Trust in police: an exploratory study among Hispanic college students

ABSTRACT

Trust in police is crucial for optimal police performance. Accordingly, much scholarly attention has focused on examining correlates of trust in police in the U.S., particularly with respect to racial and ethnic minorities. While often considered to have less trust in police than other citizens, trust in police is a multi-faceted metric, and this study examines several aspects that interact with it among a Hispanic population.

The dimensions that influence trust in police examined here include assimilation, perceptions of procedural justice, and neighborhood factors such as disorder and community engagement. This research studied a sample of 732 mostly Hispanic college students located in a mid-size border city in southern Texas to examine the impact of assimilation on their trust in police as indicated by their willingness to call the police. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the structural relations among a variety of factors. The results confirmed the importance of context and indicated that assimilation, perceptions of procedural justice, and neighborhood context all had a profound impact on trust in police. These findings have important implications for policing practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Assimilation
• Hispanics
• procedural justice
• trust in police

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fei Luo

Dr. Fei Luo is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Texas A&M International University. She earned her PhD from Sam Houston State University. Her research interests include policing, race/ethnicity, gun policy, and intimate partner violence. Her recent publications have appeared in the journals such as American Journal of Criminal Justice, Policing:An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management,Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, and International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology.

Marcus Tyler Carey

Dr. Marcus Tyler Carey earned his Ph.D. from Texas State University in 2017.  His background is in environmental criminology, juvenile delinquency, and risk reduction.  His research areas include specialty courts and juvenile rehabilitation and he is an Assistant Professional of Criminal Justice at Texas A&M International University.

Yudu Li

Dr. Yudu Li is an Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He teaches courses on law enforcement, criminology, and research method and statistics. His previous research has been published in a number of journals such as Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management; Psychology, Crime & Law; and International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, and Police Quarterly.