Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2022

• NCJ Number: 308847
• Author(s): Susannah N. Tapp; Elizabeth Davis
• Date Published: October 2024
• Length: 24 pages
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Type: Publication; Statistics

Abstract

This report is part of a series that began in 1996 and examines the nature and frequency of contact with police reported by U.S. residents, including demographic characteristics, types of contact, and perceptions of police misconduct, threats of force, or use of nonfatal force.

Highlights:

• About 19% (49.2 million) of U.S. residents age 16 or older had contact with police in 2022.
• A smaller percentage of persons had contact with police in 2022 (19%) than in 2020 (21%).
• In 2022, males (8%) were more likely than females (7%) to experience police-initiated contact, while females (12%) were more likely than males (11%) to initiate contact with police.
• Among U.S. residents who initiated their most recent contact with police, almost half (46%) did so to report a possible crime.