Worth Reading
SBB Research Group on the Police-Public Contact Survey
While many people are familiar with the United States Census every 10 years as mandated by the Constitution, over 100 different surveys are conducted by the US Census Bureau each year. SBB Research Group summarizes vital information from Census.gov about these lesser-known—but significant—surveys in this educational series.
What is the Police-Public Contact Survey?
The Police-Public Contact Survey is part of the more extensive National Crime Victimization Survey, which collects and reports detailed information on persons who had contact with the police. The following categories define contact:
- police-initiated: pulled over in a traffic stop, approached in a public place (street stop), arrested, or other modes of being approached by police
- resident-initiated: calls to police to report a crime, reporting a non-crime emergency, participating in neighborhood watch, or other reasons to approach a police officer
- traffic accident: this falls in between the other two categories.
Of note, some residents experienced multiple types of contact in an interaction with police which were not separated. Data have been collected periodically since 1996 on residents older than 16.
The most recent report published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in December 2020 documented the characteristics of US residents in contact with the police in 2018 and compared it to the 2015 data. In 2018, 23.7% of the population (61,542,300 residents) were in contact with police, an increase from 2015 which was 21.1% or 53,469,300. Much of the police contact was in the form of resident-initiated (13.7% in 2018 and 10.7% in 2015, a significant change) compared to police-initiated (11.1% in 2018 and 10.8% in 2015, not a significant change) and traffic accidents (3.4% in 2018 and 13.1% in 2015). Additionally, males (12.5%) were more likely than females (9.9%) to have police-initiated contact, whereas females (14.2%) were more likely to have resident-initiated contact than males (13.1%).
Income also affected the rate of contact with police. The survey divided groups based on annual household income: $24,999 or less, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, and $75,000 or more. Interestingly, residents who made over $75,000 were more likely to have contact with the police than the other income groups. However, that was driven by resident-initiated contact and partially by traffic-accident contact (see Table 1). There were no differences between income groups in police-initiated contact.
| Table 1: Difference between income groups in police contact | ||||||
| Income groups | Police contact | Resident-initiated contact | Police-initiated contact | Traffic-accident contact | ||
| $24,999 or less | 23.0% | 11.4% | 13.1% | 3.4% | ||
| $25,000-$49,999 | 21.9% | 10.6% | 12.3% | 3.1% | ||
| $50,000-$74,999 | 23.1% | 11.0% | 13.3% | 3.3% | ||
| $75,000 or more | 25.7%** | 11.5% | 15.0%** | 3.8%* | ||
| Note: **indicates a significant difference between groups at 95% confidence interval, *indicates a significant difference between groups at 90% confidence interval | ||||||
These data also report the proportion of residents who experienced nonfatal threats or use of force and whether the resident perceived these experiences as excessive or necessary. Threat or force was defined as pushing, handcuffing, hitting, grabbing, using pepper spray, using a taser, or pointing a gun. According to the 2018 results, males (4.2%) were more likely than females (1.1%) to experience threats or force. However, males and females did not statistically differ in their perception of whether the use of force was necessary or excessive (see Table 2). Additionally, there were differences between age groups. The PPCS segmented the data into five age groups: 16-17, 18-24, 25-44, 45-64, and 65 or older. The 45-64 and the 65 or older groups experienced less use of force than the other age groups. More people in age groups 16-17, 25-44, and 45-64 perceived the use of force necessary, whereas less thought of it as essential in the oldest age group. The oldest and youngest age groups felt that the use of force was excessive (see Table 2).
| Table 2: Difference between age groups in police use of force | |||
| Group | Experienced force | Perceived as necessary | Perceived as excessive |
| Sex | |||
| Males | 4.2% | 26.0% | 52.9% |
| Females | 1.1%** | 34.0% | 42.5% |
| Age | |||
| 16-17 | 3.9% | 30.4%! | 62.0% |
| 18-24 | 3.5% | 16.3% | 59.4% |
| 25-44 | 3.6% | 30.9%** | 46.8% |
| 45-64 | 2%** | 33.9%** | 47.7% |
| 65 or older | 0.4%** | 4.7%* | 63.1% |
| Note: **indicates a significant difference between groups at 95% confidence interval, *indicates a significant difference between groups at 90% confidence interval, ! indicates high variance | |||
How is the Data Used?
Media outlets, government agencies, and activists use these results to understand how different people interact with police. For example, given the current social attitudes toward law enforcement, media outlets may spotlight specific results from this survey to support their claims. Additionally, politicians use these data for policy change, and law enforcement agencies may use it to examine the effects of changed policy and practice. Therefore, sharing the complete data and its unbiased reports from the Census Bureau allows the public to view these data to gain a deeper understanding of police-public interactions.
Source: https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/police-public-contact-survey-ppcs
About SBB Research Group
SBB Research Group LLC is a Chicago-based investment management firm that views the market through a systematic, interdisciplinary lens. Led by applied mathematician Sam Barnett, Ph.D., and Matt Aven, an experienced professional in economics and computer science, the company specializes in investments designed to protect and grow investor capital.