Published online: 30

American Journal of Criminal Justice (2020) 45:474–492

Equal under the Law: Officers' Perceptionsof Equitable Treatment and Justice in Policing

Jacinta M. Gau1& Eugene A. Paoline III1

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AbstractMuch research has examined public views about fair treatment of citizens by police, butnearly nothing is known about officers’ perceptions of impartiality and justice withintheir own occupation. Efforts to improve minority representation in police organiza-tions might be hampered if officers themselves believe that police do not always treatpeople in neutral, unbiased, and fair ways. The current study analyzes officers’perceptions of whether their colleagues treat members of the public in ways that displayracial impartiality, income impartiality, and procedural justice. Findings indicate thatblack officers are critical of policing on all three measures; however, controlling forperceived racial and income inequity in a regression model eliminates the race effect forprocedural justice. Thus, black officers appear to perceive a greater degree of inequityin how officers treat the public and, in turn, perceived inequity reduces their beliefs thatofficers consistently engage in procedurally just policing. Implications for research andpolicy are discussed.

Keywords Police officer race . Occupational attitudes . Racial inequity . Income inequity .

Procedural justice

Introduction

Police officers’ treatment of people of color is a topic high on the national agenda. Thetensions between police and people of color are not new (indeed, they date back to thevery inception of policing in the U.S.; Walker, 1977), but in the past few years officer-involved deaths of unarmed black men have sparked outcry and a renewed public surge

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09525-5

* Jacinta M. GauJacinta.Gau@ucf.edu

Eugene A. Paoline, IIIEugene.Paoline@ucf.edu

1 Department of Criminal Justice, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Southern Criminal Justice Association 2020

Received: 3 January 2020 /Acce ted: 12 March 2020/March 2020

for heightened police accountability (President’s Task Force on twenty-first CenturyPolicing, 2015). News media routinely report incidents in which officers acted orappeared to act inappropriately, and amateur videos circulate social media constantly.The public’s response to allegations of police misconduct with regard to the treatmentof people of color has itself been split down racial lines, with white Americansgenerally lining up to defend the police and black Americans expressing a decline inconfidence (Kochel, 2019).

What is not known is how officers themselves view their colleagues’ behavior. Itmight be tempting to assume that police speak with a single voice on this issue andcategorically reject claims that policing is biased; however, this assumption is renderedsuspect by research showing that police occupational culture and attitudes are notuniversal. There is substantial similarity across officers on some occupational attitudes,but there is also notable variation (Paoline, 2004; Paoline & Gau, 2018; Paoline &Terrill, 2014). It is not necessarily the case that every officer views policing as fair andneutral.

The present research examines officers’ perceptions about racial and socioeconomicbias by other police officers. Data from a survey of officers in a mid-sized, urban policedepartment are analyzed to determine the percentage of officers who believe there isracial or income-based inequity in policing; how procedurally just officers think otherofficers are; and whether officers’ demographic factors influence their beliefs aboutinequity or procedural justice. The findings contribute to policing research by demon-strating whether and to what extent officers themselves believe that other officers carryout the job in a fair, impartial, unbiased manner. The findings have implications forpolice policy as chiefs, sheriffs, commissioners, and other top managers work to repairor strengthen relationships with the community. If officers doubt their colleagues’impartiality, rifts could open within the department’s ranks. Recruiting people of colorinto the policing occupation is already difficult, as indicated by the persistently lowrepresentation of minorities on police forces nationwide (Reaves, 2015), and willremain a significant challenge if the occupation is seen as unfair or inequitable evenby the people who work within it. The present study’s purpose is to further research andpolicy discussions on the topic of fair and just treatment by police, particularly withrespect to impartial treatment on the basis of race and income status.

Race and Public Opinions of the Police

Public opinions about and attitudes toward police are organized down various socialand political lines (Pew Research Center, 2017), but race consistently emerges as apowerful dividing force. During the days of slavery and into the post-slavery decades ofsegregation, Jim Crow laws, and other legal and social efforts to oppress, exclude, andabuse, police have played a sizeable role in shaping the individual lives and collectivegroup trajectory of black Americans. In the 1960s, police uses of force against blackindividuals often served as flashpoints for massive protests and even riots (Paoline,Gau, & Terrill, 2016). In the 1990s and 2000s, the “driving while black” phenomenoncaptured headlines and touched off contentious debates (e.g., Harris, 1999). In 2012,police in Sanford, Florida were strongly chastised for not arresting the killer of TrayvonMartin, an unarmed black teen killed by a white man who erroneously perceived him to

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be a threat (Gau & Jordan, 2015). This incident saw the emergence of the Black LivesMatter movement, which quickly turned into a major social movement in 2014 after theofficer-involved shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Blacks and whites are sharply split on their views of the criminal-justice system as awhole (Gramlich, 2019), including their feelings toward police (Pew Research Center,2017). Most blacks and whites concur that police treat blacks less fairly than they treatwhites, but the majority holding this opinion is lower among whites (63%) than amongblacks (84%; Horowitz, Brown, & Cox, 2019). Similarly, blacks and whites tend toagree that in general blacks have fewer advantages than whites and that they facepervasive discrimination, and that the situation is not improving but, in fact, continuesto worsen. In fact, two-thirds of all Americans believe open displays of racial hostilityare more common now than they were even just a few years ago (Horowitz et al., 2019).

