Police-citizen relations are in the public spotlight following outbursts of anger and violence. Such clashes often happen as a response to fatal police shootings, racial or ethnic discrimination, or the mishandling of mass protests. But even in such cases, citizens’ assessment of the police differs considerably across social groups. This raises the question of the sources and impediments of citizens’ trust and support for police. Why are police-citizen relations much better in some countries than in others? Are police-minority relations doomed to be strained? And which police practices and policing policies generate trust and legitimacy? Research on police legitimacy has been centred on US experiences, and relied on procedural justice as the main theoretical approach. This book questions whether this approach is suitable and sufficient to understand public attitudes towards the police across different countries and regions of the world. This volume shows that the impact of macro-level conditions, of societal cleavages, and of state and political institutions on police-citizen relations has too often been neglected in contemporary research. Building on empirical studies from around the world as well as cross-national comparisons, this volume considerably expands current perspectives on the sources of police legitimacy and citizens’ trust in the police. Combining the analysis of micro-level interactions with a perspective on the contextual framework and varying national conditions, the contributions to this book illustrate the strength of a broadened perspective and lead us to ask how specific national frameworks shape the experiences of policing.

Race and Policing in America is about relations between police and citizens, with a focus on racial differences. It utilizes both the authors' own research and other studies to examine Americans' opinions, preferences, and personal experiences regarding the police. Guided by group-position theory and using both existing studies and the authors' own quantitative and qualitative data (from a nationally representative survey of whites, blacks, and Hispanics), this book examines the roles of personal experience, knowledge of others' experiences (vicarious experience), mass media reporting on the police, and neighborhood conditions (including crime and socioeconomic disadvantage) in structuring citizen views in four major areas: overall satisfaction with police in one's city and neighborhood, perceptions of several types of police misconduct, perceptions of police racial bias and discrimination, and evaluations of and support for a large number of reforms in policing.

This book illustrates the process by which social media and related changes in communication formats have affected the public face of policing and police work in Canada. Schneider argues that police use of social media has altered institutional public police practices in a manner that is consistent with the logic of social media platforms.

The deaths of Michael Brown and George Floyd at the hands of white police officers uncovered an apparent legitimacy crisis at the heart of American policing. Drawing on interviews with officers, offenders, practitioners and community members, this book explores policing changes in the ‘post-Ferguson’ era and informs future policing practice.

In sheer numbers, no form of government control comes close to the police stop. Each year, twelve percent of drivers in the United States are stopped by the police, and the figure is almost double among racial minorities. Police stops are among the most recognizable and frequently criticized incidences of racial profiling, but, while numerous studies have shown that minorities are pulled over at higher rates, none have examined how police stops have come to be both encouraged and institutionalized. Pulled Over deftly traces the strange history of the investigatory police stop, from its discredited beginning as “aggressive patrolling” to its current status as accepted institutional practice. Drawing on the richest study of police stops to date, the authors show that who is stopped and how they are treated convey powerful messages about citizenship and racial disparity in the United States. For African Americans, for instance, the experience of investigatory stops erodes the perceived legitimacy of police stops and of the police generally, leading to decreased trust in the police and less willingness to solicit police assistance or to self-censor in terms of clothing or where they drive. This holds true even when police are courteous and respectful throughout the encounters and follow seemingly colorblind institutional protocols. With a growing push in recent years to use local police in immigration efforts, Hispanics stand poised to share African Americans’ long experience of investigative stops. In a country that celebrates democracy and racial equality, investigatory stops have a profound and deleterious effect on African American and other minority communities that merits serious reconsideration. Pulled Over offers practical recommendations on how reforms can protect the rights of citizens and still effectively combat crime.

Dorothy Byrne Head of News and Current Affairs Channel Four Hugo De Burgh Professor & Director China Media Centre University of Westminster Bob Calver Birmingham City University Duncan Campbell Former Crime Correspondent, The Guardian Damian Paul Carney, Principal Lecturer Portsmouth University Bernard Clark Inventor Watchdog BBC, Hard News Channel Four Tor Clark De Montfort University Paul Connew, Former Editor Sunday Mirror Peter Cole Professor Former Editor Sunday Correspondent, Deputy Editor The Guardian Jon Eilenberg Brunel University Sir Harold Evans Former Editor Sunday Times/Times Tom Felle Leader Journalism University of Limerick Chris Frost Professor Liverpool John Moores University Ivor Gaber Professor City University Phil Harding former Controller, Editorial Policy BBC Huw Hopkins Writer and Journalist John Jewell, Cardiff Centre for Journalism Nicholas Jones, former BBC industrial and political corr. Paul Marsden Coventry University Deidre O'Neill Principal Lecturer Journalism Leeds Trinity University Dr Eamonn O'Neill Strathclyde University Natalie Peck Researcher Hacked Off Campaign Julian Petley Professor of Screen Media Brunel University Dominic Ponsford, Editor Press Gazette Peter Preston Former Editor The Guardian Richard Sambrook, Director Centre for Journalism Cardiff University former Director News, Director Sport and Director Global News BBC Raymond Snoddy Former Media Editor The Times, Presenter Hard News Channel Four/Newswatch BBC News Mick Temple Professor Staffordshire University John Tulloch Professor Lincoln University