African Americans' Attitudes Toward the Local Police

sociological literature has focused considerable attention on how well people like their local police. As part of their focus, scholars have studied topics such as police-community relations (Gabor & Low, 1973; Johnson & Gregory, 1971; Trojanowicz, 1972; Trojanowicz & Moore, 1988; Wilson & Kelling, 1985), citizens' perceptions of the police (Albrecht & Green, 1977; Harris, 1981; McDowell, 1984; Peek, Lowe, & Alston, 1981; The Plague, 1981), and police and citizen interactions (Barlow, 1990; Black, 1970; Black & Reiss, 1970; Hartjen, 1972; Piliavin & Briar, 1964; Sykes & Brent, 1983; Sykes & Clark, 1975). Although numerous studies have been conducted to assess the public's attitude toward the local police, many of them have been characterized by small, unrepresentative, and mostly middle-class White samples from which generalizations are questionable. In an