Chinese Immigrants' Perceptions of the Police in Toronto Canada Research Paper by Doris C Chu and...

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Chinese immigrants perceptionsof the police in Toronto, Canada

Doris C. ChuDepartment of Criminology, Sociology, and Geography,

Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA, and

John Huey-Long SongCriminal Justice Department, State University of New York, Buffalo,

New York, USA

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess empirically Chinese immigrants perceptions of the

police in Toronto, Canada.Design/methodology/approach Data were analyzed based on 293 surveys conducted withChinese immigrants who participated in various community service organizations in Toronto, Canada,between March and May 2005. Ordinary least squares and ordered logit regressions are used for theanalysis.

Findings The paper shows that individuals who had previous contact with police rated police lessfavorably than those who had not had contact with police in the past. In general, people who ratedpolice as helpful when they called them for assistance expressed a higher degree of respect for police.In addition, poor communication was a significant predictor of Chinese immigrants perception ofpolice prejudice. Finally, a majority of respondents expressed the concern that more bilingual policewere needed in the city.

Research limitations/implications As with any study utilizing a non-probability sample, caremust be taken to avoid generalizing the findings to all Chinese immigrants in Toronto. Since the

sample was taken from participants of various community service organizations in Toronto, thefindings may not be appropriate to generalize to the other constituencies in the Chinese community,such as young people.

Practical implications The paper highlights the need for improving the quality of police services,recruiting more bilingual officers (or officers from their communities), strengthening police training inracial and cultural diversity, and reducing communication barriers to improve Chinese immigrantsevaluations of the police.

Originality/value This research is the first to specifically examine Chinese communitiesperceptions of law enforcement in Canada. Law enforcement can utilize these findings to improve theirservices and address the Chinese communitys concerns; not only can this promote the police-citizensrelationship, but it can also encourage the Chinese communitys participation in a crime reductionpartnership.

Keywords Immigrants, Perception, Police, Canada

Paper type Research paper

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/1363-951X.htm

The authors would like to thank the Editor and anonymous reviewers for their helpful commentson an earlier draft of this article. Special thanks go to Henry Liu at Sing-Tao Daily Newspaper,Mary Song, and Mary Donaghy.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the AmericanSociety of Criminology in Toronto.

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Received 24 September 2007Revised 2 December 2007Accepted 24 February 2008

Policing: An International Journal ofPolice Strategies & ManagementVol. 31 No. 4, 2008pp. 610-630q Emerald Group Publishing Limited1363-951XDOI 10.1108/13639510810910599


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IntroductionWith the emergence of community policing around the globe, fostering goodpolice-community relations has become a primary focus for many police departments.One of the important tenets in community policing is to make police departments more

responsive to community needs (Goldstein, 1987). For effective policing, citizensperceptions of the police are important, as public distrust of them may impair thepolices ability to control crime. People who are dissatisfied with the police are lesslikely to provide police with crime-related information and more reluctant to cooperatewith the police, which would diminish the polices effectiveness in controlling crime(Decker, 1985; Brown and Benedict, 2002). Policing communities that contain largenumbers of immigrants is challenging. Many immigrants come to their adoptedcountries having had negative experiences with police in their native countries (Davis,2000; Pogrebin and Poole, 1990). Language barriers, along with past perceptions of thepolice, may negatively impact their attitudes and judgment toward the police in theiradopted country (Davis, 2000). In a multi-ethnic metropolitan city with large numbers

of immigrants, such as Toronto, it can be a challenge for the police administration togain cooperation and deliver effective services for those diverse communities.

With growing numbers of Chinese immigrants in Canada in recent years(approximately 800,000 immigrants arrived between 1980 and 2000), Chinese havebecome the largest group of immigrants into Canada (Wang and Lo, 2004). Amongthese recent Chinese immigrants, most (about 40 percent) have chosen to settle inToronto, Ontario, which has an area of 243.2 square miles. According to the 2004revised figures of Statistics Canada 2001, the City of Toronto has a population of 2.5million people; the metropolitan area of Toronto (Greater Toronto) has more than 5.5million people. The 259,710 Chinese comprise the largest immigrant group in the city(10.6 percent of the population), followed by East Indians (253,920 population, 10.3percent of the city population), Blacks, including persons from the West Indies (204,075population, 8.3 percent of the city population), and Filipinos (86,460 population, 3.5percent of the city population) (Statistics Canada, 2004).

The City of Torontos Chinese population has increased continuously over the pasttwo decades. The Chinese community has become an important sector in Canadiansociety. Today, the Chinese are dispersed throughout the metropolitan area of Toronto.Outside downtown Toronto, Scarborough has the largest enclave of Chineseimmigrants. Other cities such as Markham and Mississauga have also experiencedsizable influxes of Chinese immigrants.

It is challenging to police a city with multicultural and multiethnic communitiessuch as Toronto. Currently, the City of Toronto has 5,376 uniformed police (TorontoPolice Service, 2007b). Toronto police have long devoted their efforts to community

policing, as witnessed by a variety of community policing programs they provided fortheir communities, such as the Empowered Student Partnerships program (ESP), thePublic Education and Crime Eradication (PEACE) Project, and the NewcomerOutreach Program (Toronto Police Service, 2007a).

Nevertheless, with the dramatic demographic changes brought by immigration inthe past decades, the police now face new and more difficult challenges (Stenning,2003). With the large recent influx of Chinese immigrants to the city, there is an urgentneed for effective policing in those communities. To the best of our knowledge, there is

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no research that specifically examines the Chinese communities perceptions of lawenforcement in Canada.