The racial gaps are grounded largely in experiential differences. As groups, whitesand people of color have notably different types and quantities of interactions withpolice. Evidence suggests that all English-speaking racial groups initiate contact withthe police at roughly similar rates (Skogan, 2005), but that blacks and Latinos arestopped by police at rates exceeding those of whites (Fagan & Davies, 2000; Fagan,Geller, Davies, & West, 2010; Geller & Fagan, 2010; Skogan, 2005). Black youth andyoung adults stopped by police report frequent unprofessional treatment ranging fromrudeness to unwarranted criticism and even racial epithets (Gau & Brunson, 2010; seealso Brunson & Miller, 2005). Personal and vicarious negative experiences with policeaccumulate and become staple of the social environment in many black communities(Brunson, 2007; see generally Anderson, 2000). One study hinted at the possibility thatminorities enter police encounters with low expectations for how they will be treated,and that whites might actually respond more strongly to discretionary police actionslike consent requests during traffic stops because these actions violate their highexpectations (Gau & Brunson, 2012).

There is a popular assumption that shared race is universally beneficial for police–minority relations, which dates back to the Kerner Commission’s (1968) recommendationfor quelling racial disorder during the civil rights era. Some research has sought to test theclaim that citizens of color prefer and respond better to officers of color. This presumptionhas not borne out strongly in the empirical research. One study did find that black men whohad been the subjects of traffic stops were more likely to view the stops as illegitimate if theofficers were white than if they were minority (Cochran & Warren, 2012). Another study,however, suggested that black Americans do not strongly favor black officers, sometimesreport receiving better treatment from white officers than from black ones, and express apreference for racial diversity in policing (Weitzer, 2000). Black residents of cities withpredominantly black police forces are more critical of police than whites are (Weitzer, Tuch,& Skogan, 2008) and complain of significant perceived failings by police in responding tocrime and providing high-quality interpersonal treatment (Brunson & Gau, 2015). There isalso no evidence that black suspects resist less forcefully against black officers than againstwhite ones (Paoline et al., 2016).

Socioeconomic Status and Public Opinions of the Police

The study of how people’s socioeconomic status impacts their opinions of police ismore limited than the study of how race impacts these perceptions, and the research that

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has been done is largely wrapped up in the larger issue of race. Throughout thetwentieth century, systemic discrimination and abuse at the macro level (e.g., predatorymortgage lending and real-estate schemes) depressed blacks’ income collectively andimpeded upward mobility (Massey & Denton, 1994). It is difficult to separate race fromclass in the disadvantaged communities where the drama of problematic policing playsout, and the situation is complicated further by the fact that these areas also tend to bepockets of concentrated criminal activity (Massey, 1994; Wilson, 1987).

Some evidence points to the importance of neighborhood-level socioeconomicstatus on police behavior. Officers working high-crime beats may be more cynicaltoward residents, including crime victims, and less vigorous in their application of thelaw because they come to see deviance and crime as normal for the area (Klinger,1997). Some evidence suggests that officers use higher levels of force in disadvantagedneighborhoods, and that there is no difference in police use of force against white andminority suspects once neighborhood-level disadvantage is accounted for (Terrill &Reisig, 2003). People who reside in low-income areas experience ecological contam-ination, whereby police view them as blameworthy for the criminal conditions sur-rounding them even if they themselves are law abiding (Werthman & Piliavin, 1967;see also Smith, 1986).

Research on people’s opinions about police suggests that race is a predominantpredictor of perceived discrimination by police, but that both individual-level andneighborhood-level social class also matter. Weitzer and Tuch (1999) found that blackswere more critical of racial disparities in policing than whites were, and that amongblacks, higher levels of education were associated with elevated beliefs that policeoperate with racist motives (see also Weitzer & Tuch, 2002). Education had inconsis-tent effects on blacks’ other beliefs about disparities in policing, and income did notaffect whites’ or blacks’ attitudes at all. Weitzer (1999) uncovered evidence thatneighborhood-level social class shapes how individuals’ race affects their attitudestoward and experience with police. Black residents of a middle-class neighborhoodfelt more positive about policing within their neighborhood than black residents of alower-class neighborhood did; however, middle-class blacks also reported encounteringproblems with police outside of their home neighborhoods, suggesting that their racebecame a salient feature of encounters with officers in unfamiliar locales.

