research fellowship paper 9 26 2016

Running head: POLICE/COMMUNITY RELATIONS 1

Police/Community Relations in Reference to the Black Lives Matter Movement

Kelsey Cannamela

Faculty Advisor: Nuwan Jayawickreme, Ph.D.

Department of Psychology

Manhattan College

POLICE/COMMUNITY RELATIONS

2

Abstract

This research examines if police officer’s personal demographics (including race, time on

the force, and gender), the news sources they primarily use, and their moral beliefs could

predict their attitudes towards the Black Lives Matter movement. 68 police officers were

recruited from two police departments, one in NJ and one in NY, as well as through an

online survey. Participants were administered four surveys: 1) a demographics

questionnaire 2) a check list of 21 media sources, 3) police attitudes towards the Black

Lives Matter movement, 4) and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire. Pearson bivariate

correlations were calculated between the continuous variables. There were 6 significant

positive correlations amongst the survey items. There was one significant difference

between officers whose top news source was conservative and officers whose top news

source was neutral. Lastly, Hispanic police officers were significantly more likely than

Caucasian officers to perceive the Black Lives Matter movement as legitimate.

Keywords: Police/community relations, Black Lives Matter movement, morality, media

sources


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Police/Community Relations in Reference to the Black Lives Matter Movement

Recent media coverage has portrayed an increasingly hostile relationship between

the African American community and police officers stemming from police encounters

that have resulted in death, such as those involving Michael Brown and Eric Garner

(Bonilla & Rosa, 2015). On August 9, 2014 Michael Brown, an 18 year-old unarmed

African-American male, was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri. Eric Garner died

after being held in a chokehold by a NYPD officer, which occurred weeks before the

shooting in Missouri, on July 17, 2014 (Bonilla & Rosa, 2015). In the wake of these

deaths came an eruption of protests from members of the community and the formation

of the Black Lives Matter movement, whose goal is to remind police officers, as well as

the general public, that African-Americans lives have just as much significance as

European-American lives. Supporters of this movement articulate that African-

Americans are often unfairly singled out by law enforcement, and are therefore put in

dangerous situations involving police more often than European-Americans (Yancy &

Butler, 2015).

Understanding police officers’ attitudes towards the movement is important

because their individual attitudes can affect the way they perform their job and interact

with the community they police. Previous research reveals that interactions between an

officer and a member of the community resulted in an arrest 5% of the time when

officer’s reported a “positive attitude” towards community policing (working in unison

with the community). In contrast, officer’s who reported a negative attitude towards

community policing made arrests 17% of the time (Mastrofski, 1995). Additionally, a

correlation was found between the amount of time an officer spends “goofing off” or


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“loafing”–specifically spending time doing tasks that are unproductive in achieving

department goals–and the officer’s own sense of professionalism, feelings towards their

profession, and contentment with their superiors (Brehm and Gates, 1997). These results

demonstrate the capacity for an officer’s individual beliefs or attitudes to determine their

actions in certain situations. The current study examines numerous variables that

hypothetically predict police attitudes: race of the officer, age, gender, time spent on the

force, experienced tension, news outlets utilized, and moral beliefs. These variables were

chosen to gain a broad perspective of any factors that may be influential to a police

officer’s viewpoints and attitudes, which may in turn affect their actions.

Numerous studies have examined how factors such as race of the officer, gender,

and time spent on the force impact their attitudes towards the communities they serve. A

study conducted by Jenkins (2016) describes how police/community relations have

changed over time and examines how specific officer characteristics (race, gender, rank,

education level, years of service, and assignment) affect their acceptance of community

policing, problem solving policing, and broken-windows policing (police focus on

combating disorder in a community in hopes of reducing more serious crime while

simultaneously encouraging informal policing by the community). Jenkins (2016)

describes the current state of policing as the “community problem-solving era”, in which

a combination of community policing (police change their strategies to work effectively

with the needs of the community) and problem-solving policing (police measure success

in the number of incidences resolved instead of in quick response times) is used. Jenkins

administered a survey to 227 officers in two different police departments; his sample

consisted of 50% white officers, 24% Hispanic/Latino officers, and 21% Black officers,


