Policing in America Chapter 12

What is profiling involving African American drivers often referred to

"driving while black"

What is profiling involving Hispanic or Latino drivers often referred to

"driving while brown"

What has creating a special unit to address a particular problem been characterized as

"presentation strategy"

What are the alternative benchmarks

- "not-at-fault" traffic accident data: drivers who are involved in the traffic accident, but are not themselves at fault - has the advantage of being readily available and inexpensive to analyze

What are the police justifications for racial and ethnic disparities in traffic stops

- African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to engage in criminal activity, and drug trafficking in particular - higher levels of patrol because of the higher crime crates and calls for service

Why is the effect of the demeanor of the suspect on arrests complex

- African Americans were more likely to be antagonistic to the police and more likely to be arrested for that reason - early studies did not control for when the antagonistic demeanor occurred, much of it occurs after the arrest and therefore is not a cause of arrest

What were the number of issues involved in the Trayvon Martin case

- Stand your Ground law - the fact that Zimmerman was carrying a gun was in violation of the standards for the thousands of neighborhood watch programs - disobeyed the 911 operator's explicit instruction not to confront the person he regarded as suspicious - the failure of the Sanford, Florida, Police Department to arrest Zimmerman for murder - belief that Zimmerman should be indicted under federal civil rights charges

When can race or ethnicity be used legitimately in police work

- a police officer cannot stop or arrest a person solely on the basis of race or ethnicity. It would violate the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the law - the police also cannot use race or ethnicity when it is one element in a general profile of criminal suspects - police may use race or ethnicity when it is one element in the description of a specific criminal suspect and where that information is based on credible information from a reliable source

What are the important differences in the attitudes toward police within racial and ethnic communities

- attitudes about the police role in Miami vary according to social class as well as by race and ethnicity Middle-class and lower-class African Americans do not share the same attitudes

How have police training programs improved dramatically

- average length of pre-service training more than doubled - police academies have either added or greatly expanded the coverage of race relations and human relations

What is employment discrimination

- cause of police-community relations - not hired because of race

What are the police-community relation problems between the police and the Native Americans

- crime reports are much higher on reservations than in general - tribal police departments are understaffed and lack sufficient equipment and resources to provide adequate police protection on reservations that encompass large geographic areas - jurisdictional problems

What do police field practices include

- deadly force - physical force - arrests - stops and frisks - verbal abuse

How are police departments responding to the changing demographics of their communities in their own ways

- ensuring that officers can communicate with people who do not speak English - offer incentive pay to bilingual officers - hire officers from recently arrived immigrant groups who can serve as liaisons between the police and newly arrived ethnic communities -Street Spanish - 911 translation services - Brochures in different languages - Outreach

What is a reason for Hispanic Americans being less likely to file complaints against the police

- language barrier - cultural factors- some are extremely fearful of the police and the possible consequences of filing a complaint

What are the different approaches that police departments have attempted to improve police-community relations

- maintaining a diverse workforce - improving the handling of citizen complaints - creating special police-community relations units - improving training

What situational factors explain when police officers are more likely to use force

- more likely to use force against criminal suspects (4-6% of all encounters with suspects), male suspects, African American males and drunk citizens and antagonistic to the police - physical resistance or disrespect

Why is interpreting traffic-stop data to determine whether or not a pattern of racial or ethnic discrimination exists is extremely difficult

- no industry standard exists for measuring racial or gender profiling - have found a pattern of racial disparity but that does not necessarily mean a pattern of discrimination exists

What role does the level of education play in the attitudes toward police

- only high school education or less consistently rate the police less favorably than people with some college or more education - %15 of people with only a high school education had very little confidence in the police, compared with %4 of college graduates

What is the 287(g) program

- request assistance from Immigration and Customs Enforcement through this program - permits local police to enforce immigration law after they have received required training from ICE personnel - 68 law enforcement agencies in 24 states have signed

What does the CALEA accreditation standards recommend about a representative police force

- should have minority group and female employees in the sworn law enforcement ranks in approximate proportion to the makeup of the available work force in the agency's law enforcement service community