Procedural Justice in Policing

Extensive research has investigated the impact of procedurally just policing on citizens’attitudes toward officers. Studies fromWestern nations1 have repeatedly confirmed thatthe quality of treatment citizens receive from officers significantly impacts their globalassessments of police in terms of their confidence and trust in police and theirperceptions of police as legitimate authority figures (e.g., Gau, 2011, 2014; Gau,Corsaro, Stewart, & Brunson, 2012; Lowrey, Maguire, & Bennett, 2016; Sunshine &Tyler, 2003; Tyler, 2006). People value fair, neutral, transparent treatment from officers.

1 Studies from non-Western nations have not reproduced these findings, suggesting that this theoretical modelmight not extend beyond the Western context (Bradford, Huq, Jackson, & Roberts, 2014; Kochel, Parks, &Mastrofski, 2013; Sun, Wu, Hu, & Farmer, 2017; Tankebe, 2008, 2009; Woo, Maguire, & Gau, 2018).

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Procedural-justice research has not yet been systematically extended to officersthemselves. No evidence exists as to how prevalent officers perceive procedurally justtreatment as being or, even more importantly, whether there are any differences inofficers’ assessments of fair and respectful policing. Drawing from the research intocitizens’ attitudes toward police (reviewed earlier), it could be reasonably expected thatofficer race would emerge as a predominant predictor of attitudes regarding how wellcolleagues adhere to the tenets of procedurally just policing. Black officers might beparticularly attuned to evidence of injustice, given that they are part of a racial groupthat experiences poor treatment with relative frequency (e.g., Gau & Brunson, 2010).The present study will investigate officers’ attitudes toward the use of procedural justiceby other officers, and whether attitudes vary by race or any other demographiccharacteristic. This examination will furnish evidence as to how extensive officersbelieve their fellow officers’ use of procedurally just techniques to be.

Police Officer Race

Most of the research into how race shapes police–community interactions and relationshas utilized citizen samples. Relatively few studies have examined the attitudes orbehaviors of officers by relying on data from or on officers themselves. A classic studyon black officers’ job-related experiences revealed that these officers face constantdissonance and dilemmas because they are part of two groups (black Americans andpolice) that are frequently at odds with each other. In sharp contrast to the aforemen-tioned popular presumption that black citizens prefer black officers, this study foundthat black citizens sometimes lash out at black police as traitors (Alex, 1969).

There is minimal evidence regarding whether or how officers’ behavior might varyby race. A few studies have examined officer race and the use of force. One studyfound that white officers employed higher levels of force against resistive blacksuspects than against resistive white ones, while black officers’ force severity did notvary by race (Paoline et al., 2016). At the city level, there is no clear relationshipbetween the percentage of officers who are black and the number of black citizenskilled by police (Nicholson-Crotty, Nicholson-Crotty, & Fernandez, 2017). One studycomparing officers who had been involved in shootings to set of matched controlsfound that white officers were more likely than Hispanic officers to have used deadlyforce, with no differences in shooting odds between black and Hispanic officers(McElvain & Kposowa, 2008).

Even fewer studies have examined how white officers and officers of color viewtheir jobs. Alex’s (1969) classic study offered an in-depth look at the unique challengesfaced by black police officers, but it did not seek to compare black officers’ experiencesto those of officers of different races. Gau and Paoline (2017) found that black andLatino officers were less cynical toward citizens than white officers were, and appearedto be more open to community policing. Latinos were also more likely than whites tothink police should handle disputes and disorders rather than confining their effortsstrictly to law enforcement. A similar study by Paoline, Terrill, and Rossler (2015)found modest differences between white and minority officers. Minority officers tendedto view top management more favorably, to express positive attitudes toward commu-nity policing, and to be critical of the claim that the police role should revolve solely

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around criminal-law enforcement. In neither of these studies, however, were theregression models strong; thus, although race emerged as a potential predictor of someoccupational attitudes, the differences across race were modest at best. It could be thatdemographic characteristics of any kind (race, gender, and so on) do not notably predictofficers’ attitudes or behaviors because they are dwarfed by the powerful influence ofoccupational socialization and the prevailing norms of the police culture (see Paoline &Terrill, 2014). Whatever attitudinal differences might exist initially among new officerscould attenuate or even fully disappear as those officers adapt to the job and becomeimmersed in occupational and organizational cultures. On the other hand, a recentreport by the Pew Research Center did uncover some disparities between black andwhite officers’ views on modern controversies surrounding police treatment of blackAmericans, including deadly force (Morin, Parker, Stepler, & Mercer, 2017). Thus,overall, the evidence is scant and conflicting as to what attitudinal differences there arebetween officers of different races, and how strong these divisions are.

Current Study

Significant scholarly attention has been paid to how fair, neutral, and just citizensperceive police officers to be, but little is known about whether officers themselves seebias in their colleagues’ job performance. If some officers believe that policing isconducted in a procedurally unjust manner or is not impartial, internal strife could occurwithin organizations, and these officers might lose faith in the legitimacy of their ownoccupation. The present study examines the extent to which officers view policing asequitable and procedurally just, and the predictors of officers’ attitudes about bias andjustice. For reasons outlined earlier, it is predicted that officer race will emerge as adominant demographic characteristic precursor. Stated more formally as researchquestions and hypotheses:

Research Question 1: How racially equitable do officers perceive their fellowofficers to be?Research Question 2: How socioeconomically equitable to officers perceive theirfellow officers to be?Research Question 3: How procedurally just do officers perceive their fellowofficers to be?Hypothesis: Officers’ race significantly impacts their perceptions of racial equity,socioeconomic equity, and procedural justice.

