The impact of the Rodney king incident on citizen attitudes toward police

Research for this project was funded, in part, by Institutional Grant No. 55301 from the John and Dora Haynes Foundation, Los Angeles, California. Findings or viewpoints expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Haynes Foundation. The author expresses sincere gratitude to LAPD Assistant Chief Robert Vernon and officers assigned to Newton Street Division's Operation Cul‐de‐Sac for their support in this project. This study explores the impact of the “Rodney King” incident on citizen attitudes toward police (ATP). A multi‐wave panel design is used to measure ATP change before and after the onset of the King incident using a probability sample of 369 residents representing inner‐city neighborhoods with South Central Los Angeles. Respondent age, race and gender were investigated as independent effects on the ATP criterion, an index composed of five Likert‐style items tapping a single dimension of “police fairness toward citizens in the enforcement of laws.” Findings revealed that regardless of respondent age, race or gender, citizen attitudes toward police were significantly lowered following introduction of the King event. However, it was also discovered that negative perceptions of police fairness held by African‐Americans were significantly lower and longer‐term than any other respondent group examined. Macro‐and micro‐level explanations of attitude change are explored as potential conceptual rationales for this finding.