Street Stops and Police Legitimacy

The focus of the current study is to explore police contacts and its consequences on public views about police legitimacy - both among groups most likely to be stopped and with the general public. Using a two-wave panel design, a stratified random sample of 1,000 New York City residents ages 18-26 will be surveyed to test two hypotheses on the relationship between policing and legitimacy under conditions of intensive surveillance and high rates of police-citizen contact. First, the study will examine whether the impact of police street stops on views about police legitimacy is mediated by how the police exercise their authority when dealing with members of the public, i.e. on police comportment with standards of professionalism and fairness. The answer to this question is central to answering the question of whether the widespread use of police street stops for crime control is a sustainable approach to policing. Second, to the extent that the impact of street stops is filtered through public views about police professionalism and fairness, this study will identify those aspects of police conduct that shape the perceived impacts of street stops on police legitimacy. ca/ncf