The research questions and hypothesis are examined using survey data collectedfrom officers in a mid-sized, urban department in Florida, as detailed in thenext section. Just as researchers have called for the utilization of occupationalpeers to articulate the “craft” of policing (see, for example, Bayley & Bittner,1984; Willis & Mastrofski, 2018), officers’ own assessments of their peers’behaviors were seen as the best way to answer the questions and hypothesisposed here. It is not automatically assumed that officers’ perceptions of theircolleagues’ behavior always matches citizens’ perceptions of that same behav-ior; indeed, there might be substantial divergence in some cases. Nonetheless,

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the goal here was to access officers’ perceptions and beliefs, and thereforesurvey data were appropriate.

The results have implications for research and policy. From a research standpoint,this study contributes to a gap in the scholarly knowledge about how officers them-selves feel about the existence and prevalence of inequitable or unjust treatment ofcitizens by police. Findings from officers can be compared to findings from similarstudies done on the general public to determine whether officers and the citizenry at-large appear to converge or diverge on these issues. Translating this into policy, ifofficers’ and citizens’ opinions are sharply divergent, communication and police–community relations might suffer. On the other hand, if officers are split in terms oftheir evaluations of colleagues’ fairness and impartiality, officers who see inequity orinjustice might be at risk for burning out. If these officers are predominantly minority,police agencies’ efforts to attract people of color into the policing occupation could beundermined. The present study aims to contribute to this discussion.

Methods

Data

Data for this study come from a survey of officers in a mid-sized city in Florida. The citycontains roughly 107,000 residents, is 33% black, 23%Hispanic/Latino, and 57%white.There is significant racial and economic segregation across the city, as reported by thecensus. For instance, some census tracts have no black residents at all, and some are 94%black. Similarly, the median income across tracts ranges from $6964 to $137,604.

The most recent information available about the study department comes from the2013 administration of the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statis-tics survey, which reports that 35% of sworn personnel in the study department arepeople of color, which exceeds the national average of 27% for departments servingcities of at least 100,000 residents (Reaves, 2015). Thus, the study department isrelatively large and diverse, and serves a community that is fairly urban and containssignificant racial and income variation and contrast.

All sworn personnel of the ranks patrol officer, sergeant, and lieutenant from allassignments (patrol, special operations, and investigations) who had high-frequencycontacts with the public were included in the target population. Survey administrationwas done during roll calls at the start of officers’ assigned shifts during a one-weekperiod in July of 2016. Project staff administered the survey at the start of each of thefour primary patrol shifts (5:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 5:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.), as well asduring two additional shifts for investigators (2:00 p.m.) and special operations(8:15 a.m.). At each of the roll calls, researchers gave a brief overview of the aims ofthe survey, explained that participation was voluntary, described human subject pro-tections, and assured confidentiality. Officers completed and returned their surveysduring the roll calls.

At the time of the survey in 2016, there were 271 non-command staff officers. Afteraccounting for officers’ scheduled or unscheduled days off (e.g., training, court obli-gations, injuries), there were 204 officers physically present to be surveyed, of whom203 participated. This resulted in a response rate of 99.5% of those present at survey

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administration, and 74.9% of the official count of sworn personnel in the department.Such response rates mirror other efforts that have employed the same roll call admin-istration (McLean, Wolfe, Rojek, Alpert, & Smith, 2019; Nix, Pickett, Baek, & Alpert,2019; Paoline & Terrill, 2014). Some data were missing. The regression models in thepresent analysis contain approximately 185 of the 203 participants, or 91% of thesample.

Variables

Race and Income Inequity The primary variables of interest are two survey items thatasked officers whether they think officers in their department treat all citizens equallyirrespective of those citizens’ race or wealth status (that is, one item pertained to raceand the other to income). Both were measured on four-point Likert scales ranging from“strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” Both items’ distributions were heavily skewed,with officers strongly endorsing impartiality overall (meanrace = 3.61; meanincome =3.43). Therefore, both were dichotomized into “disagree” and “agree” for analyticpurposes. In the following analyses, these two items successively function as bothdependent and independent variables.

Procedural Justice Seven survey items tapped into officers’ evaluations of how welltheir colleagues do at providing fair, respectful, transparent treatment during face-to-face encounters with citizens (alpha = .832). These items were drawn from the broaderprocedural-justice literature (e.g., Gau, 2014; Johnson, Maguire, & Kuhns, 2014;Maguire, Atkin-Plunk, & Wells, in press; Woo et al., 2018). A full list of items islocated in the appendix Table 6. As described earlier, although a large body of researchhas confirmed the importance of procedural justice in citizens’ evaluations of police,almost nothing is known about officers’ assessments of their own colleagues’ adher-ence to these core precepts of respectful, democratic policing.

