A Field Experiment on Community Policing and Police Legitimacy

• NCJ Number: 306968
• Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Volume: 116 Issue: 40 Dated: 2019a Pages: 19894-98
• Date Published: September 2019
• Author(s): Kyle Peytona; Michael Sierra-Arévaloc; David G. Rand
• Length: 5 pages

Annotation

This study demonstrates that positive nonenforcement contact can improve public attitudes toward police and suggests that police departments would benefit from an increased focus on strategies that promote positive police–public interactions.

Abstract

This study demonstrates that positive nonenforcement contact can improve public attitudes toward police and suggests that police departments would benefit from an increased focus on strategies that promote positive police–public interactions. This randomized trial with a large urban police department found that positive contact with police—delivered via brief door-to-door nonenforcement community policing visits—substantially improved residents’ attitudes toward police, including legitimacy and willingness to cooperate. Findings indicate that a single instance of positive contact with a uniformed police officer can substantially improve public attitudes toward police, including legitimacy and willingness to cooperate. These effects persisted for up to 21 d and were not limited to individuals inclined to trust and cooperate with the police prior to the intervention. The effects were largest among nonwhite respondents. This randomized field experiment conducted in New Haven, Connecticut, identifies the individual-level consequences of positive, nonenforcement contact between police and the public.  (Published Abstract Provided)