To Protect or Serve: Identifying Shifts in Trust Towards Law Enforcement in Communities of Color

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

Abstract

The paper investigates the level of trust in police officers in Southern California amongst communities of color and how it is affected by documented police misconduct on varying forms of media. By utilizing a thirteen-question survey, and distributing it using snowball and nonprobability sampling, the paper explores how public perceptions of law enforcement change depending on where an individual receives their news, their ethnic background, and their age. Results show that Black and Hispanic participants who live in and around Southern California do not have positive opinions about police and believe that officers do not protect people of their ethnic background based on the form of media they consume and other cultural factors. In comparison to their White and Asian counterparts, they experience police misconduct at higher rates and know individuals in their neighborhoods who have experienced police misconduct. Latino citizens indicated that their perceptions are affected by misconduct displayed on social media at a higher rate in comparison to their ethnic counterparts. These findings allow researchers, criminologists, and law enforcement personnel to consider evaluating how a community member’s ethnicity and consumption of news media may affect their trust in police officers.

Author

• Eeron Wilson, Rutgers University - Newark