Officer Characteristics In addition to examining beliefs about the presence or absenceof bias and the extent to which officers are procedurally just, this study will examinewhether officers’ personal or professional characteristics appear related to these atti-tudes. The variables included here are race (dummy coded as white, black, Latino, andother, with white omitted as the referent in the regression models), gender (0 = female;1 =male), military experience (0 = no; 1 = yes), education level (0 = no four-year de-gree; 1 = four-year degree or more), length of experience as an officer (5 years or less;6–10 years; 11–15 years; 16 or more years, as directed by research that has identifiedkey time periods in the occupational socialization process; Ingram, Paoline, & Terrill,2013; Van Maanen, 1974), and rank (0 = other ranks; 1 = patrol officer). Such charac-teristics are often used as independent variables/statistical controls in studies of policeattitudes (see, for example, Dantzker, 1997; Gau & Paoline, 2017; Paoline, Myers, &Worden, 2000; Paoline et al., 2015; Telep, 2011; Terrill & Paoline, 2015; Worden,1990; Zhao, Thurman, & He, 1999).

Analytic Plan Univariate analyses will first examine the extent of perceived inequityand justice in policing. Bivariate statistics will then test for differences across racialgroups. Since citizen race has been shown to be a predominant predictor of attitudes

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toward police, it is expected here that officer race will likewise be the most salientdemographic factor predicting their attitudes about their own colleagues’ behavior.After bivariate analyses, a series of logistic and ordinary least squares (OLS) regressionmodels will be run with racial impartiality, income impartiality, and procedural justiceas the outcomes in successive models. In the model predicting procedural justice, thetwo equality measures will be employed as independent variables. This will allow for adetermination of whether the two sets of attitudes (equal treatment and procedurally justtreatment) are intertwined, and whether procedural justice perceptions are harmed bythe belief that inequity occurs.

Results

Table 1 displays descriptives for all variables in the analysis. Only 8% of officers believedthat police treat people differently on the basis of race, and just 13% saw unequaltreatment on the basis of income. Thus, the vast majority of officers endorsed the notionthat policing is not partial or biased on the basis of citizens’ race or wealth status.

The severe skew in both measures meant for small sample sizes within the groupsthat did feel that inequity exists. We pursue an examination of the officers in thesecategories (and a comparison between them and their counterparts who disputed theidea of unequal treatment) with the caveat that these numbers are small and must beinterpreted with caution. Nonetheless, given the limited amount of research on officers’

Table 1 Descriptive statistics

Variable Min. – Max. Mean (sd)

Unequal Treatment – Race 0–1 .08

Unequal Treatment – Income 0–1 .13

Procedural Justice 7–28 24.79 (2.87)

Race

Black 0–1 .11

Latino 0–1 .16

White* 0–1 .67

Other 0–1 .06

Male 0–1 .87

BA or More 0–1 .44

Military 0–1 .33

Experience

≤5 Years* 0–1 .27

6–10 Years 0–1 .22

11–15 Years 0–1 .12

16+ Years 0–1 .39

Patrol Officer 0–1 .78

*Treated as referent in regression models

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attitudes about inequity in their own occupation, and the fact that police leaders wouldbe interested in such perceptions among any (even if not the majority) of theirpersonnel, tentative findings still offer insight. The analyses proceed, albeit with thislimitation in mind.

Officers perceived a high level of procedural justice, with the mean on this scale(m = 24.79) being close to the maximum value. Combined with the race and incomevariables, then, this suggests that most officers believe their colleagues treat the publicwell and do not engage in biased or otherwise differential treatment. As with the raceand income variables, not all officers endorsed the prevailing positive viewpoint.Approximately 10% gave their colleagues a rating of 20 or lower. Although there isclearly a prevailing belief among officers that other officers adhere to the tenets ofprocedural justice, this viewpoint is not without some skeptics.

Tables 2 and 3 present results of bivariate analyses. Officer race is the independentvariable of interest in these analyses. As can be seen, black officers stand out starklyfrom their white, Latino, and other-race colleagues on all three measures. Althoughnon-black officers overwhelmingly view policing as blind to race and income, blackofficers are far more likely to say that policing is not race neutral (36%) or incomeneutral (50%). These numbers have to be interpreted in light of the small sample sizesnoted earlier, but the contrast is noteworthy even with this limitation in mind. Chi-square statistics for both dependent variables were large and significant at p < .001.With respect to perceived procedural justice (Table 3), black officers’ mean is substan-tively smaller than those of other racial groups. They lean toward the positive end ofthis scale, but appear slightly less convinced than non-black officers that their col-leagues consistently treat members of the public fairly and respectfully. This differenceis significant in the ANOVA test (F = 5.178, p < .01). Bonferroni post hoc tests revealedstatistically significant differences between blacks and whites and between blacks andLatinos. Thus, although black officers (like their Latino and white colleagues) skewtoward the positive end of the procedural-justice scale, they are somewhat moreskeptical that procedurally just treatment is universal.

