Fear of Crime and Fear of the Police

Based on a nationwide random sample survey, the relationship among fear of crime, fear of the police, support for the police, and support for civil liberties is examined. It is found, contrary to expectations, that fear of crime is only weakly related to either support for the police or protection from them. Fear of the police, however, is strongly related to both. Why are communities and states formed? For Hobbes and other phi-losophers of the enlightenment the reason was clear. States are formed for protection—for protection of each man from every other man and for protec-tion of all members of society from outside enemies.1 Politicians and gov-ernment agencies have long known that creation and elaboration of threats are good ways to gain support for increasing the domain or wealth of an institution. Thus, the armed forces procure vast amounts of money by citing a communist threat; the Federal Bureau of Investigation demonstrates the need for appropriations increases by citing the threat of radical political organizations. Some government agencies find it necessary to be able to point to a threat to the nation in order to prosper. The armed forces remained relatively small in peacetime until communism was seen as a continuing armed threat t