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in addition to 85% of participants being male. His results showed that Latinos were more

likely to support a policy that supports community policing and place importance on

diversity in the police ranks. Additionally, as an officer’s rank increased, so did their

support for broken windows tactics (by 0.639 standard deviations). Officers showed the

highest amount of agreement on items that referred to the relationship between disorder

and crime in reference to broken windows policing, meaning that most found broken

windows policing tactics to be beneficial in the face of disorder and crime. For the survey

item stating, “different communities have different interpretations of disorderly

behavior”, the “agree” or “strongly agree” responses for all three ethnicities totaled to

73.4%, and the item, “neighborhoods have differing abilities in managing and

maintaining disorder”, totaled to 73.1%. Even though 50% of participants were non-white

officers, the survey item, “having a police department that is racially and ethnically

representative of the community they serve” received the second lowest percentage of

“very important” responses, on a 5-point Likert scale. Latinos showed the highest

percentage of support for this item, with 50% reporting that it is “very important”, while

only 36.6% of Black officers and 25% of White officers deemed it “very important”. This

finding is relevant to the current research study because in relation to the Black Lives

Matter Movement, many protesters stated a major issue leading to police/community

violence was a lack of diversity in police departments; Jenkins’ study demonstrates that

from a police officer’s perspective, it seems to be important to Hispanic officers, but less

so to Caucasian and African American officers. (Jenkins, 2016).

Lasley (1994) conducted a similar study regarding police officer’s race, gender,

and time spent on the force to determine influential factors in police/community relations.


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The study was conducted in 1992, following the Rodney King incident in which King

was beaten to death by four LAPD officers after a high-speed car chase on March 3,

1991, and consisted of 2,800 LAPD officers. The survey measures included 20

independent predictors of attitudes concerning police/community contact, 3 demographic

questions including ethnicity, gender, and time on the force, and a general measure of

police attitude’s towards their role in their community; overall the survey determined

officer’s “positive” and “negative” concerns over “moving closer to the community they

serve” using a five-point Likert scale. Ethnic minority officers (M=3.809) were

significantly more likely to endorse closer relations with the community than non-

minority officers (M=3.657). Additionally, females showed significantly more concern

over reduced police professionalism as a result of increased police/community bonding.

The prominent reason for hesitancy in increased police/community relations was a fear of

losing power or authority over the community. This finding indicates that officers’ sense

of morality-which determines how they perceive authority, among other things-may play

a role in determining their attitudes towards the community they serve. Overall, the study

only shows one significant finding for differences in attitudes in terms of ethnicity, but

none for gender and rank, demonstrating the need for other research studies on this topic.

(Lasley, 1994)

The moral attitudes of police officers may help in understanding and predicting

police behavior. Moral foundations theory demonstrates the tendency for an individual’s

moral beliefs to influence their everyday decision-making (Giammarco, 2016). As a

result, it is important to analyze individual moral differences to identify if their morality

could impact their viewpoints and actions surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement.


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Moral Foundations theory outlines five areas of moral regulation which include:

Harm/Care, Fairness/Reciprocity, In-group/Loyalty, Authority/Respect, and

Purity/Sanctity. Richards (2010) suggests that loyalty is a main component in overall

police morality; conversely, disloyalty can cause chaos when responding to dangerous

situations.

Police attitudes could be influenced directly by the media they consume, as

demonstrated by Iyengar and Hahn (2009), which suggests that individuals select news

sources that reinforce, and make more rigid, their pre-existing beliefs. The development

of cable TV and the increase in media outlets online led to a diversification of media

coverage. Iyengar and Hahn (2009) administered an online experiment to a nationally

wide 1,023 sample to determine the extent to which right-winged partisans prefer Fox

News. Researchers randomly assigned news articles (of various topics) to Fox, NPR,

CNN, or BBC. Participants were asked to choose which news article they preferred to

read. A control condition was utilized in which participants were not shown a new

source, but only the article’s heading. When holding the content differences of news

stories constant, the presence of a news organization label increased the appeal of the

stories across all subject matters. In five out of the six topics analyzed, the Fox label had

the most influential impact on topic selection, demonstrating support for the researchers’

hypothesis.