Different historical backgrounds and cultures raise difficulties with regard toeffectively surveying Chinese perceptions of law enforcement, which may explain why

this ethnic group has been under-studied in this area. Language and culturaldifferences may generate problems in police-community relationships for Chinese thatare different from problems for other ethnic minority groups, such as Blacks andHispanics. It can be a challenge for the criminal justice system to address the needs ofand provide efficient services for those culturally diverse communities. Thus, this kindof research is important because the law enforcement community can utilize thesefindings to improve their services and address the Chinese communitys concerns; notonly can this promote the police-citizens relationship, but it can also encourage theChinese communitys participation in a crime reduction partnership.

In an attempt to bridge the gap in previous research, this study uses a surveyformat to examine Chinese immigrants perceptions of the police in Toronto, Canada. Itaims to contribute to a better understanding of how Chinese immigrants perceive thepolice. This study begins with a literature review of perceptions of the police, followedby the delineation of the dimensions that measure Chinese immigrants perceptions ofthe police. Multivariate regression analyses are then performed to assess Chineseimmigrants perceptions of the police in three dimensions. Finally, promisingdirections for future research and policy implications are discussed.

Literature reviewRelations between the police and minority groups are a continuing problem in theUnited States and other multiracial societies (Weitzer and Tuch, 2004, p. 305). Thecharge that police exercise their discretion to selectively target certain minority groupshas existed not only in Britain, but also in the USA and Canada (Waddington et al.,

2004). In October of 2002, the Toronto Star published a series of articles on thecontroversial topic regarding Toronto polices engagement in racial profiling(Melchers, 2003). The topic of police and ethnic minorities has sparked a renewedinterest for academic and public debate in Canada.

Police interest in public opinion surveys has increased tremendously around theglobe as police administrations began recognizing the critical role of public perceptionsof and attitudes toward police as a determinant of police effectiveness (Beck et al.,1999). Using surveys as an interactive tool to explore citizens attitudes and theperceptions of citizens from different ethnic population sectors toward police hasbecome much more popular in recent years.

After conducting a review of numerous studies of perceptions of the police, Brownand Benedict (2002) noted that the predictors of perceptions of the police in past studies

have primarily focused on individual variables (e.g. race, gender, age, and contact andexperience with the police), contextual variables (neighborhoods characteristics andvictimization), and other factors (e.g. police policy, community policing, and police useof force).

Race, in particular, has been the focus of a number of studies that examineperceptions of the police. Different ethnic groups may have differing values, beliefs,and thus have varying expectations of legal authority. Understanding the experiencewith and perceptions of the police among different ethnic groups may help the legal

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authority to better accommodate the expectations of different ethnic groups (Davis,2000). In addition, it can reduce mutual conflicts between minority groups and thepolice. Nevertheless, most extant studies examining citizens perception of lawenforcement in the USA focus on Blacks and Hispanics. In general, studies find that

Whites are more likely to express greater satisfaction with different aspects of policingthan other minority groups (e.g. Weitzer and Tuch, 2004). African-Americans expressless confidence in police than Whites. Hispanics ratings on police fall between those ofWhites and African-Americans, but are closer to those of African-Americans(Rosenbaum et al., 2005; Skogan et al., 2003). Huo and Tyler (2000) find that comparedto Whites, African-Americans and Latinos reported more negative experiences duringdifferent types of encounters with police.

Studies conducted in Britain found that perceptions of the police, derived fromdirect or indirect contact with them, are different among Whites, Blacks, and Asians(Webster, 2004). Waddington and Braddock (1991), found that Asians and white youngpeople in their sample included both those who considered police as trustworthyguardians and those who viewed police as bullies, while black young peopleexclusively viewed police as bullies. In Websters (2004) study on policing in BritishAsian communities, he indicated the perceptions of Asians through the contact withthe police, either as victims or witnesses, tend to fall between Blacks and Whites or aresimilar to Whites. Blacks tend to be more hostile to the police compared to Whites andAsians (Webster, 2004). Some studies (e.g. Southgate and Ekblom, 1984, Southgate andCrisp, 1992) that examine minorities perceptions of the police in different contexts ofcontact reveal that Asians are less likely to be dissatisfied with the police compared toAfrican/Caribbeans or Whites. Some studies find Asians ratings on police fall betweenthose of Whites and African/Caribbeans (Webster, 2004). Interestingly, Waddingtonand Braddock (1991) have found that different ethnic minorities tend to perceive thepolice differently. Asians are more likely to complain that the police are ineffective in

protecting them from racial attacks, whereas Blacks predominantly complain they areracially harassed or abused by the police.

Compared to the USA, there are fewer studies in Canada that examine minorityperceptions of law enforcement or criminal justice systems. A notable exception isWortleys (1996) study using data from a 1994 general population survey of residentsin Toronto. He found that Blacks were more likely than Whites and Asians to perceiveinjustice in the criminal justice system. Except for race, age and education levels werethe other two demographic variables that affected the perception of injustice. Ingeneral, older people were less likely than younger people to have perceptions ofinjustice toward the criminal justice system, and people with higher education weremore inclined to perceive discrimination than those with lower education. Race wasfound to be the strongest variable that predicts the perception of injustice. Blacks were

found to perceive higher levels of injustice than Whites and the other minority groups.The author suggests that involuntary contact with the police and courts and the legacyof racism shared by the informal social networks of black communities contributed toshaping Blacks perceptions of injustice (Wortley, 1996).