Tables 4 and 5 present the results of the regression models for the three independentvariables. Table 4 contains the results for the two inequity measures (race and incomestatus). As described earlier, these items were four-point scales originally but weredichotomized for present purposes due to significant skew. Both logistic regression

Table 2 Race and perceived unequal treatment (percentages)

Officer Race Equal Treatment – Racea Equal Treatment – Incomeb

Yes No Yes No

Black 63.6 36.4 50.0 50.0

Latino 93.3 6.7 96.7 3.3

White 96.9 3.1 90.8 9.2

Other 90.0 10.0 90.0 10.0

Total 92.2 7.8 87.0 13.0

χ2 = 29.280, p < .001 χ2 = 30.990, p < .001

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models had statistically significant chi-squares and robust Nagelkerke pseudo-R2

values, indicating strong predictive value. A review of the coefficients reveals thatthe model results were driven primarily by officer race: controlling for all othervariables in the model, black officers were much more likely than white officers (thereference category) to report unequal treatment on the basis of race and income. Theexceptionally large coefficients and odds ratios for race are likely artifacts of small cellcounts and are therefore not reliable indicators of effect size. The takeaway point is notthe odds ratios themselves so much as the fact that the stark black/non-black differencesapparent at the bivariate level hold at the multivariate level.

The only other variable to emerge as potentially impactful in either model in Table 4was experience. Officers with 16 or more years on the job were more likely to reportracial inequity relative to officers with 5 years or fewer (the referent). The differencewas significant at the p < .10 level. There are two possible reasons for why veteran

Table 3 Race and proceduraljustice

Officer Race Mean

Black 22.73

Latino 25.60

White 24.98

Other 25.00

Total 24.82

F= 5.178, p < .01

Table 4 Logistic Regression Predicting Perceived Inequality

Predictor Racial Inequality Income Inequality

b (SE) Wald OR b (SE) Wald OR

Race

Black 3.130** (.798) 15.364 22.869 2.237** (.578) 15.007 9.369

Latino 1.581 (.973) 2.643 4.860 −.641 (1.094) .343 .527

Other 1.265 (1.225) 1.066 3.542 .263 (1.142) .053 1.301

Male −.282 (1.172) .058 .754 .850 (1.107) .589 2.339

Experience

6–10 1.096 (1.255) .763 2.994 .314 (.835) .142 1.369

11–15 .350 (1.588) .049 1.419 .219 (.972) .051 1.245

16+ 2.005‡ (1.205) .096 7.428 .675 (.766) .777 1.964

Patrol Officer −.267 (.758) .124 .766 −.751 (.589) 1.625 .472

Military .516 (.683) .570 1.675 .236 (.524) .204 1.267

Education .767 (.680) 1.272 2.153 −.280 (.511) .300 .756

Constant −5.055* (1.715) 8.687 .006 −2.922* (1.386) 4.446 .054

Model χ2 = 23.817*Nagelkerke R2 = .291N = 185

Model χ2 = 24.661**Nagelkerke R2 = .232N = 185

*** p < .001 ** p < .01 * p < .05 ‡ p < .10

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officers with many years behind them might see race differently than their juniorcolleagues. First, their extensive experiences may have exposed them to situations inwhich they witnessed or inferred bias in other officers’ actions. Newer officers mightnot yet have encountered such situations. Second, there could be a history effect inoperation, with older officers having been on the job during times when it was moreacceptable for police to talk to and treat citizens of color and those of limited economicmeans poorly. Newer officers might have joined the force in more recent times whenovertly biased treatment came to be seen as unprofessional and unacceptable. Thepresent data do not allow us to discern between these two potential explanations, andthis finding is preliminary, so future research might follow up on the possible relation-ship between years on the job and perceived racial inequity.

Table 5 contains the results of the OLS models predicting officers’ perceptions of theprevalence of procedural justice in policing. Model 1 contains demographic predictorsonly, and Model 2 adds the race and income inequity variables. It is predicted thatseeing inequity in policing will dampen officers’ endorsement of their colleagues asprocedurally just.

Model 1 produced a near-zero R2 value that was not statistically significant atp < .05. While black officers’ slope coefficient was negative, significant, and strong(β = −.233, p < .01), and while those with 16 or more years on the job also felt morenegatively than their younger colleagues (β = −.177, p < .10), these variables alone

Table 5 OLS regression predicting perceived procedural justice

Predictor Model 1 Model 2

b (SE) β b (SE) β

Race

Black −2.055** (.661) −.233 −.234 (6.48) −.026Latino .007 (.618) .001 .247 (.555) .031

Other −.066 (.971) −.005 .206 (.867) .016

Male .090 (.606) .011 .118 (.541) .015

Experience

6–10 −.708 (.611) −.107 −.553 (.545) −.08311–15 −.433 (.740) −.053 −.396 (.659) −.04816+ −1.022‡ (.585) −.177 −.549 (.526) −.095