In the current study, we aim to identify the different variables that predict police

officers’ attitudes towards, as well as perceived changes in their policing practices due to

the Black Lives Matter movement. Specifically, we examine the degree to which these

viewpoints and changes in behavior are predicted by experienced tension with the


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community (either experienced themselves or by other officers in their precinct), the

ethnicity of the police officers, sources where they get their news from, and their moral

attitudes. I hypothesize that police officer’s personal demographics (including race, time

on the force, and gender), the news sources they primarily use, and their moral beliefs

could predict their attitudes towards the Black Lives Matter movement. Additionally,

police officers that voice concerns about police safety in the wake of the Black Lives

Matter movement will endorse higher levels of harm/care, in-group/loyalty, and

authority/respect. The ultimate goal of police officers is to reduce harm and maintain safe

environments; police officers that score highly on the harm/care moral dimension may

feel that the protesters’ concerns about their own lack of safety in their neighborhoods are

valid. Loyalty is an extremely important value in the police force, mainly because being

loyal to fellow officers helps to maintain an overall sense of reliability and trust, which is

extremely important during times of crisis (Richards, 2010). Loyalty to others in the force

may lead police officers to discount the claims of the protestors and to see any criticisms

as being an attack of the police force as a whole. Lastly, police officers that score highly

on the authority/respect moral dimension may believe that the protesters should respect

the authority of the police regardless of their concerns. The results of this study will be of

considerable social significance, as they will present a nuanced explanation of why police

officers have the attitudes that they have towards the Black Lives Matter movement. This

research study will contribute to a deeper understanding of police officers’ attitudes and

so add to overall knowledge of how the attitudes of police officers towards the Black

Lives Matter movement are formed. This study will also represent a significant


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contribution to the psychology research literature as there have been a dearth of studies

that have examined police attitudes, especially after the recent Brown and Garner deaths.

Methods

Participants

The sample included 68 police officers in total. 51 officers were recruited from

Perth Amboy Police Department in New Jersey and 12 officers from Tuckahoe Police

Department in New York. Data was also collected online using connections through a

colleague with police officers in California, in which 5 officers participated. Police

officers of all ranks were included in our sample, as well as both full-time and retired

officers. Out of the 68 officers, all except one retired officer is currently employed full-

time.

Materials

The following surveys were administered to determine police officer’s viewpoints of the

Black Lives Matter Movement and the different psychological variables that influence

that viewpoint: 1) a demographics questionnaire 2) a check list of 21media sources, 3)

police attitudes towards the Black Lives Matter movement, 4) and the Moral Foundations

Questionnaire.

Demographics

In the demographics survey officers were asked to report their age, gender, ethnicity, if

they are retired or full time, and how many years they have been on the force.


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Media Sources

Media sources that each officer uses were examined to determine if their attitudes

towards the movement are predicted by where they attain their news information (e.g.,

social media, local newspapers, cable news networks, nightly news broadcasts). Officers

were given a check list of 21 news outlets and asked to circle which ones they utilize to

attain news information; this check list can be found in Appendix A. They were then

asked to rank in order their top five news outlets.

Police Attitudes towards the Black Lives Matter Movement

Police officers answered 12 questions that pertained to their attitudes towards the

movement and any influential factors that may impact their perspective, such as

experienced tension with the community (either experienced themselves or by other

officers in their precinct). These items can be found in Appendix B. Any negative

attitudes of police officers towards protesters may stem directly from negative encounters

they or others in their precinct have experienced with the community. Thus, the survey

also asked them to rate the degree to which they noticed any positive or negative changes

in the community after the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement, as well as any

increased verbal or physical abuse stemming from the community. After media coverage

portraying several violent and nonviolent protests, determining any increase or decrease

in both verbal and physical abuse from a police officer’s perspective was relevant to the

current study


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Moral Foundations Questionnaire

Lastly, police officers completed the Moral Foundations Questionnaire

(Giammarco, 2016). The questionnaire has demonstrated strong reliability, with scores

remaining consistent after undergoing a one-month test-retest condition (r=.71 for Harm,

.68 for Fairness, .69 for In-group, .71 for Authority, and .82 for Purity) (Graham et al.,

2011). The questionnaire’s validity is demonstrated through the association of

individualizing foundations (harm and fairness) with individual- focused moral concerns

(self-reported empathy, social justice, and psychopathy), while binding-foundations (in-

group authority and purity) correspond most strongly with group-focused moral concerns

(family loyalty, national security and religious attendance) (Giammarco, 2016).