In general, race is the most common demographic characteristic found to besignificantly associated with attitudes toward the police (e.g. Wortley, 1996). As for theinfluence on perceptions of the police of other demographic variables, such aseducation, gender, and age, the findings tend to be inconsistent (e.g. Cao et al., Correia


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et al., 1996). Some studies (e.g. Chermak et al., 2001; Reisig and Parks, 2002) findcontact and experience with the police, prior victimization and fear of crime arealso significantly associated with citizens evaluations of the police. For example, Dean(1980) reports that citizens who had contacts with police as a result of traffic stops or as

crime victims expressed less favorable attitudes toward the police. Similarly, theBritish Crime Survey also found that the assessment tended to be lower among thosewho had contact with the police (regardless of any type of contact) than those withoutprevious contact with the police (Southgate, 1986). In Ren et al.s (2005) study, it wasfound that those who had voluntary contact with police, such as involvements incommunity crime prevention programs, rated police more favorably than those whohad involuntary contact with the police. Other studies (e.g. Reisig and Parks, 2002)have found that people expressed greater satisfaction with the police in general whenpolice met their service expectation during the course of encounters or when they calledthe police for help.

In addition, Skogan et al. (2002) indicated that language was associated withminorities perceptions of police helpfulness and fairness. Similarly, Davis and Miller(2002) also reported that immigrants carried with them their own former experienceswith legal authorities in their mother country, along with cultural and languagebarriers, which may negatively impact their perceptions of the police in the hostcountry.

This study examines whether the predictors of citizens perceptions of the policeamong Whites and other ethnic minority groups such as Blacks and Hispanics can beapplicable to an ethnic group with a different culture and language. The predictorsidentified by the previous studies include contact with the police, fear of crime,prior victimization, and poor communication. Building on the literature regardingcitizens perceptions of the police, the current study tests the following hypotheses:

. Poor communication will affect citizens evaluations of the police.

.

People who experienced prior victimization will evaluate police less favorably.. People who are fearful of crime will rate police as less effective.. Previous experience of self-initiating contact with police, such as calling police

for help, will affect the individuals perceptions of the police.

MethodologySampling and data collectionThe target population in this study refers to Chinese immigrants in Toronto, Canada.Chinese people who live in Toronto and were not born in Canada are considered asChinese immigrants, regardless of their immigration status and length of stay inCanada. Collecting systematic and representative research data in seemingly

homogeneous ethnic communities is always a challenge (Song, 1992). The mixtureof latest immigrants and their earlier, more adjusted counterparts reflects the differentneed of various groups in the community. Other than ethnic business directories, thereare no lists of ethnic populations in Toronto. A true probability sample is impractical.

Without workable ethnic population lists, we adopted a three-stage samplingmethod. First, we consulted with Mr Henry Liu, a senior reporter working withSing-Tao Daily Newspaper the largest Chinese language newspaper in Canada toidentify a number of community organizations that constitute a microcosm of the

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Chinese immigrant community in the Greater Toronto area. Second, we paid visits tothe heads of these agencies to understand the backgrounds of their clientele andexplain to them our research project. Based on our years of contact with the Asiancommunity and its elite members, we understand that most ethnic social service and

community organizations are keenly interested in the challenges their communityfaces. We secured their cooperation by agreeing to share our research results with theiragencies. We then conveyed to them the importance of getting a representative sampleand how to achieve that goal. According to the size of their clientele, the administratorsand our research team decided the number of questionnaires they would receive fromus.

We made a number of trips in the months of March, April, and early May of 2005 tovisit the agencies. In many instances, our reporter contact introduced us to variouscommunity agencies. Sing Tao Daily even published a half-page story with a photo tohelp us gain some publicity and cooperation for our research in the Chinesecommunity. With the help of our reporter contact, we identified the primary social

service and community organizations in the metropolitan Toronto area that provide avariety of services as well as cultural activities for the Chinese community.

Although we did not have a random sample, we asked our contacts to be mindful ofthe representative nature of the subjects in their respective programs andorganizations. Also, after meeting these leaders of the agencies included in oursurvey, we realized that they all have extensive experience and knowledge of thenecessity to enhance the demographic representation of the subjects. Given theundefined population, the method adopted, though not a probability procedure, to someextent may possibly reflect the perceptions of Chinese immigrants who were in need ofcultural support and services from various social and community organization in thecommunity.

To accommodate language barriers, we prepared three versions of the samequestionnaire in English, and in simplified and regular Chinese. The questionnaireswere pre-tested to enhance the validity and reliability of responses. A pre-test with 30Chinese immigrants and a focus group discussion were administered before the formalsurvey was conducted. Appropriate modification was made based on the commentsand suggestions at the pre-test discussion. A consent form was attached on the top ofeach questionnaire. We indicated in the consent form that there were no right or wronganswers to any of the questions in the survey. We also reminded respondents not towrite down their names on the questionnaire. In addition, we ensured all informationwould be kept confidential by the researchers.

At the beginning of the questionnaire, we asked respondents to rate how seriouslythey perceive nine different problem areas, such as fear of crime, slow response to call,

etc. We then asked about their experience related to their interaction with police, forexample whether the police were helpful when they called for help or when theyreported a property or violent crime of victimization. At the end of the questionnaire,the respondents were asked to provide demographic information, which included age,educational background, employment, gender, marital status, length of residence inCanada, political affiliation, household income, and place of birth. Five hundred andeight questionnaires were distributed, and 293 of them were completed and returned(with an approximate 58 percent response rate).