What issues does the racial profiling controversy involve

-determining actual traffic enforcement practices by law enforcement agencies - the proper analysis of official traffic-stop data - the most effective remedies for racial or ethnic bias in traffic enforcement

What did the study on stop and frisk practices by the NYPD find

1. African Americans were more likely to be stopped than their presence in the population would indicate 2. to control for participation in crime, the study compared the percentage of African Americans stopped with the percentage of African Americans arrested in eight selected precincts. African Americans were stopped at a higher rate than the arrest data would predict 3. police frequently lacked adequate cause for a stop, few stops of African Americans resulted in an arrest

What do Americans believe is the value of mixed-race patrol teams

1. are likely to educate each other about differences in race, ethnicity, culture and communities 2. more likely to result in equal treatment of citizens 3. have an important symbolic value regarding equality and integration 90% oppose assigning officers on the basis of ethnicity

What are the four systems of justice

1. crimes by whites against whites were handled as "normal" crimes 2. crimes by whites against African Americans were rarely prosecuted, if at all 3. crimes by African Americans against whites received the harshest response 4. crimes by African Americans against African Americans were often ignored

How does tolerating vice crimes harm low-income and racial minority communities

1. it breeds disrespect for the law and the police, partly because of corruption 2. under-enforcement of the law exposes law-abiding citizens in minority communities to prostitution, drug dealing and related crimes such as shooting and robberies - exposes people to personal risk, lowers the quality of life and increases the risk that juveniles will engage in crime

How does community policing represent a different approach to improving police-community relations

1. it represents a comprehensive philosophy of policing 2. it is directed toward the community as a whole and not just racial and ethnic minority communities

What is the importance of developing community and police partnerships on racial profiling

1. partnership fosters trust 2. partnerships are a valuable avenue for two-way communication 3. partnerships can help police departments reduce the risk of engaging in unacceptable practices that might result in being sued

What are the different actions that traffic enforcement involves

1. stopping a vehicle 2. resolving the stop through an arrest, traffic citation, warning or no action 3. searching the vehicle, driver, and/or passengers

What situational factors are police decisions to arrest influenced by

1. strength of evidence 2. seriousness of the crime 3. preference of the victim 4. victim-suspect relationship 5. demeanor of the suspect

What conclusions can be drawn about public attitudes toward the police

1. the vast majority of Americans have a positive attitude toward the police 2. people of color consistently rate the police less favorably than whites 3. a majority of African Americans and Hispanics, however, give the police a generally favorable rating 4. young people rate the police less favorably than older people 5. poor people, less educated people and crime victims tend to rate the police lower than other Americans rate them 6. people who feel their neighborhood is safe view the police more favorably than people who do not feel safe 7. opinions about the police vary among different cities 8. people make important distinctions regarding police actions 9. attitudes toward the police reflect attitudes toward society as a whole

What is the argument that The National Crime Prevention Council makes in favor of police departments hiring members of newly arrived ethnic groups

1. there are enforcement benefits to police departments- alleviate the reluctance of crime victims to cooperate with the police and testify in court 2. help to increase public safety- overcome misunderstandings 3. intangible benefits- greater cultural understanding

What three different contexts can racial profiling occur

1. war on drugs- enforcement activities often target African Americans or Hispanics 2. police stopping people who appear out of place 3. general crackdown on crime- typically occur in poor, high-crime neighborhoods that are predominantly African American or Hispanic

What are the policies designed to prevent racial or ethnic bias in policing

1. written policy prohibiting racial or ethnic discrimination in all aspects of police work 2. improve police officer training- specific coverage of traffic enforcement strategies and tactics 3. traffic-stop data collection and analysis 4. Developing police-community partnership

What percent of all encounters with citizens do police officers use or threaten some kind of force

1.9%

How many unauthorized immigrants are currently living in the United States

10.8 million

What percent of the police though that the public likes the police

12%

What is selective perception

2-5% of all police contacts with citizens involve hostility or conflict - police officers are more likely to remember unpleasant events - young African American men were more likely than young white men to express hostility to the police - officers tend to stereotype young African american males

