Push for Police Reform in the United States: Understanding Residents’ Attitudes

Abstract:

Police reform has been a hot topic of discussion among academics, and a dominant theme in the American news and entertainment media for some time now. The goal of this project was to assess public perceptions of various types of police reform. Data were collected and analyzed from a representative sample of more than 1000 U.S. Residents. Results suggest that a significant portion of residents expressed desire for reforms directed at increasing policing oversight, incorporating community-oriented policing, and demilitarizing police. Policy implications based on these findings are discussed within.