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Characteristics of study samplesIn the sample, 38 percent of the respondents were male and 62 percent were female.Ninety-nine percent of the respondents were not born in Canada. The mean length ofstay in Canada was 11.5 years (SD 9:9). Approximately 73 percent of the

respondents were married. Approximately 24 percent of the respondents had aneducation level of some high school or below high school; 21 percent of respondentswere high school graduates. About 10 percent of respondents had attended college, andapproximately 45 percent of respondents were college graduates or had earned adegree higher than college. Most respondents came from China (46.4 percent; n 122);21 percent (n 58) of the respondents came from Taiwan; 21 percent (n 58) werefrom Hong Kong and 9.5 percent of the respondents were from the other regions. Inaddition, more than 90 percent of the respondents were either Canadian citizens orpermanent residents. A further analysis indicated that only 24 percent of therespondents had ever contacted bilingual police in the city (result not shown). Thedemographic characteristics of the respondents are presented in Table I.

MeasuresDependent variables. We measure three different dimensions of Chinese immigrantsperceptions of the police:

(1) perceived police prejudice;

(2) perceived police effectiveness; and

(3) respect for police.

The first dependent variable, perceived prejudice by police was measured by a singlesurvey item: How serious is the following issue concerning the police-Chineseinteractions in the city where you live? Police prejudice against Asians. Responsecategories range from 1 (not serious at all) to 6 (very serious). A higher score indicates a

higher level of perceived prejudice against Asians. The measure of perceptions of policeeffectiveness comes from a single item in which the respondent was asked whether Thepolice in the city where you live are generally effective in dealing with crime problems.Responses range from a score of 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). A higher scoreindicates they considered police are more effective in dealing with crime. The thirddependent variable, Respect for police, was measured through one item: Consideringeverything about the way the police do their job in the city where you live, would you saythat you have (1) little respect for them; (2) mixed feelings; or (3) great respect for thepolice? A higher score on the measure indicates greater respect for the police.

Independent variables. The main independent variables are previous contact withpolice, police being helpful when calling the police, fear of crime, being a victim,and poor communication. Previous contact with police was measured by the indexasking the respondent Have you ever had any contact with the police? The contactincludes any types of contact that can be proactive or reactive, such as calling police forhelp, reporting crimes to police, or being arrested. In our survey we asked respondentsif they felt police were helpful during different types of contact (e.g. when they calledthe police for help, or reported crimes to them, or were arrested). However, we limitedthe perceived helpfulness to only one item i.e. calling the police for help becausethere were too fewer cases in the other types of contact to allow for meaningfulstatistical analyses. The construct of police being helpful when calling the police was

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Toronto 2005n %

Sex

Male 99 38.1Female 161 61.9Total 260 100.0

MarriageMarried 196 72.9Divorced 16 5.9Separate 7 2.6Widowed 13 4.8Single 37 13.8Total 269 100.0

Age18-24 21 7.8

25-34 27 10.135-44 70 26.145-54 61 22.855-64 47 17.565 or older 42 15.7Total 268 100.0

Where did you come from?Taiwan 58 22.1China 122 46.4Hong Kong 58 22.1Vietnam 19 7.2Other 6 2.3Total 263 100.0

StatusCanadian citizen 169 63.3Permanent resident 75 28.1Other legal status 12 4.5Undocumented 1 0.4Other 10 3.7Total 267 100.0

IncomeUnder $10,000 55 23.9$10,001-20,000 44 19.1$20,001-30,000 38 16.5$30,001-40,000 29 12.6$40,001-50,000 17 7.4

$50,001-60,000 10 4.3$60,001-70,000 9 3.9$70,001-80,000 9 3.9$80,001-90,000 6 2.6$90,001-100,000 4 1.7Above $100,000 9 3.9Total 230 100.0

(continued)

Table I.Characteristics of the

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measured through two indices. First, we asked the respondent: Have you ever calledthe police for help? If the respondents responded, Yes, they were asked, If you haveever called the police for help, in your most serious case, were the police involved (1)not helpful; (2) a little helpful; (3) helpful; (4) very helpful? A higher score indicates ahigher level of police helpfulness.

An individuals fear of crime could also affect their perception of the police. Ingeneral, we assumed it would be unlikely for people who felt fearful of crime to ratepolice as effective in dealing with crime or to feel they received adequate protectionfrom the police. The variable fear of crime was constructed based on a single item:Because of crime some people are afraid to go out at night to get together with friendsand relatives. How often do you feel this way in the city where you live (1 never,2 rarely, 3 sometimes, 4 frequently)? A higher score on the measure reflects ahigher level of fear of crime. Previous studies also indicate experience of victimizationcan negatively impact peoples evaluations of the police. The variable of ever being avictim was constructed based on the question, Have you or anyone in your householdever been a victim of a crime in Canada? (No 0; Yes 1)?

Finally, previous studies indicate that communication barriers between police and

immigrants can negatively impact immigrants perceptions of the police. The variableof poor communication was based on a single item: How serious is the followingissue concerning the police-Chinese interactions in the city where you live? poorcommunication between police and residents (1 not serious at all . . . 6 veryserious). A higher score represents a higher degree of communication barriersbetween police and immigrants.

