While neighbourhood factors and previous encounters may play a significant role in attitudes towards policing, other demographic factors have also been shown to play a role in shaping individuals’ perceptions. Two of these factors, as implicit in the discussions above, are the respondent’s age and race.
US and UK research on race, ethnicity and youth-police relations
There are complex and inconsistent findings in research conducted in the US and UK contexts regarding the impact of race in relation to youth-police relations and the issue of how influential perceptions of race and perceived racial attributes are in the way in which young people and the police approach and understand each other.
In the US, Cheurprakobkit (2000) considered the experiences of police contact amongst white, black and Hispanic subjects in the United States. It was found that Hispanic subjects generally held favourable views of police, equivalent to those held by white respondents. However, in line with a trend towards African-Americans holding less favourable attitudes towards police than white Americans, black respondents in Cheurprakobit’s study held less favourable views. Views were often influenced by the nature of contact with police, with more positive contacts leading to more positive attitudes. In this study, younger respondents tended to express less favourable attitudes than older respondents (Cheurprakobkit, 2000).
Huebner et al. (2004) investigated the impact of demographic, neighbourhood and contact variables on perceptions of police in the US, by conducting telephone surveys with more than 1100 participants. This study found that African-American and white respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with policing (79% and 85% respectively). The study also indicated that African-American women, older people and homeowners were more likely to be satisfied with community policing models. The study suggested that a diverse range of factors, including neighbourhood context, contacts and demographic variables, impacted on African-American attitudes to policing, while a more limited range of variables shaped white attitudes (Huebner, Schafer, and Bynum, 2004). Weitzer and Tuch (2005) conducted a survey to investigate black, Hispanic and white perceptions of racial bias in policing. They hypothesised that black and Hispanic participants would have a greater perception of racial bias and discrimination, as they would be more likely to see police as allies of the white majority. This hypothesis was supported, with significant numbers of black and Hispanic respondents and very few white respondents indicating that black people were treated worse than white people by police; that black neighbourhoods received poorer services; that police prejudice is evident; and that they themselves had been treated unfairly by police.
The study found that attitudes were impacted by personal and vicarious experience, and by media reports of police discrimination (Weitzer and Tuch, 2005).
There is emerging research also regarding the attitudes held by juveniles towards police. One study found that teenagers in general had poor opinions of police performance when compared to adult data, and that African- American teenagers had more negative opinions that white Americans (Hurst, Frank, and Browning, 2000). For example, 23% of white respondents and 15% of black respondents indicated that police did a good job of stopping crime, while 47% of whites and 26.5% of blacks responded that police did a good job in general. However, the study also found that while young black Americans rated their attitudes towards police as less favourable, their actual encounters with police were rated similarly to white respondents (Hurst et al., 2000). Another study conducted in urban and regional high schools in the United States also found that young people rated police performance more negatively than equivalent adult studies (Taylor, Turner, Esbensen, and Winfree, 2001). They also found that white attitudes were consistently more positive than black attitudes, with Hispanics reporting attitudes somewhere between the two other racial groups and Asian respondents reporting similar attitudes to whites. The study also found that most favourable attitudes were reported from relatively rural sites with a majority of white respondents, while the most unfavourable attitudes were reported in urban, black majority settings, suggesting that race and location were somewhat confounded (Taylor et al., 2001).
Howell et al. (2004) stress that the ‘role’ and ‘legitimacy’ of police in relation to ‘black’ America have been problematised by historical accounts of discrimination. They also stress that these relations of ‘mistrust’ have been reinforced in a post civil-rights era by new practices of racial profiling and neighbourhood policing which aggressively target black neighbourhoods (2004: 46). This is supported by a large body of literature identifying that African-Americans continue to be more likely than whites to have ‘experienced involuntary, uncivil, or adversarial contact with police; to be stopped, questioned, and/or searched without cause or due process; and to experience verbal or physical abuse personally’ (Howell et al., 2004: 46, see also Browning et al., 1994; Flanagan and Vaughn, 1996; Weitzer and Tuch, 2005; Schafer et al., 2003). In addition, African-Americans are also more likely to express a higher level of dissatisfaction with police service and response times, ‘which is universally regarded to be an important measure of the efficiency of police service’ (Howell et al., 2004: 48). Howell et al. complicate this straightforward analysis, however, by referring to the higher rates of crime that exist in many ‘black’ neighbourhoods, ‘which creates a dilemma for police in terms of what should be the proper balance between maintaining public order and civility, and aggressively fighting crime’ (2004: 47). This problem is pronounced in the new era of community safety and community policing, where the focus on fostering good relations between police and community members must be balanced against the imperative of reducing crime and anti-social behaviour to satisfy the ‘broader community’. Piper and Piper identify this paradox (1999) as one which reinforces a ‘self-perpetuating quality in the perceptions of police and ethnic minorities, where ‘each organises their everyday relations on the basis of negative stereotypes’ (518). For police, resolving the conflict of fostering good relations with ethnic minority people versus policing anti-social behaviour, often leads to gridlocked negotiations and, in some instances, withdrawal of proactive police services in these communities. And yet, this is also identified by African-American communities as further evidence of police neglect and discrimination.
In his research of police/ethnic minority youth relations in the UK, Mark Moore (1991: 19) acknowledges this paradox, observing that:
The police could make two responses that would be racist and perceived as such. One is to ignore the problem because neither victims nor offenders are judged worth saving. The other is to use broad fears in the wider community as an occasion for cracking down.
