Police leaders strive to improve interactions and practices relating to residents’ perceptions of police fairness and their willingness to report crimes. Research suggests that strengthening community perceptions of police fairness may increase residents’ willingness to contact the police for help. This study uses a nationally representative public opinion survey to examine the factors that influence perceptions of police fairness and the willingness to call police for help. In doing so, we examine a variety of demographic factors, prior experiences with the police, and perceptions about whether the local police agency is racially representative of the community. We find that very few factors influence both perceptions of police fairness and the willingness to call police for help. Specifically, perceptions of police fairness depend on age, education, and political leanings, whereas willingness to call police for help depends on perceptions of police fairness, political leanings, perceptions of police representativeness, and prior proactive police contact. Notably, we found no differences in perceptions of fairness based on respondent race after controlling for other demographics, perceptions, and experiences. These results indicate that symbolic representation in police departments is not enough on its own to support positive perceptions of police fairness and willingness to call the police for help.

警察领导者努力改善与居民对警察公正性及其举报意愿的理解有关的互动和做法。研究表明，加强社区对警察公正性的认识可能会增加居民与警察联系以寻求帮助的意愿。这项研究使用了具有全国代表性的民意调查，以调查影响对警察公平性和向警察求助的意愿的看法的因素。在此过程中，我们检查了各种人口因素，与警察的过往经历以及对当地警察局是否代表社区的种族的看法。我们发现很少有因素会影响人们对警察公正性的看法以及对警察求助的意愿。具体而言，对警察公平性的看法取决于年龄，教育和政治倾向，而向警察求助的意愿取决于对警察公平性，政治倾向，对警察代表制的认识以及事先与警察的积极接触。值得注意的是，在控制了其他人口统计学，知觉和经历之后，我们发现基于受访者种族的公平观念没有差异。这些结果表明，警察部门中的象征性代表本身不足以支持对警察公平和愿意向警察求助的积极看法。我们在控制了其他受众特征，知觉和经历后，发现基于受访者种族的公平观念没有差异。这些结果表明，警察部门中的象征性代表本身不足以支持对警察公平和愿意向警察求助的积极看法。我们在控制了其他受众特征，知觉和经历后，发现基于受访者种族的公平观念没有差异。这些结果表明，警察部门中的象征性代表本身不足以支持对警察公平和愿意向警察求助的积极看法。