Control variables. The demographic control variables include age, gender, maritalstatus, educational level, household income, and length of residence in Canada.Previous studies that examine citizens evaluations of law enforcement usually includeage, gender, education, and income as control variables. In this project we also includedmarital status and length of residence in Canada. We assume immigrants maritalstatus and length of residence in Canada may impact their perceptions of police since

individuals who are married or have resided longer in the host country may be morestable and thus are more assimilated into their host country. The sense of stability maydirectly or indirectly affect their evaluations of law enforcement. Gender was coded asa dummy variable with 0 representing female and 1 representing male. Marital statuswas also coded as a dummy variable with 0 as single, widowed, separated, or divorced,and 1 representing currently married. Educational level was coded as a dummyvariable with 0 representing with an education of some college or less, and 1representing college graduates or higher. Household income was coded as ordinal

Toronto 2005n %

Education (last grade of school completed)Some high school or below 65 24.3High school graduate 56 21.0College 26 9.7College graduate or more 120 45.0Total 267 100.0Table I.

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(1 under 10,000; 2 10,001 to 20,000; 3 20,001 to 30,000; 4 30,001 to 40,000;5 40,001 to 50,000; 6 50,001 to 60,000; 7 60,001 to 70,000; 8 70,001 to 80,000;9 80,001 to 90,000; 10 90,001 to 100,000; 11 above 100,000 Canadian dollars).The variable of age was also coded as ordinal (1 18 to 24; 2 25 to 34; 3 35 to 44;

4 45 to 54; 5 55 to 64; 6 65 and over). Length of residence in Canada is acontinuous variable, which was measured by year.

We considered receiving traffic tickets from the police and English ability in dealingwith the police as factors that needed to be controlled. Thus, apart from the demographicvariables stated above, we also controlled for the variables of numbers of traffic ticketsreceived, and English ability to deal with police. The variable of number of traffictickets received was measured by a single item, How many times did you receive atraffic ticket from the police?. It is a continuous variable. The variable English abilityto deal with the police was measured by one item: How would you evaluate yourEnglish when you deal with the police (1 cant communicate at all; 2 barely able tocommunicate; 3 not fluent enough; 4 no problem at all)?. A higher score indicates ahigher level of proficiency in English. Table II reports the inter-correlations of all

variables, which indicates multicollinearity is not a problem among the variables.

Analysis planTwo different types of multivariate regression estimates were employed in the analyses.Ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis was performed to assess the influences of allexplanatory variables on Police prejudice against Asians and Police effectivenessdealing with crime[1]. Ordered logit estimate was conducted to examine the effects ofindependent and control variables on the ordinal measure Respect for police.

FindingsThe descriptive statistics for all variables are displayed in Table III. At the beginning

of the questionnaire, all respondents were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 6 (not seriousat all to very serious) their perceptions of the level of seriousness of nine issuesregarding police-citizen interactions in the city where they reside. The issues regardingproblem areas include the following:

. police failure to pay attention to complaints;

. slow police response to calls;

. residents fear of crime;

. failure of people to report crime;

. organized crime activities in the community;

. poor communication between police and Asians;

.

police prejudice against Asians;. reluctance of Chinese to cooperate with the police; and. juvenile gang activities.

Respondents rated residents fear of crime as the most serious among the nine issues,with a mean score of 4.29. The respondents also rated poor communication betweenpolice and Chinese and failure of people to report crime as the second and third mostserious problems, with a mean score of 3.89 and 3.88, respectively (results not shown).


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.16

*

0.0

6

Poorcommun

ication

11

20

.03

20

.14

*

20

.17

**

20

.15

*

20

.10

2

0.2

2**

0.1

9**

20

.03

0.0

6

20

.12

1.0

0

20

.08

20

.09

0.6

5**

20

.01

20

.19

**

Contactedpo

lice

12

0.2

6*

*

0.0

7

20

.07

0.3

0**

0.1

8**

0.1

4*

20

.25

**

0.2

6**

0.1

0

0.3

3**

20

.08

1.0

0

20

.08

0.0

1

20

.18

**

20

.10

Po

lice

help

fulness

13

20

.03

0.0

3

20

.17

0.2

7*

0.1

8

2

0.1

3

20

.07

0.0

2

20

.37

*

0.3

0**

20

.09

20

.08

1.0

0

20

.08

0

.43

**

0.3

3**

Po

licepre

judice

14

0.0

2

20

.11

20

.17

**

0.1

4*

20

.12

2

0.1

6*

0.2

6**

0.0

5

0.0

9

20

.13

0.6

5**

0.0

1

20

.08

1.0

0

20

.20

**

20

.10

Respectforpo

lice

15

20

.10

0.0

6

0.1

7**

0.0

2

20

.03

0.0

0

0.0

4

20

.01

20

.22

*

20

.16

*

20

.01

20

.18

**

0.4

3**

20

.20

**

1

.00

0.3

7**

Po

liceef

fect

iveness

16

0.1

0

0.1

4*

0.1

5*

0.0

6

20

.04

0.1

3*

20

.11

0.0

2

20

.17

0.0

6

20

.19

**

20

.10

0.3

3**

20

.10

0

.37

**

1.0

0

Notes:

*p

,

0:

05;

**p

,

0:

01

Table II.Correlation matrix

PIJPSM31,4

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More than 80 percent of respondents agreed that to gain cooperation from the ethniccommunities, the police must first understand the cultural background of residents inthese communities. About 94 percent of the respondents stated that there were notenough bilingual police in their city. Among all the respondents, only 25 percent statedthat they had ever had contact with a bilingual police officer (results not shown).

The respondents were asked to estimate their ability in English when they had todeal with the police. Only about 19 percent of the respondents claimed they had no

problem with English in communicating with the police. Forty-nine percent of therespondents indicated that they could barely communicate in English or that theycould not communicate at all in English. Good communication is based on anunderstanding of culture and language. It is likely that language and cultural barriersmay block the communication channels between Chinese immigrants and the police.