Procedure

The primary author collected data in person at the Perth Amboy and Tuckahoe

Police Departments. An online version of the survey was distributed to police officers

living in California. Each participant was first given an informed consent form, which

they signed before proceeding with the study. They were then given the survey, which

they filled out then placed in an envelope; this ensured their confidentiality and

anonymity.

Results

Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for the items measuring police attitudes and

perceived changes in policing behavior to see if the items measure the same construct.

Cronbach’s alpha was =.67, indicating that the items did not tap into a single construct.

We then grouped these items conceptually into five groups: hostility from the


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community, attitudes towards police, impact of the Black Lives Matter Movement, police

viewpoints of the community, and legitimacy of movement motives. However, these

groupings also demonstrated poor reliability. For these reasons, we examined the

relationship between individual items that measure attitudes and perceived behavioral

changes and the proposed predicted variables. Descriptive statistics for age, time of the

force, and race can be found in Table 1. The participants consisted of 35 Hispanic police

officers, 28 White officers, 2 Black officer, and 2 officers of other ethnicities. The mean

age for the 68 participants was 36.85 (SD= 9.45). The average amount of years the

participants have been police officers was 11.04 (SD=8.49).

Pearson bivariate correlations were calculated between the continuous variables.

The correlations between the variables measured can be found in Table 3. There were 6

significant positive correlations amongst the survey items. The item “Since the start of

the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen an increase in verbal hostility from

members of the community that I serve” was positively correlated with “I feel that the

people I serve view police officers more negatively after the start of the Black Lives

Matter Movement”, r= .322 (p=.021). “Since the start of the Black Lives Matter

movement, I have seen a decrease in verbal hostility from members of the community

that I serve” was positively correlated with “I feel that the people I serve view police

officers more positively after the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement”, r=.287

(p=.041). “Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen a decrease in

physical hostility from members of the community that I serve” correlated positively with

“I feel that the people I serve view police officers more positively after the start of the

Black Lives Matter Movement”, r=.278 (p=.048). “Since the beginning of the Black


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Lives Matter Movement, I feel more anxious when approaching dangerous situations in

the community that I serve” correlated positively with “Since the start of the Black Lives

Matter Movement, my strategies when responding to emergency calls, have changed for

the better”, r=.304 (p=.030). “I feel that the people I serve view police officers more

negatively after the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement” correlated positively with

“Since the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement, my strategies when responding to

emergency calls, have changed for the better”, r=.311 (p=.027). Lastly, “Since the start of

the Black Lives Matter Movement, my strategies when responding to emergency calls

have changed for the better” was correlated positively with Progressivism, which was

calculated using the Moral Foundations questionnaire, r=.327 (p<=.019). There were two

significant negative correlations amongst the survey items: “Since the beginning of the

Black Lives Matter Movement, I feel more anxious when approaching dangerous

situations in the community that I serve” correlated negatively with “Since the start of the

Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen a decrease in physical hostility from members

of the community that I serve”, r=-.314 (p=.025), and Authority correlated negatively

with Progressivism, r=-.312 (p=.026).

Reponses of people whose top news source is liberal, conservative, or neutral

were compared for each participant and are listed in Table 4. There was one significant

difference between officers whose top news source was conservative and officers whose

top news source was neutral for the following items: “Since the start of the Black Lives

Matter movement, I have seen a decrease in verbal hostility from members of the

community that I serve”. We also examined whether there were differences in police

attitudes and perceived behavioral changes in individuals who got their news from


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conservative and neutral sources, liberal and neutral sources, neutral sources, and from a

combination of conservative, liberal, and neutral sources, shown in Table 5. A difference

existed between, “I believe the Black Lives Matter movement has had a negative impact

on police/community relations” amongst “conservative and neutral” news outlets, with a

95% CI of 5.40-6.26, and “conservative, liberal, and neutral” news outlets, ranging from

4.93-5.50. This finding approached significance.