What percent of uses of force are justified

2/3

What percent of African Americans have little to no confidence in the police

24%

What ages have very little confidence in the police

29% of ages 18 to 29 8% of ages 50 to 64 lack of confidence in the police increase among the elderly

What percent of people with incomes below $20,000 had very little confidence in the police

30%

How long have attitudes toward the police been stable for

40 years

What percent of complaints against officers are filed by African Americans

42.3% - they are an average of 21.4% of the pop

What percent of African Americans indicted they had been personally "hassled" by the police

46.6%

What did the officers respond when asked if citizens on the streets act disrespectfully

50% of the officers responded that half or more citizens do treat them disrespectfully

What percent of people with incomes of $50,000 or greater had very little confidence in the police

7%

How often are police officers heard using offensive racial terms to other officers versus to citizens

75% with other officers 5% with citizens

How do the characteristics of crime victims have some impact on the racial pattern of arrests

African American complainants request arrests more often than whites and because most crimes are intra-racial, this results in more arrests of African Americans

What is Trust dimension 4: Respect

Do people feel that the police treat them respectfully? - Lack of respect from the police was one of the strongest themes to emerge from the focus groups - many participants expressed anger at the way they felt the police treat them - some felt that the police failed to respond when called about an incident in the neighborhood - many felt that police violated their rights and in particular harassed young people

What is Trust dimension 3: dependability

Do people feel the police can be counted on to fulfill their promises? - Most participants believe the police can be depended on to follow through on their promise to reduce crime

What is trust dimension 2: competence

Do people feel the police have the knowledge and skills to achieve their objectives? - Most of the participants who had noticed increased police crime-fighting efforts felt it had reduced drug-related crime

What is Tennesse v. Garner (1985)

Garner was 110 lbs, 15 yrs old African American - shot and killed by two Memphis, Tennessee, police officers while fleeing a suspected burglary - had a stolen purse with $10 in his possession - ruled that the fleeing-felon rule was unconstitutional - accelerated the trend toward the adoption of the defense-of-life standard

What are the ethnicity categories on the U.S. Census

Hispanic Non-Hispanic

Who are twice as likely to believe the police will use excessive force in their communities

Hispanics and African Americans

What are the different experiences of the various racial and ethnic groups

Hispanics have different experiences than African Americans Native Americans have a very unique history

How do language skills make a big difference in how people relate to the police

Hispanics who do not speak English were much less likely to report crimes - only 9% of respondents, compared with 35% of English-speaking and 27% of African Americans - Non-English-speakers were also less likely to report a neighborhood problem to the police

How has police use of deadly force changed significantly over the past 40 years

In the 1960s and 70s, ratio of African Americans to whites shot and killed by the police was as high as 6 to 1, or even 8 to 1, disparity greatest among fleeing suspects 1969-74, Memphis officers shot and killed 13 African Americans, but only 1 - number of shootings has declined, in part because of the old fleeing-felon rule that has been replaced

What is the Rodney King incident

Los Angeles police officers were repeatedly beating him - the video by George Holliday on March 3, 1991 was shown on television all around the world, setting off a chain of events that included two criminal trials, a major riot and an independent investigation of the LAPD

How does a suspect's behavior cause a specific police response

No response leads to no force Psychological intimidation leads to police presence Verbal non-compliance leads to verbal commands Passive resistance leads to controls and restraints Defensive resistance leads to chemical agents Active aggression leads to tactics weapons Deadly aggression leads to deadly force

What is symbolic assailant

Potentially dangerous citizens to whom police are trained to accord a level of suspicion (includes most/all citizens they encounter)

What is the discrimination-disparity continuum

Systemic discrimination- institutionalized discrimination- contextual discrimination- individual acts of discrimination- pure justice

What are Stoutland's dimensions of trust

Trust dimension 1: Priorities Trust dimension 2: competence Trust dimension 3: dependability Trust dimension 4: Respect

