Perceptions of African American Police Officers on Racial Profiling in Small Agencies

Most assessments of the impact and effects of biased-based policing have been reviewed from the aspect of officer-citizen interaction during traffic stops, with the majority of studies focusing on these occurrences in larger police jurisdictions. Yet police officers themselves, and particularly African American officers, bring a completely different perspective to this issue that has not been fully considered or developed, especially where it concerns the smaller agencies that make up the bulk of the nation’s police community. This study considers the perceptions of African American police officers regarding the presence and impact of biased-based policing in their agencies, as well as their perceptions of the positive or negative effects of their presence in these small local police agencies