With regard to their perceptions of the police, about 20 percent of immigrantssurveyed indicated that the problem of police prejudice against Asians was serious orvery serious. Approximately 36 percent of the respondents stated they had greatrespect for the police; about 60 percent of respondents expressed mixed feelings towardthe police. More than half of the respondents considered the police in the city effective(somewhat effective to very effective) in dealing with crime. None of the evaluationswas found to be significantly associated with gender. Gender and perceptions of the

police is presented in Table IV.

Multiple regression analysesPerceived prejudice against Chinese by police. The multiple regression summary ispresented in Table V. We first regressed perceived prejudice against Chinese bypolice by the variables of ever contact police, police helpfulness while calling policefor help, fear of crime, being a victim, and poor communication by controllingfor gender, marital status, age, education, years of residence in Canada, number of

Variable Minimum Maximum Mean SD

Dependent variablesPolice prejudice against Asians 1.00 6.00 3.33 1.39

Respect for police 1.00 3.00 2.32 0.56Police effectiveness in dealing with crime 1.00 6.00 3.38 1.38

Independent and control variablesGender 0.00 1.00 0.38 0.49Married 0.00 1.00 0.73 0.45Age 1.00 6.00 3.79 1.46Household income 0.00 11.00 3.68 2.73Education 0.00 1.00 0.45 0.50Years of residence 1.00 48.00 11.54 9.94Fear at night 1.00 4.00 2.48 0.83Been a victim of crime 0.00 1.00 0.08 0.28Number of tickets received 0.00 77.00 2.14 7.88Poor communication 1.00 6.00 3.89 1.43

English ability 1.00 4.00 2.47 1.06Ever contacted police 0.00 1.00 0.48 0.50Police helpful 1.00 4.00 3.03 0.74

Table III.Descriptive statistics for

variables


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Female Males TotalVariable n % n % n %

Police prejudice against Asians

1 not serious at all 13 9.6 9 10.6 22 10.02 33 24.3 12 14.1 45 20.43 31 22.8 25 29.4 56 25.34 31 22.8 23 27.1 54 24.45 19 14.0 14 16.5 33 14.96 very serious 9 6.6 2 2.4 11 5.0Total 136 85 221

Police effectiveness in dealing with crime1 least effective 9 6.1 6 6.3 15 6.22 23 15.5 13 13.7 36 14.83 41 27.7 20 21.1 61 25.14 45 30.4 21 21.1 66 27.25 15 10.1 23 24.2 38 15.6

6 very effective 15 10.1 12 12.6 27 11.1Total 148 95 243

Respect for the police1 little respect 5 3.5 5 5.4 10 4.32 mixed feelings 80 56.7 59 64.1 139 59.73 great respect 56 39.7 28 30.4 84 36.1Total 141 92 233

Table IV.Gender and perceptionsof the police

VariablePolice prejudiceagainst Asiansb

Policeeffectiveness in

dealing withcrimeb

Respect forpolicec

Gender 0.012 (0.36) 0.275 (0.620) 20.284 (1.02)Married 21.265 * * (0.38) 20.463 (0.653) 1.196 (1.10)Age 0.257 (0.20) 0.005 (0.317) 0.396 (0.48)Household income 0.093 (0.08) 0.089 (0.138) 20.116 (0.20)Education (Bachelors degree or above) 21.050 (0.61) 0.967 (0.974) 1.136 (1.47)Years of residence 20.085 * * (0.03) 20.038 (0.049) 20.007 (0.07)Fear at night 20.552 * (0.25) 20.388 (0.423) 0.130 (0.70)Been a victim of crime 20.413 (0.45) 0.207 (0.769) 2.661 (1.42)

Number of tickets received 0.257 (0.21) 0.371 (0.302) English ability 20.254 (0.21) Poor communication 0.661 * * * (0.12) 0.169 (0.207) 0.102 (0.33)Ever contacted police 20.521 (0.75) 23.066 * (1.281) 23.171 * (1.42)Police helpful 20.156 (0.26) 20.346 (0.448) 2.791 * * (0.92)

R2 0.859 0.527 0.516

Notes: aFigures are unstandardized regression coefficients, with standard errors in parentheses; bOLSestimates; cOrdered logit estimates; *p , 0:05; * *p , 0:01, * * *p , 0:001

Table V.Multiple regressionsummarya

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tickets received in the past, and English ability. We found that among all independentand control variables, poor communication was the most powerful variable thatpredicted police prejudice against Asians. In addition, marital status and length ofresidence in Canada were also significantly associated with police prejudice against

Chinese. The longer the Chinese immigrants resided in Canada, the less likely theywere to perceive police prejudice. In addition, people who were married were less likelyto perceive police prejudice. One possible explanation is that marriage as well as lengthof residence in the host country increase the sense of stability, which may lead togreater assimilation into Canadian society. Thus, these respondents are less likely toperceive injustice from law enforcement. The independent and control variablestogether explain about 86 percent of variations on perceived police prejudice.

Police effectiveness. We then regressed perceptions of police effectiveness in dealingwith crime at five variables previous contacts with the police, level of help fromthe police, poor communication, fear of crime and being a victim bycontrolling for marital status, education, gender, household income level, length ofresidence, and number of tickets received in the past. We found that previous contactwith the police was negatively associated with positive perceptions of the police.People who had previous contact (voluntary or involuntary) with the police expressedless satisfaction with police. Neither police helpfulness nor fear of crime and being avictim had a significant effect on perceived police effectiveness. In addition, none of thedemographic or control variables had a significant effect on perceived policeeffectiveness. Combined, these variables explained approximately 53 percent ofvariations in the dependent variable of police effectiveness.

