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	NCJ Number:	NCJ 242937
	Title:	Police Behavior During Traffic and Street Stops, 2011
	Document URL:	Text PDF
	Agency Summary:	Agency Summary
	Author(s):	Lynn Langton, Ph.D. ; Matthew Durose
	Corporate Author:	Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) US Dept of Justice Office of Justice Programs United States of America
	Date Published:	09/2013
	Page Count:	22
	Series:	BJS Special Reports
	Annotation:	This report from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) presents information on police behavior during traffic and street stops for fiscal year 2011.
	Abstract:	Highlights from this report on police behavior during traffic and street stops during fiscal year 2011 include the following: Black drivers (13 percent) were more likely than White (10 percent) and Hispanic (10 percent) drivers to be pulled over in a traffic stop during their most recent contact with police; persons involved in street stops were less likely (71 percent) than drivers in traffic stops (88 percent) to believe that the police behaved properly, and a smaller percentage of Blacks than Whites believed that police behaved properly during the stop; drivers pulled over by an officer of the same race or ethnicity were more likely than drivers pulled over by an officer of a different race or ethnicity to believe that the reason for the traffic stop was legitimate; and White drivers were both ticketed and searched at lower rates than Black and Hispanic drivers. This report from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), examines involuntary contacts with police, specifically those that occur during traffic and street stops, to determine variations in the public’s perceptions of police behavior and police legitimacy. Data for the study were obtained from BJS’s 2011 Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS), a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. The PPCS collects information on persons’ contact with police during a 12-month period. The PPCS for 2011 found that over 62.9 million U.S. residents aged 16 or older had 1 or more contacts with the police during the prior 12 months. Of the 62.9 million, almost half (49 percent) experienced involuntary or police-initiated contact, with the majority (86 percent of traffic stops and 66 percent of street stops) believing that the police behaved properly and treated them with respect during contact. Tables, figure, and appendixes
	Main Term(s):	Police-citizen interactions
	Index Term(s):	Police training ; Police community relations ; Police discretion ; Complaints against police ; Police use of deadly force ; Police-offender relations ; Stop and frisk ; Police policies and procedures ; Vehicle stops ; Race-crime relationships ; Use of Force
	Type:	Statistics
	Country:	United States of America
	Language:	English
	To cite this abstract, use the following link: https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=265012
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