Does Police Stop and Search Make Everyone Feel Safe? Evidence From the United States

Stop and search is an innovative policing approach aimed at deterring crime and disorder and promoting public trust and confidence in law enforcement. While many studies have investigated racial biases in this approach and its effectiveness in reducing crime and disorder, little attention has been paid to its role in fostering citizens’ feelings of safety. Using the 2016 General Social Survey data ( N = 2,876), this study examined whether police use of pedestrian stop-and-search practices generated citizens’ feelings of safety. Our results revealed prevailing disparities between Black and White Americans on the effectiveness of police stop-and-search practices. Namely, police stop and search made White persons feel safer and more protected in their neighborhood, compared to Blacks. The conclusion discusses the implications of this disparity, and potential policy and managerial solutions

Computer security · Criminology · Feeling · Law enforcement · Political science · Public relations · Racial profiling · Reasonable suspicion · SAFER · Sociology · Supreme court · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Psychology · Social Psychology

• Association between Neighborhood and Racial Composition of Victims on Fatal Police Shooting and Police Violence

  Open Access•Hossein Zare, Nicholas S Meyerson et al.•Social Sciences•2022

  Incluir item

• African and Caribbean Women Experiences of Gender-Based Violence and Help-Seeking From the Police in England and Wales

  Open Access•Tarela Juliet Ike, Dung Ezekiel Jidong et al.•Families in Society The Journal…•2025

  Incluir item

• Proactive Policing

  Committee on Law and Justice, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and…•Proactive Policing•2018

  Incluir item

• Procedural Justice and Order Maintenance Policing

  Jacinta M Gau, Rod K Brunson•Justice Quarterly•2010

  Incluir item

• Policing in Black and White

  Open Access•T R Tyler•Police Quarterly•2005

  Incluir item

• Chapter 13. Street Stops and Broken Windows Revisited

  Jeffrey Fagan, Jeffrey A Fagan et al.•Race, Ethnicity, and Policing•2020

  Incluir item

• Citizen Perceptions of Police Services

  Open Access•Joseph A Schafer, Joseph Schafer et al.•Police Quarterly•2003

  Incluir item

• Precinct or prejudice? Understanding racial disparities in New York City’s stop-and-frisk policy

  Sharad Goel, Justin M Rao et al.•The Annals of Applied Statistics•2016

  Incluir item

• Procedural justice and police legitimacy

  Open Access•Lorraine Mazerolle, Sarah Bennett et al.•Journal of Experimental Criminology•2013

  Incluir item

• The criminogenic and psychological effects of police stops on adolescent black and Latino boys

  Open Access•Josefina Del Toro, Juan Del Toro et al.•Proceedings of the National…•2019

  Incluir item

• The Effects of Local Police Surges on Crime and Arrests in New York City

  Open Access•John M Macdonald, John Macdonald et al.•PLoS ONE•2016

  Incluir item

• When can categorical variables be treated as continuous? A comparison of robust continuous and categorical SEM estimation methods under suboptimal conditions.

  Mijke Rhemtulla, Patricia E Brosseau-Liard et al.•Psychological Methods•2012

  Incluir item

• Communicating with purpose

  Open Access•Christopher D O’connor, Huda Zaidi•The Police Journal Theory…•2021

  Incluir item

• “One Question Before You Get Gone. . .”

  Open Access•Jacinta M Gau, Rod K Brunson•Race and Justice•2012

  Incluir item

• Police use of force and nativity

  Christopher A Simon, Michael C Moltz et al.•Police Practice and Research•2021

  Incluir item

• The Empirical Status of Social Learning Theory

  Travis C Pratt, Francis T Cullen et al.•Justice Quarterly•2009

  Incluir item

• An Inductive Approach to Examining Racial Majority Versus Minority Expectations and Appraisals of Police Legitimacy in a Small-Town Context

  Open Access•Tyrell Spencer, Tammy Rinehart Kochel•Race and Justice•2021

  Incluir item

• Police Interactions and the Mental Health of Black Americans

  Open Access•Mellissa McLeod, Daliah Heller et al.•Journal of Racial and Ethnic…•2020

  Incluir item

• Law Enforcement and the Depiction of Minorities and Women on Social Media

  Open Access•BRION SEVER, Eric Elg et al.•Race and Justice•2021

  Incluir item

• Social media and policing

  Open Access•James P Walsh, Christopher D O’connor et al.•Sociology Compass•2019

  Incluir item

• The Influence of Police Related Media, Victimization, and Satisfaction on African American College Students' Perceptions of Police

  Open Access•Andrew S Franklin, Robert K Perkins et al.•Frontiers in Sociology•2019

  Incluir item

• Black minority ethnic communities and levels of satisfaction with policing

  Open Access•Giles A Barrett, Samantha Fletcher et al.•Criminology & Criminal Justice•2013

  Incluir item

• Suspect Searches

  Open Access•Jon B Gould, Stephen D Mastrofski•Criminology & Public Policy•2004

  Incluir item

• Do Stop, Question, and Frisk Practices Deter Crime

  Open Access•David Weisburd, Alese Wooditch et al.•Criminology & Public Policy•2015

