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Seattle Monitoring SurveyFindings and Recommendations from Monitoring Survey
September 2013
2© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Purpose of research
Commissioned by federal monitoring team to:
oEvaluate community perceptions of Seattle police
oGauge prevalence of community-police interactions
oUnderstand the nature of those interactions
Focus on measuring incidence of racial profiling,
excessive force
Input from CPC, DOJ, City of Seattle on survey design,
methodology
3© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Methodology
900 live interviews—45% cell phone, 55% landline
o61% of respondents were cell only (39%) or cell
mostly (22%), matching latest federal findings on
population
Survey conducted among adults 18+ living in Seattle
Interviews apportioned geographically by police precinct
as well as race, age other demographics to match city
population
Margin of error: +3.3% at 95% confidence level
KEY FINDINGS
5© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Key Findings
The 60% majority of Seattleites that approve of the job the Seattle
Police Department (SPD) is doing hides underlying problems.
Only 35% of people agree SPD treats people of all races equally
oOne-third or less believe the police treat African-Americans (32%),
Latinos (33%), and Native Americans (33%) the same as others
oLess than half of Seattleites believe the police treat young people
(45%), homeless people (25%) the same as others
45% of Seattleites say SPD uses excessive force very/somewhat
often, including 70% of African-Americans and 62% of Latinos
6© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Key Findings
African-Americans and Latinos who interact with police have
worse experience with the police than people of other races.
oOnly 44% approve of the way their most serious interaction was
handled, compared with 77% of whites
oFully 26% say the officer used physical force other than
handcuffing, compared to 5% of whites
These groups’ perceived/actual mistreatment leads to negative
views of SPD, so improving officer-citizen contacts is a must to
improve community relations. When a friend, family member, or
neighbor has a bad interaction, it bleeds into overall perceptions.
Future research is needed to reassess the problem and delve
deeper into its nature (qualitative, quantitative)
OVERALL ATTITUDES TOWARDS SPD
8
Majority have Positive Opinion of SPD A majority of Seattleites approve of the job SPD does, and it gets strong marks on keeping people safe, “serving my neighborhood,” and quickly solving crimes and arresting criminals
Quickly solving crimes & arresting criminals
Serving my neighborhood
Keeping people safe
Overall job
0 20 40 60 80 100
20
22
20
34
63
72
74
60
Positive Negative
© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
9© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
SPD -
WSP
Total Blacks Latinos Whites Asians0
20
40
60
80
100
60
4954
6067
74 73 75 75 72
SPD WSP
With that said, SPD’s ratings are lower than the Washington State Patrol’s. This is due to sharply lower marks among Latinos and African-Americans for SPD.
Total Approval
Racial differences cause SPD to be rated lower than Washington State Patrol
-14 -24 -21 -15 -5
10© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Total Blacks Latinos Whites Asians0
20
40
60
2017 17 17
32
14
27 29
12 10
Strongly Approve Strongly Disapprove
In addition to being less satisfied overall than other groups, Latinos and African-Americans are much more intensely negative than other groups towards SPD.
Latinos, African-Americans more intensely negative
Do you approve or disapprove of the job the Seattle Police Department is doing?
PERCEPTIONS OF SPD DISCRIMINATION
12
Few think SPD treats all people equally Only about one third of people think SPD treats people of all races equally. Regression analysis shows this to be the most predictive factor of people’s overall approval of SPD. Few think SPD treats Latinos, African-Americans, Native Americans, and the homeless equal.
SPD treats homeless people the same as others
SPD treats Native Americans the same as others
SPD treats Latinos the same as others
SPD treats African-Americans the same as others
SPD treats all races equally
0 20 40 60
59
48
49
54
48
25
33
33
32
35
Agree Disagree
© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
13© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
African-Americans, Latinos perceive the highest levels of discrimination among SPD
Total Blacks Latinos Whites Asians0
20
40
60
80
100
35 3529 31
4248
6457
50
36
Agree Disagree
The Seattle Police treat people of all races and ethnicities equally
14
Results more mixed on young, Asian-AmericansA slim majority of people thinks the department treats Asian-Americans the same as everyone else, and a plurality thinks SPD treats young people the same as others.
SPD treats Asian and Pacific Is-landers the same as others
SPD treats young people the same as others
0 20 40 60
24
39
56
45
Agree Disagree
© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
PERCEIVED HARASSMENTEXCESSIVE FORCE
16© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Widespread perception of excessive force Almost half (45%) of people believe SPD uses excessive force very often or somewhat often. This includes majorities among African-Americans and Latinos.
How often you think Seattle Police Department officers use excessive physical force – very often, somewhat often, not that often, or almost never?
Total Blacks Latinos Whites Asians0
20
40
60
80
13
41
30
8 8
32
30
32
3523
Very often Somewhat often
45
62
43
70
31
17
Excessive force rates higher than other problems After excessive force (45%) about a third of citizens say they are verbally abused, stopped without good reason. These rates jumped to 45-63% with minorities.
Use racial slurs towards minorities
Stop people on the street without good reason
Stop people in cars without good reason
Use verbally abusive language
Uses excessive force
0 20 40 60
7
8
9
9
13
19
24
23
24
32
Very often Somewhat often
© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
33
32
32
26
45
WHO IS GETTING STOPPED BY THE POLICE?
19© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Traffic-related Non-traffic related0
20
40
60
80
100
77
40
Almost 25% of Seattleites interacted with police last year The number of interactions jumps to 40% when a family member or friend is included. The majority of these interactions are traffic-related.
Yes, self Yes, other Total Yes0
20
40
60
23 25
39
Have you, or a close family member, friend or neighbor, interacted with the Seattle Police
Department in the last year?
Of those who interacted with police
20© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Traffic interactions vary heavily by race Whites are the least likely to have experienced a traffic stop. African-Americans have been stopped three times as much, and Asian-Americans and Latinos have been stopped two times as much.
Total Blacks Latinos Asians Whites0
20
40
60
18
38
2320
13
% reporting traffic related police interaction
21© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Non-traffic interactions are even more racially dependent African-Americans and Latinos are about three times more likely than whites to have experienced a non-traffic stop in Seattle.
Total Blacks Latinos Whites Asians0
20
40
9
19 20
74
% reporting non-traffic related police interaction
22© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Non-traffic stops vary by age, precinct Non-traffic stops happen slightly more often to young people and people in the South/Southwest precincts.
Total 18-34 35+ Southwest South North0
20
40
912
7
1311
7
% reporting non-traffic related police interaction
23© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Type of non-traffic interactions These non-traffic-stop interactions are about evenly split between being people being stopped walking in their neighborhood, being stopped walking outside their neighborhood, and being involuntarily questioned by police
Walking outside neigh-borhood
Walking in neighborhood Questioned by police at home
0
20
40
60
80
52
60
45
Yes, interacted with police (self) – Among people who had non-traffic interaction
EXPERIENCES OF THOSE STOPPED
25© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Total Traffic related Non-traffic related0
20
40
60
80
100
65 67
47
34 32
53
Approve Disapprove
Big differences in traffic, non-traffic interactionsA majority of people (52%) who experienced a non-traffic-related stop disapprove of their interaction, while a majority who experience a traffic-related stop approve (67%). Traffic stops make up the majority of overall stops.
Overall, do you approve or disapprove of how the Seattle Police handled your situation?
26© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
People in non-traffic stops more likely to report problems
People in non-traffic stops were more likely to say police:
oWere verbally abusive (37% non-traffic / 15% traffic)
oUsed physical force other than handcuffing (19% non-traffic / 9%
traffic)
oThreatened to use physical force (26% non-traffic / 10% traffic)
And were less likely to say the police:
oAnswered all their questions (48% non-traffic / 73% traffic)
oStopped them for a reasonable amount of time (50% non-traffic /
68% traffic)
oExplained the reason they were stopped (47% non-traffic / 75%
traffic)
oTreated them respectfully (54% non-traffic / 76% traffic)
27© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Total Blacks/Latinos Whites0
20
40
60
80
100
65
45
77
3442
22
Approve Disapprove
Latinos, African-Americans had more negative interactions These groups had far more negative interactions than whites, regardless of whether they were stopped for traffic or non-traffic reasons.
Overall, do you approve or disapprove of how the Seattle Police handled your situation?
28© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
African-Americans + Latinos more likely to report problems
African-Americans and Latinos are more likely than whites to say that the
police:
Were verbally abusive (31% AA + Latino / 3% white)
Used physical force other than handcuffing (26% AA + Latino / 5%
white)
Threatened to use physical force other than handcuffing (30% AA +
Latino / 3% white)
They also are less likely to say the police:
Answered all their questions (56% AA + Latino / 77% white)
Stopped them for a reasonable amount of time (48% AA + Latino / 76%
white)
Treated them respectfully (54% AA + Latino / 81% white)
29© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Formal complaint filings a small percentage of negative interactions Few of the people who had negative experiences with the SPD filed a complaint, so these do not fully capture the negative experiences of people. Even among people who strongly disapproved with their interaction, only about a third filed a formal complaint.
0
20
40
60
11
22
34
% of formal complaints among those who had a police interaction
EFFECTS OF DISPARITIES IN TREATMENT
31© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Negative experiences reverberate around community
38% of people say they get a large amount of information about
SPD by word of mouth, including 54% of African-Americans.
Most whites approve of how SPD treated someone they know
who interacted with SPD (65% approve / 30% disapprove), but
Latinos and African-Americans broadly disapprove of how SPD
treated someone they know (30% approve / 65% disapprove).
Negative treatment has a “multiplier effect,” where negative
experiences with SPD affect much more than just the person
who had the experience.
32
“Multiplier effect” for bad interactions People of all racial groups are 3-15 times more likely to know someone who says they’ve experienced racially different treatment or excessive force than to have experienced it themselves
© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
All AdultsAfrican-
AmericansLatinos Whites
Asian-Americans
Experienced racially different treatment (self) 4% 16% 17% 1% 5%
Experienced racially different treatment (someone you know)
21% 36% 41% 17% 16%
Experienced excessive force (self) 1% 5% 9% 0% 0%
Experienced excessive force (someone you know) 8% 17% 28% 5% 5%
SUMMARY
34© Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Summary
The overall job rating of SPD hides underlying issues.
Few people think SPD treats people of all races equally,
and many people think the police uses excessive force at
least somewhat often
This is having a negative effect on SPD and dragging
overall opinions of it down
Future research should attempt to understand community-
police interactions better—good and bad interactions—and
figure out what separates one from the other