This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Orr, M. Articles by West, D. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Citizen Evaluations of Local Police

Personal Experience or Symbolic Attitudes?

Brown University

Darrell M. West

Brown University

The sources of public assessments of government policy long have been the object of controversy between those proposing personal experience versus a symbolic attitudes model based on more general political and social beliefs. However, much of the research focuses on national policy issues that are not concrete and are removed from the daily experiences of many Americans. The authors use attitudes about local police to examine whether public assessments are linked more to people’s direct experience with crime and the police or whether such impressions are associated with more abstract attitudes about politics and law enforcement. They find that personal experience mattered more than symbolic attitudes when it came to views about police courtesy and fairness. However, both personal experience and symbolic attitudes were important in regard to opinions about crime seriousness and assessments of overall police performance. These results have important implications for how citizens evaluate local government services.

Key Words: police • citizens • symbolic • attitudes

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?