  Incluir item

• Stop, Question, and Complain

  Open Access•Andres F Rengifo, Kurt Fowler•Journal of Urban Health•2015

  Incluir item

• Policing and social identity

  Ben Bradford•Policing & Society•2012

  Incluir item

• The usual suspects

  Scot Wortley, Akwasi Owusu‐bempah et al.•Policing & Society•2011

  Incluir item

• The police on Twitter

  Christopher D O’connor, Christopher D O'Connor•Policing & Society•2015

  Incluir item

• Policing, social media and the new media landscape

  Marianne P Colbran, Marianne Colbran•Policing & Society•2018

  Incluir item

• Reading the riots

  Rob Procter, Jeremy Crump et al.•Policing & Society•2013

  Incluir item

• Force to sell

  Murray Lee, Alyce Mcgovern•Policing & Society•2012

  Incluir item

• Stop and search in global context

  BEN BOWLING, Leanne Weber•Policing & Society•2011

  Incluir item

• Promoting trust in police

  Kristina Murphy, Lorraine Mazerolle et al.•Policing & Society•2013

  Incluir item

• Progress in American Policing? Reviewing the National Reviews

  Open Access•Michael S Scott•Law & Social Inquiry•2009

  Incluir item

• Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and the Effective Rule of Law

  T R Tyler•Crime and Justice•2003

  Incluir item

• Citizens' perceptions of body-worn cameras (BWCs)

  Open Access•Mustafa Demir•Journal of Criminal Justice•2019

  Incluir item

• Cops and cameras

  Open Access•Wesley G Jennings, Lorie Fridell et al.•Journal of Criminal Justice•2014

  Incluir item

• A field experiment of the impact of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on police officer behavior and perceptions

  Open Access•Andrea M Headley, Rob T Guerette et al.•Journal of Criminal Justice•2017

  Incluir item

• Driving While Black

  Open Access•P Y Warren, Patricia Warren et al.•Criminology•2006

  Incluir item

• Using the Correct Statistical Test for the Equality of Regression Coefficients

  Open Access•Raymond Paternoster, Robert Brame et al.•Criminology•1998

  Incluir item

• Deterrence, Criminal Opportunities, and Police

  Open Access•Daniel S Nagin, Robert M Solow et al.•Criminology•2015

  Incluir item

• Proactive Policing and Robbery Rates Across U.S. Cities

  Open Access•Charis E Kubrin, F Messner et al.•Criminology•2010

  Incluir item

• Toward a Better Understanding of Politicized Policing Attitudes

  Open Access•Jason R Silver, Justin T Pickett•Criminology•2015

  Incluir item

• Disproportionate and Discriminatory

  Open Access•BEN BOWLING, Coretta Phillips•Modern Law Review•2007

  Incluir item

• Patterns and Drivers of Co-production in Neighbourhood Watch in England and Wales

  Open Access•Ian Brunton-Smith, Karen Bullock•The British Journal of Criminology•2019

  Incluir item

• Does Stop and Search Deter Crime? Evidence From Ten Years of London-wide Data

  Open Access•Matteo Tiratelli, Paul Quinton et al.•The British Journal of Criminology•2018

  Incluir item

• The social media response to Black Lives Matter

  Jelani Ince, F Rojas et al.•Ethnic and Racial Studies•2017

  Incluir item

• Protesting the police

  Heidi Reynolds-Stenson, Heidi Reynolds‐stenson•Social movement studies•2018

  Incluir item

• Black in Blue

  Sounman Hong•Journal of Public Administration…•2017

  Incluir item

• Police Are Our Government

  Joe So, Joe Soss et al.•Annual Review of Political Science•2017

  Incluir item

• Street Stops and Police Legitimacy

  Open Access•T R Tyler, Jeffrey Fagan et al.•Journal of Empirical Legal Studies•2014

  Incluir item

• Evidence that curtailing proactive policing can reduce major crime

  Open Access•Christopher M Sullivan, Zachary P O’keeffe et al.•Nature Human Behaviour•2017

  Incluir item

• A large-scale analysis of racial disparities in police stops across the United States

  Open Access•Emma Pierson, Camelia Simoiu et al.•Nature Human Behaviour•2020

  Incluir item

• Mano Suave-Mano Dura

  Open Access•Victor M Rios, Greg Prieto et al.•American Sociological Review•2020

  Incluir item

• Stop, Frisk, and Assault? Racial Disparities in Police Use of Force During Investigatory Stops

  Open Access•R Kramer, Brianna Remster•Law & Society Review•2018

  Incluir item

• Race and the Association Between Police Stops and Depression Among Young Adults

  Open Access•Valerio Baćak, Kathryn M Nowotny•Race and Justice•2020

  Incluir item

• An Exploratory Multilevel Analysis of Pedestrian Frisks in Philadelphia

  Open Access•Lance Hannon•Race and Justice•2020

  Incluir item

• Parenting the Dispossessed

  Open Access•Jan Haldipur•Race and Justice•2018

  Incluir item

• The Revolution Might Not Be Televised (But It Will Be Lived Streamed)

  Open Access•Sara M Hockin, Rod K Brunson•Race and Justice•2018

  Incluir item

• Race, Space, and Being Policed

  Open Access•Kideste Mariam Wilder Bonner•Race and Justice•2014

  Incluir item

• Race and Ethnicity Missingness in the Traffic Stop Data Reported by 308 Massachusetts Police Agencies

  Open Access•Richard J Lundman•Race and Justice•2012

  Incluir item

• Racial Resentment and Attitudes Toward the Use of Force by Police

  Open Access•J Scott Carter, Mamadi Corra•Sociological Inquiry•2016

  Incluir item

• Legal Socialization of Children and Adolescents

  Open Access•Jeffrey Fagan, T R Tyler•Social Justice Research•2005

  Incluir item