There was a significant difference between Hispanic and White officers

concerning the perceived legitimacy of the Black Lives Matter movement. Hispanic

officers, with a 95% CI of 2.60-3.45, (M=3.03) were more likely than White officers,

with a 95% CI of 1.55-2.52, (M=2.04) to find legitimacy in the movement.

Discussion

The current study tested the hypothesis that police attitudes towards and perceived

changes in their policing due to the Black Lives Matter movement could be predicted by

their personal demographics, the news sources they primarily use, and their moral beliefs.

Six significant relationships were found. Officers who perceived a decrease in both

physical and verbal hostility since the start of the movement also believe people in their

community view them more positively. On the other hand, officers who perceive an

increase in verbal hostility from members of the community also believe community

members view them more negatively since the start of the movement. Officers who

believed their strategies when responding to emergency calls have changed for the better

since the start of the movement also 1) felt more anxious when approaching dangerous

situations, 2) felt the community views police more negatively, and 3) scored highly on


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progressivism. Feeling more anxious when approaching dangerous situations and

perceiving an overall more negative outlook from the community are two seemingly

adverse influences of the movement; the positive correlation with better changes in

strategies suggest that even though officer’s may have an unfavorable perception of a

situation, their actions are not negatively influenced by this perception. Lastly, the

correlation between better changes in strategies and progressivism demonstrates that

officers who have an overall progressive moral view towards topics such as harm,

fairness, authority, and purity, also viewed the movement as an opportunity to better

themselves in their profession.

An analysis that examined officers’ top news source revealed one significant

relationship between conservative and neutral news outlets, with participants who ranked

a conservative news outlet as their top source being more likely to believe there has been

a decrease in verbal abuse since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement. After

grouping the officer’s top five news sources, one borderline significant relationship was

found between officers who receive their news from both conservative and neutral

sources and officers who utilize conservative, liberal, and neutral sources. This implies

that participants who primarily watch conservative and neutral news outlets are more

likely to view the Black Lives Matter movement more negatively than participants who

watch a combination of conservative, liberal, and neutral sources. A possible explanation

for this finding is that by only watching conservative and neutral news outle ts, an

individual limits the chance of gaining a different point of view or a new perspective on a

topic. Research by Domke, McCoy, & Torres (1999) shows that the way a news story is

framed can alter how an individual considers or perceives the topic prese nted to them.


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Additionally, a news story can impact which racial cognitions, thoughts that arise when

an individual is confronted with a situation involving race, are activated in a stream of

conscious thought. The current findings add to the body of research suggesting that the

ideological bent of the media an individual consumes influences beliefs and attitudes.

Lastly, Hispanic police officers were more likely than Caucasian officers to perceive the

Black Lives Matter movement as legitimate. This may be due to the fact that as minority

officers, they have a different perspective of the Black Lives Matter movement and life in

general compared to White police officers that are not part of a minority group. Minority

groups may experience the world differently in certain situations and therefore form

different outlooks or viewpoints.

Many of the proposed hypotheses were not supported by our data; a possible

explanation for why many of the hypotheses were not supported may be due to the

geographically limited sample. Essentially, two police stations were used to collect the

data: Perth Amboy police department in NJ and Tuckahoe police department in NY. Data

was also collected online, though only represented a small percentage of the total data

collected. Perth Amboy police department, where most of the data was collected, consists

primarily of Hispanic officers. In America, there are a wide variety of ethnicities amongst

officers residing in each precinct, which demonstrates the restricted representation in the

current study. Statistics collected in 2013 revealed the ethic breakdown of police officers

nationally: ethnic minorities constituted 27% of local police officers in the U.S., equating

to 130,000 officers in total (Bekiempis, 2015). Additionally, data collection was

restricted to a specific geographic location, limiting the ability to generalize the data.

Another possible concern is that officers may have been answering the survey in a way in


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which they felt they were expected to answer, instead of answering completely unbiased.

This would cause a response bias that may have swayed the accuracy of the results.

Nevertheless, the distribution of answers for each survey item shows a wide range of

scores, depicted in Table 2, suggesting that biased responding was not an issue.

Another limitation of the study was the limited sample size. With a total sample

size of 68 participants, it is not fully representative of the entire police population,

making it difficult to generalize the results. A larger sample size may have aided in

supporting the proposed hypotheses.

