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How Do Chicagoans Feel About Police? Study Aims to Find Out

By Tanveer Ali | December 17, 2014 5:40am
 A study aims to interview 2,100 people from nearly every Chicago neighborhood about their interactions with police.
A study aims to interview 2,100 people from nearly every Chicago neighborhood about their interactions with police.
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DNAinfo/Adeshina Emmanuel (file photo)

CHICAGO — Northwestern University professor Wes Skogan knows the relationship between police and the public has been a big issue in recent months.

But the policing expert said that his latest study was in the works long before the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

Such news "might help the response rate, but police are always on people's minds. It's basically the only public service people talk about," Skogan said. "The study reflects a continuing interest in the relationship between the police and the public."

In tandem with a team from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Skogan launched his Neighborhood Crime & Justice Study on Dec. 8.

Tanveer Ali discusses the parameters of the study:

Over the course of the study, which could stretch into 2016, interviewers aim to talk to 2,100 Chicagoans, who are at least 16, in all but one of the city's 77 community areas. (Rogers Park is the only neighborhood left off the list, but that's only because the randomized nature of the study left it off the list.)

Earlier this month, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said there has been a 17 percent drop in complaints filed against police over the last two years. He attributes that to better communication with the public and a focus on community policing.

But instead of focusing on data from the Chicago Police Department, which Skogan says he's worked with in the past, his latest study will focus squarely on the "point of view of the public and their views of what happened" when they talk to police.

"It's the other side of the encounter," Skogan said.

Since the project started earlier this month, a team of 27 interviewers have talked to 88 people in their homes.

"We ask them if they initiated contact with police or if they were stopped by police" over the last 12 months, said UIC's Jennifer Parsons, who is overseeing the interview portion of the study.

The questions go from there and could cover everything from if the person saw police collect relevant evidence after a crime to if they felt that the police were listening to their concerns, Skogan said.

When the results start coming in, Skogan expects to see some differences among the neighborhoods. Those people interviewed in Auburn Gresham may have a different response from those in Lincoln Park.

The Hispanic, first-generation immigrant populations of the Southwest Side will probably have different experiences than the second and third generations on the Northwest Side.

The plan is to follow up with the subjects again in a year, Skogan said.

"This is about getting the public's perspective," Skogan said.

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