WHITES, BLACKS DOUBT POLICE
Authorities rank low in poll on accountability
As Michael Brown was laid to rest in Missouri, a USA TODAY/ Pew Research Center Poll found Americans by 2-to-1 say police departments nationwide don’t do a good job in holding officers accountable for misconduct, treating racial groups equally and using the right amount of force.
While most whites give police low marks on those measures, blacks are overwhelmingly negative. More than nine of 10 African Americans say the police do an “only fair” or poor job when it comes to equal treatment and appropriate force.
The shooting of the unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in a St. Louis suburb has sparked protests across the U.S. and spotlighted a federal program that sends military gear to local law enforcement agencies. More than four in 10 say they have little confidence in police departments to use the equipment appropriately. President Obama has ordered a review of the program that disperses the gear.
Obama gets a lukewarm approval rating on handling race relations: 48% approve, 42% disapprove. That is significantly lower than George W. Bush and Bill Clinton received on race relations during their presidencies.
African Americans approve of Obama’s handling of race relations by 73%-22%; whites disapprove by 48%-42%. The poll of 1,501 adults, taken Wednesday through Sunday, has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points.
65% overall say police departments nationwide do an “only fair” or a poor job in holding officers accountable when misconduct occurs, compared with 30% who say they do an excellent or good job.
By 65%-32%, respondents say police do a fair/poor job vs. an excellent/good job in treating racial and ethnic groups equally.
By 61%-35%, they say police do a fair/poor job, not an excellent/good one, in using the right amount of force in each situation.
When it comes to police in their own community, whites trust them not to use excessive force (74%) and to treat blacks and whites equally (72%). Most blacks disagree: 62% have little confidence in their community’s police to treat blacks and whites equally; 59% lack confidence they won’t use excessive force.
On race relations generally, the disparity is less stark. Among whites, 75% say whites and blacks get along very or pretty well; 64% of blacks agree.