Citation

Lockwood B, Doyle MD, Comiskey JG. Crim. Justice Stud. Crit. J. Crime Law Soc. 2018; 31(2): 113-127.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/1478601X.2017.1420652

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Images of police officers riding in armored vehicles and carrying military-grade weapons have become part of the public consciousness following the events in Ferguson, Missouri and several other high-profile police-citizen encounters. Although a great deal of research has investigated how and why US citizens perceive the police in various ways, almost no empirical work has asked how citizens perceive the militarization of the police. The current study analyzes data from a survey of 1005 US citizens to identify characteristics that are related to support for the use of military weapons and vehicles by local police departments. The results indicate that several demographic factors and perceptions of crime and the police are significantly related with citizen support for the militarization of the police. The implications of this research are discussed.

Language: en

Keywords

community policing; Corrigendum; perceptions of the police; Police militarization