Open AccessThe Police View of Bias-Based Policing
Author(s) -
Ralph Ioimo,
Rachel S. Tears,
Leslie A. Meadows,
J. Bret Becton,
Michael Charles
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
police quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.202
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1552-745X
pISSN - 1098-6111
DOI - 10.1177/1098611106296479
Subject(s) - traffic police , criminology , police science , psychology , political science , public relations , criminal justice , law
Bias-based policing is an issue that police departments all across the country are addressing. Considering that bias-based policing undermines relationships between the police and the public, a considerable amount of research has been conducted to uncover and prevent the occurrence of bias-based policing. Past research has primarily focused on traffic stops to assess the level of bias-based policing. However, traffic stops are only one of the many ways police interact with the public. As a result, this research project sought to broaden the approach to assessing bias-based policing beyond traffic stop data by surveying police officers to determine if they are aware of bias-based policing practices occurring in police departments, either theirs or others. This research found that 21% of survey respondents believed that bias-based policing is presently practiced by officers in their department, and 25.9% believed that bias-based policing is practiced by officers in other Virginia police departments.