COPS AND THE COLLEGE CROWD: YOUNG ADULTS AND PERCEPTIONS OF POLICE IN A COLLEGE TOWN

• Published in: Journal of crime & justice Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 125 - 151
• Main Authors: Williams, L. Susan, Nofziger, Stacey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2003
• ISSN: 0735-648X; 2158-9119
• DOI: 10.1080/0735648X.2003.9721185

Research on attitudes of college students toward police provides an opportunity to explore the relationship among age, subgroup/cultural adaptation, and anti-authority orientation. Using data that allow comparisons between college students and the general community population, this study finds that being in college, not age, diminishes students' trust in police, and that students are two times more likely than general citizens to report feeling unsafe. Students' decreased confidence in police, as compared to general citizens, holds for those with and without police contact. However, positive evaluation of contact significantly mediates perceptions of police for whites but not for Blacks. The study demonstrates that even within small, relatively homogeneous communities subgroup identity may inspire or discourage trust and, in turn, diminish feelings of safety. Further, patterns of trust and safety differ for women and men; women report higher confidence in police, but lower feelings of safety, a pattern opposite that for men. The college town provides an instructive case for examining a context in which newcomers and town citizens interact, sometimes with conflicting orientations.