What are the official race categories on the U.S. Census

White Black or African American American Indian and Alaska Native Asian Asian Indian: Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Koran, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiian, Guanmanian or Chamorro, Samaon, other Pacific Islander

What is the case of Trayvon Martin

a 17-year old African American was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a volunteer in a neighborhood watch program - he claimed that Martin had assaulted him and that his decision to shoot was justified by the Florida "Stand Your Ground" law

What did attitudes toward the police often represent

a broader set of attitudes toward society, government, and the criminal justice system - people who express the greatest dissatisfaction with the police also have the most negative attitudes toward courts and judges - more alienated from society and participate less in politics

What ranks second to race and ethnicity as a factor in public attitudes toward the police

age

What percent of arrests did African Americans represent

all arrests: 28% violent crimes: 38% drug arrests: 32% - they constitute only 12% of the U.S. pop

What represents 17% of all complaints against officers

allegations of inappropriate language

What do the tensions between the police and the African Americans community involve

allegations of unjustified fatal shootings, use of excessive force, overly aggressive police tactics in stops and frisks, discrimination in traffic stops and employment discrimination

What are ride-along programs

allowed citizens to ride in a patrol car for a few hours, observing potentially dangerous incidents from a distance

What is each group of the Hispanic/latino community divided among

among recent immigrants and people who have resided in the US for one or more generations and between people who are fluent in English and people with limited or no command of English -divided among documented and undocumented people

What is a "presentational strategy" by an organization

an effort to provide external evidence of addressing an issue

What is excessive force

any level of force more than is necessary to fulfill a lawful objective

What did minorities regard most PCR programs

as public relations puff and a deliberate con game

Why have the relations between the Hispanic community and local police grown tense

as the Latino population has increased both in number and as a proportion of those reporting civil rights abuse - problems related to the enforcement of federal immigration laws - workplace raids at the places of employment

Why are official criminal justice data problematic

because state and local agencies use their own categories, determined by agency officials - result is inconsistency and confusion

Why do African American and Hispanic parents make a special effort to teach their children to be very respectful of police officers

because they were afraid their children might be arrested, beaten or even shot if they displayed any disrespect to an officer

What is hassled

being stopped or watched closely by a police officer, even when you had done nothing wrong

Why do many local police departments not want to become involved in the enforcement of federal immigration laws

believe that immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government - many of the largest cities passed ordinances and/or resolutions that limit their local police agency's ability to enforce immigration law

What are the differences in police response times based on race

black citizens perceive greater delays than whites - higher percentage of whites reported the police responding in less than five minutes, while nearly twice as many blacks as whites reported that the police took more than 15 minutes to respond

Why do critics argue that the statement that differential enforcement patterns can be explained by the greater involvement of minorities in crime

circular reasoning - racial and ethnic minorities are stopped and arrested more often than whites, producing higher arrest rates that, in turn, justify higher rates of stops and arrests not more likely to use drugs speeding is equal

What is internal benchmarking

compares the performance of individual officers with peer officers, that is officers with similar assignments - assumption that officers with the same assignment should have roughly similar work patterns - tries to identify any particular officer who stops significantly more African American or Hispanic driver - raise questions about an officer's performance - not useful if all officers are engaging in racial profiling

What do African Americans complain of regarding the level of law enforcement

complain of harassment by overly aggressive police tactics

What are at the heart of the police-community relations problem

conflicting perceptions about what constitutes fair treatment of people and/or effective police work

What is the Christopher Commission

created to investigate the LAPD after the 1991 Rodney King beating - reviewed 180 days of computer-based communications among LAPD police officers

What has failure to enforce the law in minority neighborhoods often involved

crimes of vice - gambling, after-hours drinking, prostitution and drugs were allowed to exist in low-income and racial minority neighborhoods

What do patrol officers often deliberately delay

delay responding to calls for service, especially in the case of family disturbances

What is a benchmark

denominator for interpreting the data

What is a rolling survey

developed by John Lamberth - trained observers drive on the roadway in question and observe the racial composition of all drivers and the racial composition of those drivers observed to be breaking the law - provides a valid and reliable estimate of who is actually a risk for a traffic stop on that particular roadway - extremely expensive to conduct and requires careful training and supervision of observers

