Citizen Evaluations of Local Police

Personal Experience or Symbolic Attitudes

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11103876
AutoresMarion Orr (Brown University, autor correspondente), Darrell M West (Brown University)
Ano2007
Volume38
Fascículo6
Páginas649-668
Data de publicação2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAdministration & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0095-3997 • E-ISSN: 1552-3039
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0095399706293989
OpenAlexW2134418793
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas22
Referências citadas39

The sources of public assessments of government policy long have been the object of controversy between those proposing personal experience versus a symbolic attitudes model based on more general political and social beliefs. However, much of the research focuses on national policy issues that are not concrete and are removed from the daily experiences of many Americans. The authors use attitudes about local police to examine whether public assessments are linked more to people’s direct experience with crime and the police or whether such impressions are associated with more abstract attitudes about politics and law enforcement. They find that personal experience mattered more than symbolic attitudes when it came to views about police courtesy and fairness. However, both personal experience and symbolic attitudes were important in regard to opinions about crime seriousness and assessments of overall police performance. These results have important implications for how citizens evaluate local government services

Courtesy · Criminology · Enforcement · Government (linguistics · Law enforcement · Local government · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Seriousness · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Psychology · Public Administration · Social Psychology