Citizen perceptions of community policing: Are attitudes toward police important?

This study assessed citizen attitudes toward police performance and their perceptions of policing strategy in a small, northwestern town. At the neighbourhood-level, significant differences in attitudes toward police performance (i.e. officer demeanour and citizen-police relations) were revealed; however, variations in perceptions of community policing initiatives (i.e. collaborative police-community partnerships) were not observed. At the individual-level, results showed that attitudes toward police performance were not significant determinants of citizen perceptions of community policing. This evidence suggested that citizens were receptive to the idea of co-production of order, and specifically of partnerships between residents and the police to address neighbourhood crime-related issues. As such, these findings call into question the long standing assumption that positive attitudes toward police are a necessary precursor to the establishment of meaningful, co-operative ties between citizens and the police.