What is disparity

different outcomes that are not necessarily caused by differential treatment - most college students are between the age of 18 and early 20s. This is not the result of discrimination, but because of the normal life course: younger people have not completed high school and middle-aged people have either finished college or do not plan to attend

What is discrimination

differential treatment based on some extralegal category such as race, ethnicity or gender - if an employer refuses to hire members of a certain ethnic group

What is systematic discrimination

discrimination at all stages of the criminal justice system, at all times, and in all places

What is contextual discrimination

discrimination found in particular contexts or circumstances

What are individual acts of discrimination

discrimination that results from the acts of particular individuals but is not characteristic of entire agencies of the criminal justice system as a whole

What is trust dimension 1: priorities

do people feel that the police share their concerns about the neighborhood? many residents feel they do not and believe that the police concentrate too narrowly on short-term crime reduction rather than broader quality-of-life issues

What did incidents such as the Rodney King incident cause

dramatic short-term effect on attitudes toward the LAPD

What do the greatest racial disparities in arrest involve

drug offenses

What did a new restrictive shooting policy eliminate in Memphis

eliminated all shooting in the unarmed and non-assaultive category, greatly reducing the racial disparity in persons shot and killed in the process

What does the force factor framework examine

examines police officer behavior in relationship to the citizen's actions

What is the force considered if an officer uses force where there is no resistance or threat on part of the citizens

excessive

What is the best data on who is at risk to be stopped while driving derived from

from direct observation

What is the defense-of-life standard

greatly restricts the use of deadly force by police officers

Where is cultural competence a special problem in

in communities that have recently experienced significant immigration of people from Latin America, Asia or Africa

What is the police narrative on the racial divide

in high-crime neighborhoods, no one cares, that the "moral backbone" of these communities collapses, that no one tells criminals to stop and that there is no "community" left to partner with

What are field interrogations

involve a crime control strategy of both identifying and apprehending offenders, and at the same time sending a message of deterrence to people on the street

What did the strongest evidence of racial or ethnic disparities involve

involved what happened after the initial stop - black drivers were three times more likely and Hispanics were two times more likely to be searched after a stop

Why is the term minority group not appropriate

it fails to distinguish between race and ethnicity and assumes that all groups have the same experience

What was the issue with the Stand your Ground law

it justifies shootings only to "prevent death or great bodily harm" - Martin had no weapon and there is no evidence of a threat to great bodily harm - Had Zimmerman been a sworn police officer, the shooting would not be justified by standard deadly force policies

What did the National Science Foundation find regarding if local law enforcement is prepared to address the immigration issue

largely ill prepared to address the issue - less than half of all departments have a policy regarding policing immigrants and only 45 percent of departments offer training on the issue

What do victims of crime consistently rate the police

less favorably than do people who have not been victimized

What role does gender play in the attitudes toward the police

little difference - less confidence in the police among women compared with men

Who have a disproportionate level of contact with the police

low-income people and people of color low-income young males who use public places as their recreation spots

Who are more likely to be stopped

males were more likely to be stopped than females young people (16-29) were more likely to be stopped than older people minorities are more likely to be stopped

What did the Christopher Commission find

many messages contained offensive racial stereotypes, while others openly referred to use of physical force - indicated that the culture of the LAPD tolerated the use of offensive language

What is the only rank in front of the police where the public has more confidence

military and small businesses

What do whites, African Americans and Hispanics all express strong support for

more police patrol and surveillance of high-crime area - less supportive of stopping and searching people

What do people who feel safer in their neighborhood have

more positive attitudes toward the police compared with people who feel less safe

What must police do to remain effective and to increase effectiveness

must become skilled inter-cultural craftspeople

What did departments create in an effort to provide a more convenient access for community residents

neighborhood storefront offices

What is pure justice

no racial or ethnic discrimination at all

What do a number of experts believe that a certain amount of racial bias in traffic enforcement is a result of

of a police officer deciding that an African American or Hispanic driver is "put of place" in a white neighborhood

