An Empirical Evaluation of American Muslims’ Perceptions of the Police

Abstract This paper evaluates American-Muslims’ perceptions of the police. With regard to studies of the police and Muslim communities, much of the focus has centered on evaluating police officers’ perceptions of the Muslim community. Attitudes toward the police reflect an important measure of police legitimacy for minority communities. The current study analyzes responses from a convenience sample (N = 142) collected from around the United States. Our t test analysis of first-and-second generation American Muslims found no significant differences between attitudes toward the police. However, our OLS Regression models suggest that education, fear of negative treatment due to race, ethnicity, or religion, fear of victimization, negative media portrayal, and neighborhood factors significantly affected perceptions of the police.