Survey: Police Satisfaction [CNN]

[Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>]

Forwarded message:

>                   SURVEY SHOWS AMERICAN'S COMFORT WITH POLICE
>                                        
>      police contact November 22, 1997
>      Web posted at: 7:01 p.m. EST (0001 GMT)
>      
>      WASHINGTON (AP) -- A new Justice Department survey examining the way
>      the public interacts with police has found that one in five
>      Americans makes some kind of contact with law enforcement officers
>      each year mostly to report a crime, ask for help or offer
>      assistance.
>      
>      The study, released Saturday, also found that less than 1 percent of
>      people who made contact with police said officers used or threatened
>      to use physical force. If force was used, most respondents said,
>      their actions may have provoked it.
>      
>      The survey reveals nothing surprising, criminal justice experts
>      said. They said it shows that Americans are turning to police in
>      situations beyond emergencies.
>      
>      "I think to many people, the one in five number seems high. But it
>      does emphasize the varied role police have as peace officers as
>      opposed to just responding to crimes," said James Alan Fox, dean of
>      the College of Criminal Justice at Boston's Northeastern University.
>      "Most of the work police do is not necessarily respond to crimes."
>      
>      However, some feel the survey fails to address factors important to
>      relationships police have with citizens. police directions
>      
>      "It probably doesn't really speak to the strained relations between
>      the police and minority communities in America," said Arthur
>      Lurigio, chairman of the Criminal Justice Department at Loyola
>      University in Chicago.
>      
>      The first-of-its-kind study was culled from data in the annual
>      National Criminal Victimization Survey conducted by the Bureau of
>      Justice Statistics.
>      
>      According to the report, one-third of the contacts between the
>      police and the public was related to seeking help or offering
>      assistance. Another third was to report a crime, either as a witness
>      or victim. Slightly less than one-third of respondents said the
>      police had initiated the contact.
>      
>      White males and people in their 20s were the most likely to have
>      face-to-face contact, the survey found. Hispanics and blacks were
>      about 70 percent as likely as whites to have interacted with the
>      police.
>      
>      The study was based on a survey of 6,421 people, age 12 and older,
>      and used a sample of residents chosen to represent an entire
>      population. No margin of error was given.