Exposure to Police in Daily Life and its Relationship with Situational Perceptions of Police

• In Event: Direct and Indiract Police Contact: Perceptions and Implications

Abstract

Individuals are exposed to stories about and contact with police in many different ways in daily life. Through this exposure, individuals are expected to form their attitudes about the police, including shaping trust and legitimacy. Most existing research focuses on personal contact with police, which tends to be rare compared to other forms of exposure through e.g. media consumption or seeing police on the streets. We know comparatively less about the prevalence and impact of other types of exposure in people’s daily lives. For example, individuals may be exposed to news about police that shapes their beliefs, but may also actively seek out media that reinforces their existing beliefs. This paper applies experience sampling techniques to measure different types of exposure to police in day-to-day life over the course of 3 weeks in the Netherlands. Respondents reported the type of experience, a short description of the experience, and their perceptions of police behavior during that experience. We expand on existing research on personal contacts to describe the different contexts of police actions in daily life, the characteristics of individuals who are likely to report exposure, and to what extent different experiences shape situational perceptions of police behavior.

Authors

• Amy Nivette, Utrecht University

• Harley Williamson, Utrecht University

• Amina Op de Weegh, Utrecht University