Respect for police. We also regressed respect for police with ever contacting police,police helpfulness, fear of crime, being a victim, and poor communication bycontrolling for gender, age, marital status, educational level, household income, lengthof residence. Consistent with the finding on perceived effectiveness of police, we

found that people who had previous contact with the police showed less respect forthem. In addition, people who rated police as helpful when they called the police forhelp expressed greater respect for the police. None of the demographic variables werefound to be significantly associated with respect for police. About 52 percent of thevariation on respect for police was explained by these variables.

Summary of findingsAbout one third of the respondents expressed great respect for the police. More thanhalf of the respondents claimed police in the city were effective (somewhat effective tovery effective) in dealing with crime. Only 20 percent of the respondents indicated thatthe problem of police prejudice against Asians was serious or very serious.

Consistent with previous research findings (e.g. Cordner and Jones, 1995; Hawdonet al., 2003; Stoutland, 2001), we found that previous contact with police may notnecessarily enhance immigrants evaluations of the police. Nevertheless, the servicesreceived during the course of self-initiated police-citizen contact might affect citizenssatisfaction with the police. We found that respondents who rated police as helpfulwhile calling for assistance had more respect for the police. Among the demographicvariables, marital status and length of residence in Canada were the only twosignificant variables that affected their perceptions of the police. People who weremarried and had resided in Canada for a longer period of time were found to be less


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likely to perceive police prejudice. Probably, those who were married and had residedin Canada for longer had a deeper sense of stability and security, which led to deeperadaptation and assimilation into the Canadian criminal justice system. Thus, they wereless likely to perceived police prejudice. However, we have no way to validate our

speculation due to the restraint of the current data. In addition, poor communicationwas a significant predictor of perceived police prejudice against Asians.

Discussion and policy implicationsSince we did not employ a probability sampling method in this study, the power ofgeneralization may be limited. In addition, the sample we included was taken fromvarious community service centers which cater to Chinese who are less integrated intomainstream Canadian society and are still in need of ethnic community service orcultural companionship. Such a sampling procedure is unlikely to reach the moreestablished portion of the Chinese community or those who are more socially orculturally integrated into Canadian society and do not need as much ethnic support asless culturally integrated Chinese residents. As a result, it is not surprising that themean income in this sample is low. Thus, findings from this study should beinterpreted with this caveat in mind. They may be more appropriate to generalize onlyto participants of those Chinese community service or cultural organizations inToronto. The demographic characteristics indicate that only 7.8 percent of therespondents were under 24 years old. It is true that more assimilated Chinese such assecond-generation Chinese Canadians with better ability in English may not have asmuch need for social or other services as older or less integrated Chinese immigrants.We have to acknowledge that this survey may under-represent the constituency ofyounger people who usually rate police less favorably than do older people.

In addition, it appears that the findings from this study are somehow different from

most studies conducted in the USA, which have consistently demonstrated that mostpeople rate the police favorably. Although previous studies examine race and theeffects on perceptions of the police, very few studies reach out to groups of immigrantswith different ethnic or cultural backgrounds. The contributing factors that predictimmigrants perceptions of the police in the adopted country may not be the same asthose affecting other minorities who were born locally. As Menjivar and Bejarano(2004) suggest, there are some immigrant-specific factors that affect immigrantsperceptions of crime and the police. These include immigrants previous experiencewith crime and their perceptions of the criminal justice system in their mother country,contacts with immigration authorities in the host country, and the social networks offamily and friends from which they learned about the police and crime-relatedinformation in the host country. In addition, language and cultural barriers can also

affect immigrants perceptions of the police. As a result, the findings do not come as atotal surprise. More studies on immigrants perceptions of the police can furtherdisentangle the factors involved in immigrants perceptions of police.

As with any study utilizing a non-probability sample, readers must be careful toavoid generalizing our findings to all Chinese immigrants in Toronto. Since the samplewas taken from participants in various community service organizations in Toronto, itmay not be appropriate to generalize the findings to other constituencies in the Chinesecommunity, such as young people.

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Furthermore, our measure of police contact cannot capture the nature of differenttypes of police contact. Although in our survey we included various types of contactwith police, such as reporting a violent crime or a property crime, and being arrestedby the police, there were too few cases in each type of contact, which prevented us from

further analyzing the relationship between different types of contact and perceivedeffectiveness of police. In addition, the measures of perceptions of the police that weincluded in the analysis are more inclined to be global assessments in which we askedthe respondents their general perceptions of the police in the city (Brandl et al., 1994,1997). Future research should increase the sample size to capture the nature of varioustypes of contact with the police to elicit more information on incident-specific (e.g.police attitudes while reporting a crime or seeking information or receiving a ticket)assessment of the police. Incorporating global assessment into incident-specificassessment should better present various outlooks on evaluations of the police (Brandlet al., 1994). In addition, future research may include independent variables that reflectneighborhood characteristics such as perceived quality of life, crime rate, andaggregated socioeconomic status in the neighborhoods. It could further examinewhether neighborhood context affects neighborhood residents perceptions of thepolice. As Dunham and Alpert (1988) and Reisig and Giacomazzi (1988) reported, thecombination of ethnicity and socioeconomic status may generate specificneighborhood cultures that can influence attitudes toward police. In addition, a fewstudies (e.g. Weitzer and Tuch, 2004) indicate that the coverage of media reports onpolice abuse or misconduct may be influential in minorities perceptions of the police.Thus, future research should incorporate questions regarding exposure to mediareports on incidents of police abuse to further examine whether the recent mediacoverage impacts minorities perceptions of the police.