Future research studies may find more significant results by adjusting certain

aspects of the current study. For example, future studies should ask participants to

individually identify the percentage amount of time they spend watching or reading their

top five news sources. Therefore, additional analyses could be run to more accurately

determine if there are significant differences between people who primarily watch

conservative, liberal, or neutral news sources comparably. In addition, since attitudes are

not exclusively formed during adulthood, it may be beneficial to include survey questions

regarding participant’s upbringing to identify any preconceived perceptions specifically

regarding race.

Every individual makes assumptions about other people and groups, which leads

to stereotyping. Fryer (2016) indicates that police officers, on average, are more likely to

use hands, push into a wall, use handcuffs, draw/point weapons, push to the ground, and

use pepper spray or a baton during an interaction with a black American compared to a

white American. The study also determined that despite the increased occurrence of other

uses of force when dealing with African-Americans, police officers are no more likely to


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shoot a black American compared to a white American. These findings counteract the

popular beliefs and upheaval regarding recent deaths of black men at the hands of police

officers. These results in addition to the current study’s results shows the limitations of

making assumptions about a certain topic or group of people. The complicated nature of

the current study displays the range of opinions different groups of people embody, and

therefore demonstrates that making generalizations about people leads to inaccurate

suppositions. Police officers may wrongly assume all black Americans are more violent

or dangerous compared to white Americans; the general public may wrongly assume that

all police officers are looking to harm or kill certain groups of people. Both sets of

assumptions demonstrate the danger of stereotyping and the erroneous beliefs that can

result from it. As a result, statistically based evidence continues to highlight the

inaccuracies of common societal beliefs and presumptions.


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Table 1 Mean and Standard Deviation for measures used

Sample (n=68)

Age, Mean (SD) 36.85 (9.45)

Time on Force, Mean (SD) 11.04 (8.49)

Race

Hispanic, N (%) 35 (47.9)

White, N (%) 28 (38.4)

Black, N (%) 2 (2.7)

Other, N (%) 2 (2.7)


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Table 2 Descriptive Statistics for BLM Survey Items

(A six-point scale was used for all the items; 1-Strongly Disagree, 6-Strongly Agree) BLM item Mean SD Since the start of the Black Lives

Matter movement, I have seen an increase in verbal hostility from

members of the community that I

serve

4.67 1.43

Since the start of the Black Lives

Matter movement, I have seen a

decrease in verbal hostility from


serve

1.87 0.98


Matter movement, I have seen an

increase in physical hostility from members of the community that I

serve

4.05 1.54


Matter movement, I have seen a

decrease in physical hostility from


serve

2.08 1.01

Since the beginning of the Black

Lives Matter Movement, I feel more

anxious when approaching dangerous situations in the community that I

serve

3.61 1.55

I believe that the concerns of the

Black Lives Matter Movement are legitimate

2.59 1.31

I feel that the people I serve view

police officers more negatively after the start of the Black Lives Matter

Movement

4.66 1.29

I feel that the people I serve view police officers more positively after

the start of the Black Lives Matter

Movement

2.21 1.25

Since the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement, my strategies

when responding to emergency calls,

have changed for the better

3.48 1.61


Matter Movement, my strategies

when responding to emergency calls,

have changed for the worse

1.94 1.01

I believe the Black Lives Matter

movement has had a positive impact

on police/community relations

1.59 0.98


movement has had a negative impact

on police/community relations

5.24 0.98


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Table 3 Correlations for Measured Variables

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Since the start of the

Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen

an increase in verbal hostility

from members of the community

that I serve

1.00 -.765** .75** -.648** .165 .052 .322* -.166 -.055 -.157 -.122 .204 -.142 -.070 -.089 -.091 -.092 .004

Since the start of the Black Lives Matter

movement, I have seen a decrease in verbal

hostility from members of the

community that I serve

1.00 -.649** .821** -.239 .079 -.216 .287* .07 .191 .133 -.171 .155 .011 .019 .146 -.016 .044


Matter movement, I have seen an increase

in physical hostility from

members of the

1.00 -.753** .210 .026 .269 -.166 .123 -.235 -.081 .168 -.041 -.029 .100 -.013 -.088 -.049


