Highlights
While it’s true that relentless media coverage of police use of force issues resulted in a hit to the reputation of the profession, within the context of all other institutions, public confidence in American policing remains high.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of directing award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Former police officer. Aspiring drummer.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
Article
Confidence in law enforcement is a sensitive topic believed by many to be a reason for thousands of police officers quitting. There are endless references via social media of cops stating that they are not willing to risk their lives for an ungrateful public. Families are telling their loved ones to get out of policing, and to get out now.
National arrests are at record lows.
There are numerous media reports of cities not having enough police officers resulting in very high response times and the possibility that understaffing affects the reporting of crimes. We may not have enough police officers to enforce red flag laws or the provision of protection services to prevent mass shootings or renewed efforts to return police officers to schools.
Law enforcement is expected to take on an array of additional services with reduced staffing levels.
Gallup
Gallup offers some insight as to where law enforcement and the overall criminal justice system stand as to public confidence while noting that overall, there are declining levels of confidence in all institutions.
The good news is that law enforcement remains one of the most highly rated institutions. The bad news is that public confidence in policing is declining.
Before delving into Gallup’s data, we need to understand that the police are highly rated via a variety of research (below). Regardless of demographics, the profession is rated positively by most in American society with differences based on political affiliation, age, race, ethnic background, and other variables.
Gallups’ Data (quotes rearranged for brevity)
Americans’ faith in major societal institutions hasn’t improved over the past year following a slump in public confidence in 2022.
Last year, Gallup recorded significant declines in public confidence in 11 of the 16 institutions it tracks annually, with the presidency and Supreme Court suffering the most. The share of Americans expressing a great deal or fair amount of confidence in these fell 15 and 11 percentage points, respectively.
Public confidence in each of the other 14 institutions remains near last year’s relatively low level, with none of the scores worsening or improving meaningfully.
Approval of “the police” based on “a great deal/fair amount” slipped from 51 percent in 2021 to 43 percent in 2023.
“The criminal justice system” went from 20 to 17 percent for the same time period.
As stated, confidence in American institutions overall is challenging with the medical system, church and organized religion, banks, the Supreme Court, public schools, the presidency, tech companies, newspapers, television news, organized labor, and Congress all fairing much worse than law enforcement.
Only small businesses and the military scored better.
The historically depressed nature of today’s ratings is evident in the average confidence scores of nine institutions that Gallup has routinely tracked since 1979. That average fell to a new low of 26% this year. While down just one point from 2022, it is 10 points lower than in 2020.
Republicans rated law enforcement approval at 60 percent, Democrats at 40 percent, and independents at 38 percent.
Source
Conclusions
The exodus of thousands of police officers may be partially based on a sense that the public has abandoned the profession. While it’s true that relentless media coverage of police use of force issues starting in 2014 resulted in a hit to the reputation of the profession per polls, within the context of all other institutions, public confidence in American policing remains high.
We also need to recognize that violence has increased considerably in cities and the public (however unfairly) sees law enforcement as the principle agent in reducing crime.
Context from previous data on Black-White-Hispanic perceptions of law enforcement:
Approximately 70 to 89 percent of Black respondents provided positive ratings of law enforcement ranging from a willingness to contact police in the future to doing a good job to wanting police officers in their communities.
The overwhelming majority of police contacts, with differences based on demographics, indicate considerable satisfaction with interactions with law enforcement, consistent with previous research. A CBS News/YouGov poll found that 70% of “Black Americans” said that local police are doing a “very good” or “somewhat good” job. The poll results also indicated that 82% of “Whites” and 77% of “Hispanics” said police were doing a “very or somewhat good job.”
When asked whether they want the police to spend more time, the same amount of time or less time than they currently do in their area, most Black Americans — 61% — want the police presence to remain the same. This is similar to the 67% of all U.S. adults preferring the status quo, including 71% of White Americans. Meanwhile, nearly equal proportions of Black Americans say they would like the police to spend more time in their area (20%) as say they’d like them to spend less time there (19%), Gallup Center on Black Voices.
A CBS News/YouGov poll found that 70% of “Black Americans” said that local police are doing a “very good” or “somewhat good” job. The poll results also indicated that 82% of “Whites” and 77% of “Hispanics” said police were doing a “very or somewhat good job.”
Trust in local police and law enforcement has risen to 69%. Among Black respondents, trust in Black Lives Matter has fallen by 12 points and trust in local police has risen by 14 points, USA Today
Even in fragile communities (i.e., high unemployment), a study finds that 74% of fragile-community residents vs. 87% of Americans overall think people like themselves are treated “very fairly” or “fairly” by their local police. The results vary by racial group: Black (65%) and Hispanic (72%) residents of fragile communities are considerably less likely than white residents (87%) to say people like themselves are treated fairly by police, Gallup.
Eighty-six percent of respondents said that they were treated with respect by law enforcement including most Hispanic and Black individuals polled. Eighty-nine percent of respondents said they were treated fairly including most Hispanic and Black individuals polled, Gallup.
Some civil rights leaders insist that Blacks are overrepresented in arrests. As to overall arrests, per the US Department of Justice, “White and black people were arrested proportionate to their involvement in serious nonfatal violent crime overall and proportionate to their involvement in serious nonfatal violent crime reported to police,” USDOJ Data On Race And Crime.
Gallup’s Global Law and Order report state that US and Canadian police are the world’s most trusted law enforcement officers, Most Trusted.
So while ratings of institutions across the board have decreased per the current Gallup survey, when one looks at the totality of data, law enforcement remains one of the highest-rated American public entities.
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