Policing Diversity : Determinants of White, Black, and Hispanic Attitudes toward Police

Lai extends the current knowledge of public attitudes toward the police (ATP) by examining two distinct dimensions: general and specific attitudes. The significant findings indicated that African Americans consistently reported unfavorable ATP across two dimensions, but the Hispanics did not have any significant influence. While ratings of police work were highly related to public ATP, victimization and violent crime incidents decreased the levels of public rating among all respondents. Meanwhile, coproduction increased the levels of public ATP. Finally, both citizen-initiated and police-initiated interactions had significant influence on public ATP but varied among racial/ethnical groups. Policy implications and limitations were addressed.