Fatal police encountersRacial, political identities influence people’s view of fatal police encounters

Published 9 January 2018

People’s racial and political identities strongly shaped how they viewed the causes of several recent widely publicized police encounters that resulted in the deaths of African-American men, according to a new study. African-Americans, liberals and Democrats generally attribute the cause of fatal encounters between officers and black citizens to broader problems in policing. Others generally would view the encounters as phenomena limited to the actions of a few actors.

The KU political science professors found that racial and political identities shape our understanding of these events; African-Americans, liberals and Democrats generally attribute the cause of fatal encounters between officers and black citizens to broader problems in policing. Others generally would view the encounters as phenomena limited to the actions of a few actors.

“We often ignore the fact that if we don’t have consensus about the cause of problems we can’t possibly agree on what to do to solve observed problems,” said Don Haider-Markel, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science.

KU says that Haider-Markel and Mark Joslyn, professor of political science, co-authored the study published recently by the journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy. They examined data from two recent national surveys that asked respondents about use of police force, including widely covered deaths of unarmed black men in encounters, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Eric Garner in New York; Walter Scott in South Carolina and Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

All cases led to widespread national media coverage and some protests surrounding police treatment of African-American men.

Regarding race, the researchers also found evidence that Hispanic respondents were more likely to view deaths in police encounters as a sign of a widespread problem, though it was less consistent than among black respondents.

Based on the level of polarization observed in the findings, the researchers recommend that police departments focus more on community policing initiatives, especially in predominately black and Hispanic communities.

“We know that for police to operate effectively in maintaining civil order they must have the confidence and trust of citizens,” Joslyn said. “Without trust, citizens will not contact police or share information relevant to police investigators.”

Community policing involves an approach that encourages officers to have regular, everyday contact with the communities they serve, especially outside of interactions solely surrounding crimes or police calls. This could involve meetings with neighborhood residents and community leaders or just daily proactive interactions.

Research on community policing is mixed, but it could help alleviate problems in two ways, the researchers said. First, it gets cops interacting with members of