Social Brown Bag: Black and White Meets Blue: How Institutional Interactions Erode Police-Community Trust Across Race

Abstract:
Each year, approximately 19 million Americans are pulled over by the police. How do these everyday contacts contribute to persistent racial gaps in police-community trust in the U.S.? And how can we intervene to build trust between law enforcement and communities of color? I use a novel source of data — police body camera footage— to reveal racial disparities in police officers' interpersonal communication and their causal effects on citizens' institutional trust in the police. In turn, community members evaluate officers’ language and tone through the lens of their trust in law enforcement. I conclude with ongoing research on these cycles of racial inequity- and how we might break them.