Patrol Officer .101 (.487) .015

Military −.350 (.458) −.763 −.187 (.409) −.031Education −.463 (.427) −1.084 −.383 (.382) −.068Racial Inequality – – −3.809*** (.821) −.359Income Inequality – – −1.706** (.648) −.204Constant 25.693*** (.909) 25.742*** (.814)

F = 1.751‡

R2 = .091Adj. R2 = .039N = 185

F = 5.766***R2 = .287Adj. R2 = .237N = 185

*** p < .001 ** p < .01 * p < .05 ‡ p < .10

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were not sufficient to make the model good overall. The fact that black officers andthose with 16+ years on the job stood out in Model 1 just as they did in the two inequitymodels (Table 4) does suggest that there are enduring race and experience effectsoperating in officers’ perceptions of various aspects of fairness and impartiality inpolicing. Nonetheless, given the small R2 value and nonsignificant F statistic, Model 1does not lend itself to conclusive interpretations.

In Model 2, adding the two inequity variables notably improved overall modelquality. The model explained nearly 29% of the variance in procedural justice, or nearly24% when adjusted to account for parameterization. Officer race dropped tononsignificance, and both inequity measures emerged as statistically significant andsubstantively meaningful. Officers who believed that there is racial inequity in policingwere less convinced of their colleagues’ use of procedural justice, and this was thestrongest predictor in the model (β = −.359). Likewise, the belief that there is incomeinequity in treatment also reduced officers’ perceptions of procedural justice (β =−.204). Seeing or hearing about skewed treatment of citizens on the basis of race orincome damages officers’ faith in their colleagues.

Discussion

The aim of the current study was to assess officers’ views of unequal treatment ofcitizens by police, as well as the extent to which the public are treated by police ina procedurally just manner. The results revealed a few interesting findings. First,the vast majority of officers believed that their peers provided equal treatment tocitizens regardless of their race or economic status. Moreover, survey responsesindicated that officers rated their fellow officers highly in terms of their (proce-durally just) treatment of those they police. At this descriptive level, the resultsbode favorably for those concerned with modal police-community relations. Sec-ondly, though, our research revealed that black officers expressed concerns overthe way in which different races and social classes are policed. Half of blackofficers did not believe police are impartial based on citizens’ income status, andnearly two-thirds believe that there are racial differentials in treatment. Blackofficers’ mean score on the procedural-justice scale was high but still notablylower than their non-black colleagues’ means. The patterning by officer race heldup in the multivariate models of inequity, as well the first procedural-justicemodel. Third, the multivariate analysis of procedural justice that included percep-tions of racial and income inequity revealed powerful negative effects for each ofthese variables. That is, greater perceptions of unequal treatment of citizens, basedon race and income, resulted in lower levels of perceived procedural justice amongpolice. The magnitude of such effects was powerful enough to override the priorrace relationship.

The results of this study have implications for police practice and research.For police leaders concerned with the culture(s) of their police agency, it shouldbe encouraging that, for the most part, patrol officers hold their peers’ perfor-mance in high regard. Contemporary national concerns over police–communityrelations (President’s Task Force on twenty-first Century Policing, 2015) mightbe alleviated somewhat by the favorability in officers’ survey responses.

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At the same time though, like that of assessments of police misconduct, any level ofperceived inequity should be cause for concern for police managers, especially whenpatterned by a demographic factor. In such instances, leaders risk dissention among therank and file, which could lead to collateral issues of decreased morale, burnout, andeven turnover. For black officers, perceived unequal treatment of citizens based on raceand income could exacerbate existing obstacles to minority recruitment, as black officersmight not encourage (or possibly even discourage) their family members, friends, orwould-be recruits from joining the police occupation. Research has demonstrated theimportance of organizational justice on officers’ job satisfaction and positive attitudestoward the public (Myhill & Bradford, 2013), as well as their willingness to refrain frommisconduct (Wolfe & Piquero, 2011). One study found that both general organization-wide justice and justice specific to race and gender diversity were important determi-nants of officers’ organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and willingness tocomply with agency rules (Rosenbaum & McCarty, 2017). This last finding highlightsthe specific importance officers place on diversity and inclusion when assessing anorganization’s overarching fairness. While the present study did not tap into officers’perceptions of organizational justice directly, officers’ beliefs about the fairness of theircolleagues’ actions toward the public relates to concepts about the extent to which theyfeel the police organization itself prioritizes fairness and equity.

For the reasons outlined above, it would behoove police organizations to monitorperceived inequality, via surveys like the one administered here, and develop strategiesfor addressing officer performance. This could be accomplished via group and/orindividual training in areas like implicit-bias awareness (Fridell, 2017) and proceduraljustice (Mazerolle et al., 2014). If it is the case that officers who are policing unequallyand damaging perceptions of procedural justice among their peers are located in themost distressed areas, then beat reassignment might necessary. By altering workgroupsocialization patterns (i.e., surrounding cynical officers with prosocial peers), officersmight be able to refocus the tarnished lenses with which they are assessing citizens.

