Perception of Police Legitimacy in Areas of Gentrification

• In Event: Neighborhood Context and Community Views of Police and the Justice System

Abstract

Across the nation, attention has recently been drawn to police legitimacy. The country has become polarized around the issue of whether or not the police act in a fair, unbiased manner towards all populations they encounter. In urban areas, prior research has demonstrated that gentrification is associated with group threat dynamics; tensions between the groups within neighborhoods can arise over competition for resources, public space, and power (Crump, 2002; Smith, 2002). Therefore, it stands to reason that tension may arise over group influence with public social control agents such as the police. Evidence from several major U.S. cities have hinted that lower income residents in gentrifying neighborhoods perceive the police to be acting in the interests of the gentrifying population, and not the long-time residents (Martin, 1996). Using survey data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the current paper examines the perceptions of policing in areas of gentrification, and specifically seeks to compare the perceptions of long-term residents to those of the gentrifiers. Results will be discussed within the context of their contribution to research on group threat dynamics, urban renewal policy, and police legitimacy.

Author

• Kathryn Noe Kozey, Western New England University