Police, public differ on key issues but align on others
The public and the police differ on issues ranging from an assault rifle ban to racial progress in the U.S., but their views align on other issues.
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A closer look at police officers who have fired their weapon on duty
About a quarter of all officers say they have ever fired their service weapon while on the job. Are some more likely than others to have fired their weapon in the line of duty?
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1. The positives of digital life
The greatest share of participants in this canvassing said their own experience and their observed experience among friends is that digital life improves many of the dimensions of their work, play and home lives. They cited broad changes for the better as the internet revolutionized everything, from the most pressing intellectual and emotional experiences to […]
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Behind the Badge
Majorities of police officers say that recent high-profile encounters between black citizens and police have made their jobs riskier and left many officers reluctant to fully carry out some of their duties.
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6. Police views, public views
Police and the public hold sharply different views about key aspects of policing as well as on some major policy issues facing the country. For example, most police say more officers are needed to adequately patrol their communities, while the majority of the public doesnโt think more officers are necessary. A majority of officers oppose […]
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4. Police, fatal encounters and ensuing protests
Shortly after noon on Aug. 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Since 2015, almost 500 blacks have been fatally shot by police.[11. numoffset=”11″ Pew Research Center analysis of data collected by The Washington Post.]ย Their deaths and the disputed circumstances surrounding many […]
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Q&A: How Pew Research Center surveyed nearly 8,000 police officers
Read an interview with Senior Editor Rich Morin and Senior Research Methodologist Andrew Mercer, who were involved in our groundbreaking police officer survey.
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5. Reimagining the police through training and reforms
Recent fatalities of blacks during police encounters have brought police training and reforms to the forefront of conversations on how to prevent the use of unnecessary force. Recommendations have been made to prevent these types of situations from occurring, such as requiring officers to wear body cameras and training officers on how to de-escalate situations […]
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Black and white officers see many key aspects of policing differently
On some subjects, racial differences among the police are considerably more pronounced than they are among the public as a whole.
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2. Inside Americaโs police departments
Most police officers are satisfied with their department as a place to work and are strongly committed to ensuring their agency is successful. But police offer less positive views about some key aspects of their departmentโs processes and policies. For example, officers are divided on whether the disciplinary process in their department is fair. And […]
