What Works in Police Policy

1
What Works in Police Policy?

• Tom Tyler
• Department of Psychology
• And
• Law School
• New York University
• 12/21/2009

2
What Works in Police Policy?

• Suppose that you have some resources that you
  want to deploy.
• How should you deploy them?

3
What Do You Want From the People in Your
Community?

• You want the trust and confidence of the public
• You want public support for the exercise of
  police authority (discretion)
• You want people to cooperate with the police
• You want people to support increases in the
  police budget
• You want people to obey the law

4
What factors influence public reactions to the
police?

• Level of public fear of being crime victims.
• The perceived crime rate.
• Views about whether the police are effectively
  fighting crime.
• Whether law breakers think that they face a
  strong risk of being caught and punished.
• Do you allocate police services equally
  (distributive justice).
• Do you exercise police authority fairly/treat
  people fairly (procedural justice).

5
Look at What Works?

• Use a study of the residents of New York all
  five boroughs
• Asked to evaluate the NYPD
• n 586
• White 327
• Minority 243
• Refused 16

6
Trust and Confidence
7
Ethnic group differences?

• The members of both majority and minority groups
  responded in similar ways.
• This was generally true throughout, so ethnic
  differences will be ignored.

8
Public Support for Police Discretion
9
People Cooperate With the Police
10
Support Budget Increases for the Police
11
People Obey the Law
12
Two drivers of public feeling

• The police are effective
• The police exercise their authority fairly
  (procedural justice)

13
The Importance of Being Seen As Effective in
Fighting Crime Is No Surprise

• But, the key additional role of procedural
  justice is less widely known
• Potential value-added for police officials
• Even when you cannot control crime, you can make
  decisions in ways that people think are fair

14
A New Strategy

• Process based policing.
• Focus on communicating to the public that the
  police exercise their authority fairly.

15
What Leads the Public to Think That the Police
Are Exercising Their Authority Fairly?

• The police are neutral
• The police treat community residents with respect
• People trust the motives of the police
• People can participate in decisions

16
What Shapes Judgments About How Fairly the Police
Are Exercising Their Authority?
17
Similar Findings Across Ethnic Groups

• Whites

• Minorities

18
Neutrality

• Making decisions using objective criteria
• Absence of personal bias/ideology
• Consistent rule application
• This explains why people get upset about the idea
  of racial profiling (not neutral)

19
Respect

• Treatment with dignity, politeness, and respect
• Acknowledgement of rights
• This explains why people dislike
• Harassment,
• verbal abuse,
• Disrespectful/demeaning treatment

20
Trust in the Motives of the Police

• Evidence that the police care about the needs,
  concerns, and well-being of the people about whom
  they are making decisions.
• What shows this
• Accountability/explanation
• This explains why people dislike it when the
  police give no explanation for their behavior.

21
Participation

• People want to have a chance to present their own
  views about how decisions should be made (voice).
• More important than control over decisions.
• People like forums that allow voicemediation,
  even plea bargaining.

22
These Same Process Issues Also Matter in Everyday
Policing.

• Here the public has personal contact with police
  officers who are enforcing the law/ resolving
  disputes.

23
Consider the Case of Deference to the Police
During Personal Experiences.

• People who personally deal with the police.
• Sometimes receive undesired outcomesarrest,
  citation.
• Peoples problems sometimes remain unsolved.
• Outcomes negative around 30 of the time.

24
Personal Experiences With the Police?

• Why do people defer to police officers and
  voluntarily accept the decisions they make?
• Study in California (Oakland and Los Angeles
  1,656 interviewsTyler and Huo, in press).
• Personal experiences with the police.

25
What Shapes The Willingness to Accept Decisions?
26
Implication

• Police officers on the street gain when people
  generally have trust and confidence in the police.

27
What Shapes Willingness to Accept Decisions?
28
Implication

• As with general willingness to cooperate with the
  police, deference in a particular situation is
  linked to how fairly the police are seen as
  exercising their authority.

29
What Is Fairness in Personal Experiences?

• Same elements.
• Treatment with respect is the most important.

30
Trust and Confidence

• Address it with a process-based approach to
  policing.
• Gain general public support.
• Gain deference in particular situations.

31
This Is All About Subjective Support From the
Public

• Police performance can be viewed either objective
  or subjective.
• Objective
• Do the police adhere to appropriate norms of
  conduct?
• Are the police effectively fighting crime?
• Subjective
• Does the public feel the police act fairly?
• Do people think the police are controlling
• crime?

32
Why Focus on Subjective Issues?

• The public expresses low levels of trust and
  confidence in the police.
• This is especially true among minorities.
• We want to get buy in / cooperation from the
  public.
• This focus is not meant to suggest that objective
  issues do not matter.