Understanding Public Perceptions of Police Across Data


Sophia Pacini, McMaster University

This presentation critically analyses the confidence levels that members of the public have in Canadian police and the contradictions that occur across findings on public perceptions of the police. The public’s confidence in the police is declining on a global scale, with countries such as Canada not experiencing an increase in the public’s trust for 50 years. These findings are most prevalent among marginalized and low-income community members while they are less prevalent among those who identify as white, high-income, or among individuals who know a police officer. However, interactions with the police do not translate congruently across all races and levels of income, and empirical findings on the levels of confidence that community members have in the police can be contradictory and translate differently across studies. This phenomenon raises questions including 1) How do different data collection methods affect the ways in which data is collected? 2) Who is participating in the study? 3) Who is not participating in the study? 4) How do the ways in which people complete surveys influence findings? In order for sociologists to adequately understand why phenomena occur, and subsequently how to address such phenomena, the way in which studies are conducted must be further examined. Drawing on data from the General Social Survey, 2020 [Canada]: Cycle 35, Social Identity, as well as community data from Humber College’s research on the Toronto Police Service’s Neighbourhood Community Officer Program, this presentation critically analyses findings related to public perceptions of the police among marginalized and low-income community members. This presentation will also analyse how findings on community perceptions of the police do not always align with public or scholarly narratives. Moreover, this presentation will highlight the contradictions between the results of studies conducted on public perception of the police, and attempt to discuss why such contradictions occur and how these contradictions could be avoided. 

This paper will be presented at the following session: