ y d u w ith th e tim e i t to ok p o l i c e to respon d t o c a l l s in your neighborhood?
very s a t i s f i e d
s a tis fie d
not s a t i s f i e d
not a t a l l s a t i s f i e d
don *t know
4 5 , I n d ic a te 'N o w a m n iy co n ta c ts you have had w ith th e p o l ic e in Saginaw in th e l a s t 12 m onths.
NONE
1-5
6 -1 0
11-15
A .A cq u ain tan ce w ljh p o l i c e
^’’iV tm ergjiraV ''o'^ fstarice' from p o l f e e ......................
''" ''cV cb iy la ln t made t o p o l i c e ..............
" b'.UTtness"'quest'Toned b y t h e p o l i c e ...............
“6 J A r r e s t i k i ' ^ ' ' ^ l i c e ”'y'" .......................................
'FVfbdt^'patrbi.............

fil

.s a 2

5 jC )C o p y r1 g h t 1 9 9 4 ,Saginaw V a lle y S ta t e U n iv e r s it y

8PN form # 0 3 -2 1 -1 9 9 4 16:5 5 G enerated by Scanning Dynamics In c s o ftw a re .

105

M n o t nark o u t i i d e t h f a l i n *

; 4 6 . P le a s e r a n k /p r io r i t l z * your r * * p o n * ( b llit y a s ■ c i t i z e n in r e l a t i o n t o dealirvg w ith c r im e .
( 1 ) b e in g th * most ia p o r ta n t and <61 th e l* a s t im p o rta n t.
1
2
3
4
A .A v o id in g in v o lv em en t w ith v ic t im

fa

6

C ;W *port#u *pl c io u s s e t fv i t y
0 7 jiv o f3 fh g lr w iv * i^ tW ith p o n c *

’ ' P .A s a ia tir m

M llc e

*‘"v *'v ''|V| 'ri‘~l

b f f I c e r t h e e d i n g h e lp

Ua want t o knou how p e o p l* w ith d i f f e r e n t a g e s , jo b s , g e n d e r , e t c . , f e e l abou t t h i s n eig h b o rh o o d .
a sk you to t e l l u s soam thing abou t y o u r s e l f . Remember t h a t no one w i l l knou who you a r e .
4 7 . What i s y o u m o n th ly income?
g ro ss
4 6 . B ased on ybur c u r r r e n t jo b , w hich o c c u p a tio n group would you b e s t f i t w ith ?
f a c to r y w orker, plim faer, w e ld e r , c o n s tr u c tio n
te a c h e r , d o c t o r , b a n k er, c o u n s e lo r
»
s e c r e t a r y , t y p i s t , r e s ta u r a n t u o rk er, s a le s p e r s o n
r a t I rad
unemployed
o th er
4 9 :U h 'a f''l* y b u r a ba?.....................
y e a rs
5 0 J W h a tis y o u r i e s ?
male
t
f* a a l* m
S l.U h s t i s your r a c e /e t h n ic g r o u p ? '"
w h Ite/N o n -H isp a n !c
b la c k /A f r ic a n American
h is p a n ic
o r ie n t a l/A s ia n
o th er
i2.T iow ' lo n g ’h'ava y b u T iv e d (h t h i s neighb orh ood’
l * s * t h a n _ 6 m onths
7 months to 2 y e a r s
2 - 1 0 years
'iTSSTHoSrrbing“Kav*i y o u T t v e d in Sagin*w7
l e s s th a n 6 months
7 months to 2 y e a rs
2 - 1 0 years
■; 5 4 . (n th e p la c e you i l v o , do you:
own
ren t
o th er
•j-Tr

5

'i^XMi*t1n~VfeH*r'rtt^lnQP,'li*t]p....

• 'V-,1!- ■iv v ^ y y y v .-iV f r ^ ' yyNvn' ■■-r.-. - y

?<i

U se 11} through ( 6 ) , w ith

S5.'How‘m *ny~ eh'tldr*nT tv*''w ltfi you?
none
one
y - r . i w r - r i V * * * " w v ‘v .YiV i ‘i-'. _ •
5 6 . How m a n O h T ld r en d o you have?

*

two - th r e e

fo u r or more

two - th r e e

fo u r or more

The f o llo w in g q u e s tio n s

o v er 10 y e a r s
o v er 10 y e a r s

: ST.'Mow aueh e d u c a tio n h a v e you had?
l e s s th an h ig h s c h o o l
soma h ig h sc h o o l
h ig h s c h o o l g r a d u a te
some c o l l e g e
c o l l e g e g r a d u a te
seme g ra d u a te s c h o o l
gra d u a te d e g r e e (M a ste rs or D o c to r a te }
58 . Mar i t a l ’ s t a t u s * "
a ln g l e , n e v e r b e e n m arried
m arried
s i n g l e , d iv o r c e d
s e p a r a te d
widowed
59.'Uh*t~ r e l i g i o u s d en o m in a tio n aria you?
C h r is tia n ( C a t h o lic , B a p t is t , e t c . }
Muslim
no d en o m in a tio n
60iHow o f t e n do you a tt e n d church?
o n ce a week
tw ic e a week
th r e e tim e s or more p er month
>^ O C e p y r ig h t 1 9 9 4 ,Saginaw V a lle y S ta te U n iv e r s it y

BPM form *0 3 -2 1 -1 9 9 4 1 6 :5 7 G e n e ra ted by Scanning Dynamics In c s o ftw a re .

APPENDIX C
VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION ON DATA COLLECTION

106

VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION ON DATA COLLECTION
Introduction: Appreciation for their voluntary participation.
PART I: INFORMATION ABOUT THE RESEARCH
Topic: A Comparative Analysis of Citizens' Perceptions of the Police
in the City of Saginaw
B eneficiaries:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Allison Anadi—Ph.D. dissertation
City of Saginaw —Police Department
City of Saginaw—Community
Students

PART II:
S urvey:

I—

Community Survey-V olunteers

M ap:

I—

Saginaw C ensus Tracts (21)

II —

C ensus Tracts Indicating Racial Composition

III — Selected C ensus Tracts Depicting Streets
PART III:

WHAT VOLUNTEERS SHOULD DO

a.

Administer questionnaires to households—door to door.

b.

Collect questionnaires right away.

c.

As th e ca se may be, self-addressed stam ped envelopes could
be given to respondents to mail back completed forms A.S.A.P.

d.

Volunteers could fairly and reasonably assist the respondents on
as-needed basis.

e.

Maintain respondents’ anonymity and confidentiality.

107
PART IV: PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN SURVEY RESEARCH

Norms-Volunteers should:
a.

Let respondents know that participation is voluntary.

b.

Emphasize respondents' anonymity and the confidentiality of
information obtained.

c.

Not make suggestive statements or actions that could influence
respondents’ answers.

d.

Read and explain the questions without any suggestive
statements.

e.

If a respondent cannot write, record their answers exactly as
indicated by the respondent.

f.

All completed questionnaires should be returned immediately to
the researcher, as directed.

PART V: EXERCISE

—

Respondents completed the sample questionnaires themselves
for practice and clarity.

—

Volunteers asked questions.

—

Completion time was noted.

PART VI: RESOURCES AVAILABLE

—

Questionnaire forms

~

Pencils
Addressed, stamped envelopes

—

Maps

—

List of who goes where

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