What is selective contact

officers do not have regular contact with a cross section of the community 5 percent of people make 64% of all the calls only about 17% of all Americans 16 and over have a face-to-face with a police officer each year

What did officers report regarding changes in race relations

officers reported more positive attitudes toward African American residents and perceived less community hostility toward them as a result of the training sessions

How did the cities with special PCR units public attitudes change

only slightly more positive than in those cities where no PCR unit existed

Who did ride-along programs tend to attract

only those people who already have a favorable attitude toward the police and do not reach those people who have serious complaints about the police

Who have greater confidence in the police

people who believe the police are effective in controlling crime in their neighborhood

What is the fleeing-felon rule

permits the use of force, including deadly force, against an individual who is suspected of a felony and is in clear flight

Why is the issue of excessive physical force particularly complex

police officers are authorized by department policies to use force in certain situations: to protect themselves, to affect an arrest, to overcome resistance and to bring a dangerous situation under control

What does the greatest gap between the whites, Hispanics and African Americans exist with regard to

police use of force

What did most big-city police departments create in response to the urban riot of the 1960s

police-community relations units, which operated programs designed to improve relations with minority communities - spent most of their time speaking in schools and to community groups

What do language barriers create

potentially serious obstructions to the delivery of high-quality police services - likely to arise when the citizen speaks a language other than English that the responding officer does not speak

What is institutionalized discrimination

racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes that are the result of the application of racially neutral factors such as prior criminal record, employment status, demeanor

What is verbal abuse

racial and ethnic slurs - a source of tension between the police and minority communities

What has race been traditionally defined as

referring to the major biological divisions of the people of the world Caucasian, Negroid, Mongoloid

What is ethnicity

refers to cultural differences, such as language, religion, family patterns and foodways separate from race as a category

What is the police officer misperception of public attitudes a result of

selective contact selective perception

What is the U.S. Census based on

self-reporting, ask people to report both their race and ethnicity

What does a Rorschach in uniform mean

someone onto whom people project their fears and fantasies

Who, traditionally, have no authority to enforce immigration laws

state and local law enforcement officers

What do practices of traffic stops and field interrogations tend to involve

stereotyping of citizens

What are police officers trained to be

suspicious and develop a visual "shorthand" for suspects, based on visual cues - this involves a certain amount of stereotype by gender, age and race

What does a report on Policing a Multicultural Community conclude

that "preventing, mitigating and negotiating intergroup conflict in the community must become an integral part of police practice

What did 21.7% percent of officers agree

that in their own departments sometimes or always officers use more force than is necessary to make an arrest

What did surveys regarding attitudes toward police find

that most Americans are satisfied with the police in their communities 88% of all Americans reported to have a "great deal" or "some" confidence in the police 91% of white Americans and 75% of African Americans

What did the Knapp Commission investigation of police corruption in NYC find

that the monthly vice payoffs to police in the predominantly African American areas of Harlem averaged $1,500 (1970s dollars), compared with $300 in predominantly white downtown precincts

What did the American Anthropological Association state regarding race

that there is no scientific foundation for the traditional classification of human beings into distinct "races" that are identifiable by physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture an other features

What is argued about both the narratives on the racial divide

that they both are exaggerated and contain falsehoods and that it is necessary to get past them if we are to develop effective problem-solving approaches to the problems of drugs and gun violence in high-crime, African American neighborhoods

What did 73% of the officers think about the perceptions of the public

that they were against the police or hate the police

What is the largest minority community

the Hispanic/Latino community 16.3% of the pop

What is cultural competence

the ability to understand and respond appropriately to differences in the languages, traditions, lifestyles and patterns of communication of different racial or ethnic groups

What are the visible reminders of the police officer's power to use force

the badge, baton and gun

What is legitimacy

the belief that the police as a social institution are acting properly and effectively, and deserve public support

What is a use of force continuum

the different levels of force appropriate for particular situations

What did Stoutland highlight

the distinction between people's feelings about police competence and their feelings about police respect for citizens