Despite the limitations, this research does provide valuable information for thepolice administration. Dear (1972) suggested that a problem of police-immigrants

relations lies in the difficulty of communication across cultural barriers (Dear, 1972;Holdaway, 2003). As the majority of the respondents stated in the survey, it wasimportant for the police to understand the Chinese peoples culture to obtain theircooperation. How can the police administration resolve the problem and provide abetter form of communication? Holdaway (2003) suggests that the provision ofadequate information about immigrant cultures may help. In addition, consistent withthe finding in Chu et al.s (2005) study conducted with Chinese immigrants in NewYork City, the present study also found that the majority of Chinese immigrants in thesample indicated that there were not enough bilingual police in Toronto. Furthermore,this study also echoes the findings in Chu et al.s study indicating that Chineseimmigrants who had contact with the police in the past tended to rate the police lessfavorably. In-depth interviews may further indicate whether language barriers or other

factors involved during the police contact impeded Chinese immigrants perception ofthe police. To increase Chinese immigrants satisfaction with the police, policeadministrations should direct more efforts towards improving services during thecourse of police-citizen contact. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether Chineseimmigrants vicarious experience (information learning from Chinese communitiesabout the police) may influence the overall evaluations of the police (Rosenbaum et al.,2005). It may be helpful for the police administration to have frequent contact withcommunity leaders as well as the wider constituency (e.g. young people in the


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communities) (Webster, 2004) to acquire information which may improve their servicesand enhance the polices positive image in Chinese communities.

While the Chinese are one of the largest minority groups in Toronto, the policeadministration must recognize the Chinese as an important political sector. To enhance

police-Chinese community relationships, it is important to understand Chinese peoplesculture. Some studies suggest that when police agencies are ethnically diverse andresemble the communities they serve, then police-community relations will be morepromising (Brown and Frank, 2006; National Crime Prevention Council, 1995; Zhaoet al., 2001). Recruiting more bilingual police or Asian Canadian police could reducelanguage and cultural barriers and may be a viable way to begin to address Chineseimmigrants concerns in the city.

Consistent with the findings of previous studies conducted with other ethnic groups(see Cheurprakobkit, 2000; Jacob, 1971; Scaglion and Condon, 1980; Smith andHawkins, 1973; Zevitz and Rettammel, 1990), increasing quality of service during thepolice-citizen contact is also influential in improving Chinese immigrants perceptionsof the police. As community policing has become increasingly popular in recent years,relations between the police and the community have been a main focus. Thefundamental tenet in community policing argues that effective policing relies heavilyon resident support (Alpert et al., 1998; Hawdon et al., 2003). Community cooperation isconsidered an important indicator for the successful implementation of a communitypolicing program (Carter and Radelet, 1999; Goldstein, 1987; Hawdon et al., 2003). Toimprove the Chinese communitys perceptions of the police, police-citizen contact maybe a potentially promising area towards which the police could devote more effort. Asindicated in the studies by Cox and White (1988) and Cheurprakobkit (2000), if thepersonal contact with the police was perceived as positive, the police department wouldbe rated more favorably. We cannot ignore the fact that communication barriers maynegatively impact Chinese immigrants perceptions of the police. Since Chinese

immigrants in Toronto have mainly come from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan,Cantonese and Mandarin are the first and second dominant languages spoken in theChinese community. Increasing the recruitment of bilingual police or volunteers whocan speak Cantonese and Mandarin and are culturally sensitive to the needs of theChinese community should enhance mutual trust and improve the relations betweenthe Chinese community and the police. Suitable training in communication skills andcultural diversity may facilitate creating a positive experience in the course ofpolice-citizen contact and lead to greater satisfaction with the police.

Note

1. When there are five or more categories, it is more common to treat the variables as

continuous and use OLS for the analysis (Johnson and Creech, 1983; Zumbo andZimmerman, 1993). Since the scales on police prejudice against Asians and policeeffectiveness dealing with crime range from 1 to 6, OLS was thus employed.

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Administration, Vol. 12, pp. 323-32.

Reisig, M.D. and Parks, R. (2000), Experience, quality of life, and neighborhood context:

a hierarchical analysis of satisfaction with police, Justice Quarterly, Vol. 17, pp. 607-29.Schafer, J., Huebner, B. and Bynum, T. (2003), Citizen perceptions of police services: race,

neighborhood context, and community policing, Police Quarterly, Vol. 6, pp. 440-68.

Sigler, R. and Johnson, I. (2002), Reporting violent acts to the police: a difference by race,Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Vol. 25, pp. 274-93.

About the authorsDoris C. Chu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology, Sociology, andGeography at Arkansas State University. She received her PhD in criminal justice from theUniversity at Albany, State University of New York in 2003. Her research interests includereligiosity and desistance, policing, and comparative criminal justice. Her recent articles haveappeared in Women & Criminal Justice, International Criminal Justice Review, Policing: An

International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, Police Quarterly, and Criminal Justiceand Behavior. Doris C. Chu is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]

John Huey-Long Song is a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, State University ofNew York, College at Buffalo. He received his PhD in Social Ecology from the University ofCalifornia at Irvine. He has published several articles and book chapters on Asian immigrantsadaptation to the American system of criminal justice, comparative criminal justice,transnational organized crime, and Asian gangs and victimization.

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