The effect of a videotaped arrest on public perceptions of police use of force

In response to recent highly publicized violent encounters between the police and the public, there has been a significant increase in research on police use of force and citizen's perceptions of the police. Relatively little empirical research, though, has addressed the role of the media in shaping public perceptions of police use of force. This article helps fill this void by examining the impact of a controversial, violent arrest captured on videotape by a local news team and widely broadcast on local television in Cincinnati. Using the Greater Cincinnati Survey, bivariate and multivariate analyses are employed to examine variations in perceptions of the reasonableness of the force used by police. Findings indicate that the videotaped arrest had a negative impact on citizens' perceptions of force used by police during arrest situations, but that the effect was substantially greater among non-Caucasians. Furthermore, over a ten-year period, non-Caucasians were consistently more likely than Caucasians to believe police used force excessively. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.