In both instances, police are seen to be providing differential treatment to ethnic minority or ‘black’ communities, either through under-policing or over-policing. These outcomes impact on levels of trust, well-being and safety amongst residents and threaten to undermine the legitimacy of police services in ‘securing the support of the public’ they serve (Schafer et al., 2003: 441).
In Scotland, Narrowing the Gap: Police visibility and public reassurance - managing public expectation and demand (2002) reviews community responses to policing and the influence of police visibility based on research data gathered across eight Scottish police force areas. This project sought to:
Identify the nature and impact of concerns that underlie public demand for greater reassurance through police visibility and accessibility;
Identify the nature and extent of gaps that may exist between perceptions, expectations and policing provision in relation to these concerns; and
Gather information to aid identification of targeted solutions to public concerns and demands.
The findings of this report indicated that ‘police officers were considered neither common nor accessible in young people's lives and although they accepted a need for police, young people did not view them positively’. With respect to minorities, however, there were ‘very few differences in the views expressed from those of the general public, including the desire for greater visibility and engagement. The only exception to this related to the perceptions of crime directly attributable to the minority status of the victim’ (Narrowing the Gap, 2002).
Australian research on race, ethnicity and youth-police relations
In the Australian context, a research project conducted in 2000 in the southern regions of Melbourne focussed on ethnic communities’ perceptions of crime and safety (Victorian Multicultural Commission, 2000). The report identified that young migrants were more likely to report feeling safe and less likely to be worried about crime than older migrants. Women also reported feeling less safe than men, while many migrants identified difference of appearance (either through traditional dress or skin colour) as contributing to differential treatment by police and other members of the community. It was found that both younger and older migrants reported that they would not contact police if a crime was committed, but for different reasons. Older people would not contact the police due to their difficulties with English, while younger people reported that they would not contact due to negative past experiences with police and concerns about racially targeted discrimination. It was noted that young women were more likely to engage with police seeking assistance or support, while young men were more likely to experience contact due to compliance issues such as traffic or criminal offences. However, these differences in contact did not result in differences in attitudes towards police (Victorian Multicultural Commission, 2000).
Many accounts from the UK and Australia have made note of how provisions under the new ‘community safety’ paradigm have justified measures to ‘crack down’ on anti-social behaviour. The problem is that some of these behaviours are not perceived by young people to be anti-social and may, in fact, have positive value for young people in terms of their individual development, and feelings of belonging (Malone, 1999; White et al., 1999). Some practices also have distinct and important cultural meanings for many ethnic groups, making measures to ‘crack down’ appear racialised and exclusionary (White et al., 1999; Collins et al., 2000; 2004).
An example of this can be found in Rob White’s research on young people’s use of public space (White, 2004). As previously noted, moral panics about young people congregating in public space has seen the introduction of increased police powers to target young people exhibiting anti-social or problematic behaviour. These powers extend to the use of name-checks, move-on powers, stop and search powers, and the power to take fingerprints and bodily samples from alleged young offenders (2004: 2). The introduction of these powers has invited criticism from academics and policymakers for its emphasis on police discretion in determining what defines anti-
social behaviour; a situation which opens up vulnerable groups (i.e. young people and ethnic minority youth) to discriminatory police practices (Walsh and Taylor, 2007).
This claim is supported by research into ethnic youth gangs (White et al., 1999) which found that almost half the sample population identified having negative experiences with police, including: being stopped and searched by police (55%), being physically assaulted (34%), being falsely accused/arrested (15%) and being subjected to racism (11%). White goes on to say that the experience of ‘overpolicing’ of ethnic minority youth in Australia leads to a ‘self-perpetuating cycle of violence’ where young people, instead of requesting help from police, opt for forms of armed gang protection against racist attacks, a practice which only serves to justify more police intervention.
The Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council (2002), in its policy paper on refugee young people in Australia, makes special mention of how ‘moral panics’ about ethnic youth gangs has fuelled public suspicion of refugees and increased calls for police to use coercive strategies to deal with refugee young people. The report refers to White et al.’s findings (1999) that groups of refugee young people are a specific target of surveillance and police intervention (2002:10). A follow up report by the Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues (CMYI, 2006) also highlights concerns about refugee young people’s experiences of harassment and racism from police. This foreshadows recent allegations of police discrimination against Sudanese young people, made to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission by the Southern Ethnic Advisory Council following the death of Dandenong teenager Liep Gony in 2007 (Rights of Passage, 2008) and similar reports of human rights abuses against Somalian, Sudanese and Afghani young people in the Flemington area of Melbourne (Hopkins, 2006). The most commonly reported complaints are: young people being stopped and/or questioned/searched in public; police ‘moving on’ young people without a legitimate reason; racist comments being made by police to young people; police refusing to provide their identifying details when requested; and police refusing to respect a young person’s right to silence. But more concerning reports of serious harassment have also been alleged involving ‘unwarranted use of force, explicit racist comments, and other practices that are potentially in contravention of Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006; the police code of conduct; and in some instances potentially also constitute a criminal offence’ (Rights of Passage, 2008: 3). As these reports warn, negatively oriented differential policing of refugee young people and other young people of ethnic minority status creates relations of resentment, mistrust and alienation, which only serves to compound the potential problem of ethnically-based youth gangs.