A police officer arrested a black teenage male after twice spraying him with a chemical agent. He swung the youth to the ground; a struggle ensued, and arriving officers kicked and punched the youth. The research used information from the semiannual Greater Cincinnati Survey conducted by the Institute for Policy Research to gather data on many topics, including public attitudes toward police. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of the data collected in the 1984-95 surveys examined variations in perceptions of the reasonableness of the force used by police. Results indicated that the videotaped arrest had a negative impact on citizens' perceptions of force used by police during arrest situations. The effect was substantially greater among nonwhites than among whites. Furthermore, over a 10-year period, nonwhite persons were consistently more likely than white people to believe that police used force excessively. Findings indicated that dissatisfaction with the police among minorities appears to be chronic and that critical events increase dissatisfaction and that strategies are needed to deal with both chronic and episodic levels of dissatisfaction with the police. Figure, tables, notes, and 55 references (Author abstract modified)