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Matter movement, I have seen a decrease

in physical hostility from

members of the community that I serve

1.00 -.314* .116 -.235 .278* -.042 .160 .129 -.190 -.038 -.007 -.069 .111 .009 -.041

Since the

beginning of the Black Lives Matter

Movement, I feel more anxious when

approaching dangerous situations in the


1.00 -.117 .451** -.222 .304* .115 -.073 .173 .116 .020 .009 -.173 .143 .083

I believe that the concerns of

the Black Lives Matter Movement

are legitimate

1.00 -.063 .011 .020 -.209 .207 -.165 -.056 -.068 -.050 -.047 .001 -.030


police officers more

1.00 -.388** .311* .154 -.025 .243 -.066 -.153 -.148 -.101 -.173 .087


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negatively after the start of the Black Lives

Matter Movement


police officers more

positively after the start of the Black Lives

Matter Movement

1.00 .118 -.158 .219 -.094 -.173 -.203 -.003 -.211 -.089 -.089


Matter Movement, my strategies

when responding to emergency

calls, have changed for the better

1.00 .000 .188 .012 .221 .116 -.031 -.108 -.109 .327*

Since the

start of the Black Lives Matter Movement,

my strategies when

responding to emergency calls, have

changed for

1.00 .117 -.111 .131 .079 -.077 .052 .000 .151


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**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

the worse I believe the Black Lives Matter movement

has had a positive impact on police/com

munity relations

1.00 -.658**

-.039 -.092 -.137 -.170 -.075 .112

I believe the Black Lives

Matter movement has had a

negative impact on police/community

relations

1.00 .074 .051 .060 .137 -.004 -.014

Harm Score 1.00 .601**

.440**

.581**

.466**

.256

Fairness Score

1.00 .460**

.512**

.446**

.240

In-group Score

1.00 .502**

.600**

-.542**

Authority

Score 1.00 .527*

*

-

.312*

Purity Score

1.00 -.518**

Progressivis

m Score 1.00


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Table 4 Officer’s Top Rated News Source in context with BLM survey

Mean 95% Confidence Interval

Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen an increase in verbal hostility from members of the community that I serve

Conservative: 4.56

3.92-5.21

Liberal: 5.13 4.51-5.76

Neutral: 5.46 5.06-5.86


movement, I have seen a decrease in verbal hostility from members of the community that I serve

Conservative: 2.38 1.80-2.95*

Liberal: 1.60

1.25-1.95

Neutral: 1.23 0.87-1.60*

Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen an increase in

physical hostility from members of the community that I serve

Conservative: 3.88

3.05-4.70

Liberal: 4.53

3.88-5.19

Neutral: 5.08 4.62-5.54

Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen a decrease in physical hostility from members of the community that I serve

Conservative: 2.50

1.95-3.05*

Liberal: 1.87

1.46-2.28

Neutral: 1.46 1.06-1.86*

Since the beginning of the Black Lives

Matter Movement, I feel more anxious when approaching dangerous situations in the community that I serve

Conservative: 3.13

2.26-3.99

Liberal: 3.80

2.88-4.72

Neutral: 4.38 3.58-5.19

I believe that the concerns of the Black Lives Matter Movement are legitimate

Conservative: 3.19 2.51-3.87

Liberal: 2.47

1.84-3.09

Neutral: 2.69 1.82-3.56

I feel that the people I serve view police officers more negatively after the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement

Conservative: 4.56 3.86-5.26*


26

Liberal: 4.93

4.32-5.54

Neutral: 5.69 5.40-5.98*

I feel that the people I serve view police officers more positively after the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement

Conservative: 2.56

1.89-3.24

Liberal: 1.80

1.37-2.23

Neutral: 1.85 0.96-2.73


Movement, my strategies when responding to emergency calls, have changed for the better

Conservative: 3.63

2.76-4.49

Liberal: 3.27

2.42-4.12

Neutral: 4.00 3.01-4.99

Since the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement, my strategies when

responding to emergency calls, have changed for the worse

Conservative: 1.81

1.37-2.26

Liberal: 2.40

1.90-2.90

Neutral: 1.85 1.11-2.58

I believe the Black Lives Matter movement has had a positive impact on police/community relations


