The Role of Social Context in Understanding Police Legitimacy

• In Event: Disadvantaged Populations and Policing

Abstract

From the Rodney King beating (1991) to the high-profile killings of Eric Garner (2014) through Philando Castile (2016), interactions between police officers and marginalized communities have raised nation-wide concerns about police legitimacy. Current models of police legitimacy tend to focus on transactions between the police and the public over matters of procedural justice; however, taking a more contextual view of police interventions in communities provides opportunities to look beyond transactions and sort out the socio-cultural acceptance of the police against the myriad of services they provide to communities. Here we focus on areas in Boston with significant concentrated structural disadvantage and how they use police services compared to areas of significant advantage. Integrating 225,289 Calls for Service from 2011 in Boston, as well as 2010 Census data, we examine the frequency in which individuals residing in areas of concentrated structural (dis)advantage request the police for three broadly defined types of services: prevention, response, and mitigation/rehabilitation. Preliminary findings indicate significant differences in the broad range of police services provided to structurally disadvantaged communities as compared to other communities less socially and economically distressed. The implications of these differences are considered in light of concerns for police legitimacy.

Authors

• Jack Greene, Northeastern University

• Stacie St. Louis, Northeastern University