Do Uniforms Matter? Experimental Evidence from the Police Officer Perception Project (POPP)

• In Event: Police Legitimacy and Procedural Justice (2): New Perspectives on Police-Citizen Relations

Abstract

A plethora of research has explored how sociodemographic and contextual factors can impact the public’s perceptions of the police; however, much less research has explored how cosmetic factors associated with the police can impact the public’s perceptions of them. Using my data from the Police Officer Perception Project (POPP), a novel experimental evaluation of factors that can impact perceptions of the police, I examine the effect of uniforms on participants’ perceptions of the police. More specifically, I investigate the effects of seven different sets of attire (and associated equipment) on participants’ ratings of police officers as (1) aggressive versus not aggressive, (2) approachable versus not approachable, (3) friendly versus not friendly, (4) respectful versus not respectful, and (5) accountable versus not accountable. The results reveal that perceptions of the police vary as a function of officers’ attire, with certain uniform-types scoring significantly higher on some variables (e.g., approachableness) and/or significantly lower on other variables (e.g., aggressiveness), than other uniform types. I discuss the importance of these results with respect to police visibility and public police relations.

Author

• Rylan Simpson, University of California, Irvine