Police officers' prejudice and distrust towards racialized groups is related to internal motivation to suppress prejudice and negative intergroup contact

Racialized individuals experience different interactions with the police compared to non-racialized individuals. This study investigates biases among German police officers (N = 208) towards individuals perceived as Arab. Police officers demonstrated shooter biases in a first-person shooter task, rated Arab individuals as less trustworthy, and expressed a preference for White individuals over Arab individuals. These biases closely mirrored those found in a civilian convenience sample (N = 237), with one notable difference: police officers showed significantly greater distrust towards Arab individuals than civilians. This heightened distrust was mediated by social dominance orientation and negative perceptions of intergroup contact. Additionally, internal motivation to suppress prejudice was as a strong predictor of both group preference and distrust in both samples. Collectively, these findings highlight that police officers, as a reflection of society, exhibit pervasive biases towards racialized groups, which might impact their interactions with minoritized communities.