In terms of research, particularly on the ways in which police treat the public, thecurrent study adds a source of information other than assessments from citizens. Ineliciting perceptions from police regarding their occupational peers, we are able toassess unequal treatment premised on citizens’ race and income across a variety ofpolice–citizen encounters and contexts that officers witness on a daily basis. Bycomparison, citizen perceptions of equal or unequal treatment are typically formed onthe basis of few (possibly only one) personal experiences or vicarious assessments(Davis, Whyde, & Langton, 2018). Officers’ beliefs that inequitable treatment occurssuggests that these officers have witnessed repeated incidents of objectionable behavior.

Our work also reveals that some attitudinal dimensions might vary across demo-graphic characteristics. While previously conducted police-attitude studies have includ-ed a variety of officer demographics and occupational characteristics, the effects areinconsistent, weak, or statistically nonsignificant. The study presented here suggests thatindividual assessments of inequity from police vary by race. For an occupational groupthat is often presented as homogenous (Crank, 2004), this is a counterintuitive finding.As policing laudably becomes more racially diverse, police leaders should anticipate aconcomitant rise in disagreement about the extent to which policing in this country isuniversally fair and unbiased. Similar effects might occur with respect to increases inofficers from the LGBTQ community and other historically marginalized groups.

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Although the research presented here adds to the literature on officers’ treatment ofcitizens, it is not without its limitations. Our hope is that future research will assist inaddressing the following shortcomings. First, the results of the current inquiry are drawnfrom one mid-sized municipal agency in southeast Florida. While this department isrepresentative of the modal American police department (Reaves, 2015), the extent towhich our findings would generalize to departments of various sizes, structures, andlocales is unknown. Future work on officers’ perceptions of equal treatment and justiceshould replicate our findings across a variety of police agencies and jurisdictions.

Second, while we find that black officers differentially perceive peer inequity, andsuch disparity negatively impacts views of procedurally just treatment of the public,there are several questions beyond these statistical associations that were unanswered.These questions revolve around the full extent and nature of transgressions that mightbe driving negative evaluations. Are negative perceptions (particularly among blackofficers) a function of a small number of episodic peer transgressions, or is theresomething systematic that is being witnessed? What is the race of the offending officers(i.e., is this pattern most apparent among white officers, or does it cross racial lines)?How serious are the behaviors that are fueling negative perceptions (i.e., are citizensbeing treated unequally for lower-level street stops, or does this inequity emerge inpatterns of ticketing, arrests, and force usage)? Are any of the negative assessments ofpeers based on interactions that officers had outside of their organization or fromprevious contacts with the police? Future studies that examine perceptions of unequaltreatment and justice would benefit from employing open-ended qualitative interviewsthat could assist in answering these, and other, questions regarding the frequency andscope of negative peer behavior. At the same time, such methodologies could worktoward teasing out the full consequences of negative perceptions on officers’ occupa-tional satisfaction and commitment.

Finally, the present inquiry was unable to account for the impact of one’s primarywork assignment, which could provide important context to our findings. The areawhere one works, on a daily basis (i.e., beat), has been shown to shape officers’attitudes and behaviors (Klinger, 1997; Paoline, 2001; Terrill & Reisig, 2003). Specif-ically, distressed work areas are more likely to elicit reciprocal negative behaviorsbetween citizens and the police, while the converse is true in less distressed areas. Tothe extent that black officers are overrepresented in more distressed areas, theirexposure to negative police behavior is perhaps more likely. Future studies utilizingsystematic social observation techniques would help shed light on the degree to whichthe daily strains, across varying levels of social distress, impact officers’ treatment of(and from) citizens.

In closing, the big-picture message from the findings presented here is a positiveone, as most officers believe their peers are operating in a fair and just manner. Whilethis is encouraging, it is also important to acknowledge the race effect among theofficers who expressed concerns over citizen treatment by police. Moreover, assess-ments of inequity had negative effects on beliefs about procedurally just treatment ofcitizens. The overarching implication is that pockets of discontent linger within theranks of officers themselves. There is no question about the impressive progress thepolicing occupation has made in recent decades, but there is still need for improvementand police officers and leaders should continuously seek opportunities to provide equal,high-quality services to all members of the public.

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Appendix

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Principal Components Extraction with 53% variance explained

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Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps andinstitutional affiliations.

Jacinta M. Gau, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University ofCentral Florida. Her research expertise is in police-community relations, racial issues in policing, andorganizational practices. She is also the author of Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice (SAGEPublications) and Criminal Justice Policy (Oxford University Press).

Eugene A. Paoline III is a professor and graduate director in the Department of Criminal Justice at theUniversity of Central Florida. His research interestsinclude police culture, police use of force, and occupationalattitudes of criminal justice practitioners. He is the author of Rethinking Police Culture (2001, LFB ScholarlyPublishing) and Police Culture: Adapting to the Strains of the Job (2014, Carolina Academic Press).

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