Skip to main content

Abstract

Previous research on satisfaction with police services has shown a variety of factors can be significant such as race, neighborhood disorganization, and fear of crime. Furthermore, policing that is visible can help community residents feel higher levels of security and order. Some cities have more fractured community-police relations in comparison to others nationwide. Recently, The City of Dallas Police Department has had several race-based incidents in the national media, and they have been working to increase citizen satisfaction with public safety and obtain community cooperation. Residents of Dallas were given surveys regarding satisfaction with police services, contact with police, fear of crime, atmosphere for citizen involvement, and neighborhood disorganization. Findings support some conclusions from previous research on satisfaction with police services. Namely, respondents who felt “listened to” reported greater satisfaction with police services. Results also revealed respondent’s perceptions of crime were significant predictors of satisfaction with police services. Finally, consistent with other research, level of neighborhood disorganization was also a significant predictor of satisfaction with police services. Our results indicate a respondent’s perception of the neighborhood and community they live in are more important factors than actual contact with law enforcement officials.

Files

File nameDate UploadedVisibilityFile size
2_karas.pdf
19 Jul 2022
Public
202 kB

Metrics

Metadata

  • Alternative title
    • Satisfaction with Police

  • Journal title
    • Papers & Publications

  • Volume
    • 8

  • Issue
    • 1

  • Date submitted

    19 July 2022

  • Keywords
  • Additional information
    • Acknowledgements:

      I would like to thank the institutional review board and Dr. Lynch for considering this article.

      Author Biography:

      Krystal Karas graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Florida Southern College in May of 2019. She was an All-American student athlete of the NCAA DII Women’s Florida Southern Swimming team, member of the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society, and on the president’s scholar list. She is currently employed as a legal assistant at a personal injury law firm in Southfield, Michigan and plans on attending law school in the near future. Chastity Blankenship earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Central Florida in 2011. Currently, Dr. Blankenship is an Assistant Professor of Social Science in the Department of Criminology at Florida Southern College. Dr. Blankenship is also the Chair for the Women and Gender Studies Minor at her institution. She has a variety of research area interests, which broadly include issues related to social inequality.

      Graduation Date:

      May 2019