Liberal: 1.60

1.19-2.01

Neutral: 1.78 0.91-2.63


movement has had a negative impact on police/community relations


Liberal: 4.93

4.29-5.58

Neutral: 5.23 4.73-5.73


27

Table 5 Officer’s Complete Array of Media Sources in context with BLM survey

Conservative+Neutral Liberal+Neutral Neutral Conservative+Liberal+Neutral

Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, I

have seen an increase in verbal hostility from

members of the community that I serve

Mean:

4.60

5.08

5.00

5.10

95% Confidence Interval:

3.49-5.71 4.34-5.82 3.70-6.30 4.70-5.51

Since the start of

the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen a decrease in verbal

hostility from members of the community that I serve

Mean:

2.20

1.50

1.75

1.76


0.84-3.56 1.17-1.83 0.23-3.27 1.38-2.13


have seen an increase in physical hostility from members of the


Mean:

4.40

4.58

5.00

4.41

95% Confidence

Interval:

2.98-5.82 3.84-5.32 3.70-6.30 3.89-4.94


have seen a decrease in physical hostility from members of

the community that I serve

Mean:

2.40

1.67

1.75

2.00

95%

Confidence Interval:

1.29-3.51 1.25-2.08 0.23-3.27 1.63-2.37

Since the beginning

of the Black Lives Matter Movement, I feel more anxious when approaching

dangerous situations in the community that I serve

Mean:

3.80

3.42

3.75

3.79

95%


2.18-5.42

2.50-4.33 1.75-5.75 3.08-4.51

I believe that the concerns of the Black Lives Matter

Movement are legitimate

Mean:

3.00

2.75

3.00

2.76


1.48-4.52 1.98-3.52 0.75-5.25 2.25-3.26


police officers

Mean:

5.60

5.00

5.25

4.83


28

more negatively after the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement


4.49-6.71 4.28-5.72 4.45-6.05 4.40-5.26

I feel that the people I serve view police officers more positively

after the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement

Mean:

2.20

1.92

1.75

2.17

95%


0.58-3.82 1.41-2.42 0.23-3.27 1.67-2.67


Matter Movement, my strategies when responding to emergency calls,

have changed for the better

Mean:

4.00 3.58

3.50

3.72


1.68-6.32

2.52-4.65 0.74-6.26 3.12-4.33


Matter Movement, my strategies when responding to emergency calls,

have changed for the worse

Mean:

1.60

1.75

1.25

2.17


0.92-2.28 1.27-2.23 0.45-2.05 1.75-2.59

I believe the Black Lives Matter movement has had

a positive impact on police/community relations

Mean:

1.20

2.25

1.50

1.48

95%


0.64-1.76 1.20-3.30 -.09-3.09 1.22-1.74

I believe the Black

Lives Matter movement has had a negative impact on

police/community relations

Mean: 5.80

4.58

5.50 5.24


5.24-6.36 3.67-5.50 3.91-7.09 4.94-5.54


29

Appendix A News Outlets Separated Categorically

Conservative Liberal Neutral

New York Post Daily News newspaper ABC News

Fox News CNN NBC News

Huffington Post News 12

NY Times CBS News

The Star Ledger Newspaper My9NJ

PIX11

NJ.com

Verizon1

Bing.com

AOL.com

MyTV

Home News Tribune


30

Appendix B Police Attitudes towards the Black Lives Matter Movement Questionnaire

1. Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen an increase in verbal hostility from members of the community that I serve

2. Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen a decrease in verbal hostility from members of the community that I serve

3. Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen an increase in physical hostility from members of the community that I serve

4. Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have seen a decrease in

physical hostility from members of the community that I serve

5. Since the beginning of the Black Lives Matter Movement, I feel more

anxious when approaching dangerous situations in the community that I serve

6. I believe that the concerns of the Black Lives Matter Movement are

legitimate

7. I feel that the people I serve view police officers more negatively after the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement

8. I feel that the people I serve view police officers more positively after the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement

9. Since the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement, my strategies when responding to emergency calls, have changed for the better

10. Since the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement, my strategies when responding to emergency calls, have changed for the worse

11. I believe the Black Lives Matter movement has had a positive impact on


12. I believe the Black Lives Matter movement has had a negative impact on



31

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research fellowship paper 9 26 2016

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