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Citizen Willingness to Participate in Police-Community Partnership: Exploring the Influence of Race and Neighborhood Context

NCJ Number
234470
Journal
Police Quarterly Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2011 Pages: 48-69
Author(s)
Michael M. Wehrman; Joseph De Angelis
Date Published
March 2011
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article examines race, neighborhood context, and attitudes toward the police.
Abstract
Since community policing emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, it has been common for police departments to use policecommunity partnerships as a strategy for improving public satisfaction with the police. Yet very little is known about what predicts citizen willingness to participate in these types of community policing initiatives. In this study, the authors use the results of an anonymous mailed survey (n = 16,193) conducted in a large Western city to examine individual and community-level relationships between race/ethnicity and willingness to work with the police in a community anticrime initiative. Contrary to previous research, but consistent with Blumer's group position thesis, African-Americans who responded to the survey report a greater willingness to work with the police than do White respondents. Neighborhood-level variables show mixed results, with concentrated disadvantage having a minor statistical effect on increasing citizen willingness to participate in partnership initiatives. The discussion considers the theoretical, methodological, and policy implications of these observed differences. (Published Abstract)