What does the "driving while black" controversy highlight

the extent to which many African Americans believe they are singled out for discriminatory treatment and distrust many other aspects of policing

What was the issue of the failure of the Sanford, Florida, Police Department to arrest Zimmerman

the facts are not entirely clear - one Sanford officer recommended on indictment but that the state's attorney declined the case

How did the enforcement of immigration change after 9/11

the federal government began to advocate for the position that illegal immigrants and related criminal activity was best responded to through a multi-agency approach that made use of expertise at federal, state and local levels - local law enforcement personnel are typically the first to come into contact with criminal aliens who may pose a threat to public safety

What presents new issues for police departments

the increase in the number of legal and illegal immigrants and the new variety of languages and cultures in American cities

What is an important aspect of conflict between the police and some racial and ethnic groups

the lack of cultural competence

What do allegations of police brutality represent

the most common complaint voiced by minorities about the forces

What is the BJS Police Public Contact Survey

the most thorough report on traffic enforcement patterns

What does the report Donde esta la justicia point out

the negative impact of one difference in styles of communication: Avoiding direct eye contact is considered respectful in Latin nations, but in the United States doing so can be perceived as "a sign of disrespect or deceptiveness" by criminal justice officials

What is a major police-community relations problem

the perception that police departments are hostile to people who want to file complaints, do not investigate complaints thoroughly and do not discipline officers who are guilty of misconduct

What was policing for the African American community during the institutionalized segregation in the South

the police disregarded many crimes resulted in the four systems of justice

What is racial profiling

the practice of police officers stopping drivers because of their race or ethnicity and not because of a legitimate law violation

What plays a major role in shaping attitudes toward the police

the quality of life in a neighborhood

What do most traffic-stop studies use as the benchmark

the resident population

What was the outcome of Weizter's interviews in DC of one middle-class white, one middle-class African Americans and one lower-class African American

the residents of the lower-class were 7 times more likely than residents of the black middle-class to believe that the police stop people on the street in their neighborhood without good reason and 3 times more likely than residents of the white middle-class

What is police brutality

the use of excessive physical force by the police

What is the most charged racial issue in America

the way ops perceive blacks and how those perceptions shape and misshape crime fighting

What is procedural justice

theory that holds that people distinguish between outcomes and the process - even when the outcome is unfavorable, people are more likely to be satisfied if the official explains the basis for the action

What is the community narrative on the racial divide

there is a conspiracy to destroy African American communities, the police are a part of it, and the government introduced the drug "crack" as part of this conspiracy

What does police-community relations refer to

to relations between the police and racial and ethnic minority communities

What do the experiences with the police vary according to

to the department, the type of police action, the departmental unit involved and so on

What are the different ethnic groups of Arab Americans

trace their background: Lebanon (30%) Egypt (12%) Syria (9%) - most are native-born and 80% are american citizens

What is the most serious example of racial profiling that has been documented

traffic stops by state police officers on interstate highways in Maryland and New Jersey - directly related to drug enforcement

What helps explain how some residents of a neighborhood complain about harassment while others in the same neighborhood complain about under-enforcement

use of force incidents accumulate over time with the result that "a sizeable minority of citizens experience police misconduct at one time or another - most force incidents involve young, low-income men with a disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic minorities

What role does inter-city variation play in attitudes toward the police

varies from city to city 93% of SD were found to be satisfied with their police, compared with only 80% of chicago residents

How do police compare with other occupations in terms of public attitudes

very favorably rank fairly high with regards to perceptions of their honesty and ethical standards

What is most important about the racial profiling controversy

while almost all traffic-stop data reports have found evidence of racial or ethnic disparities in stops and searches, not all of these reports have found persuasive evidence of illegal discrimination

What does population data not indicate

who is actually driving on the roads or who is violating a traffic law - also does not reflect nonresidents who are driving into or through the area

When is the perception of harassment by police very strong

with regard to police-initiated stops on the street - pedestrian stops or field interrogations - stops are sometimes accompanied by searches