Aboriginal people and the police: attitudes, perceptions and the construction of social reality
Date
1993
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
This thesis examines police-Aboriginal (Indian and
Metis) community relations in Saskatoon during the fall and
winter of 1992. Aboriginal perceptions of, attitudes
towards, and experiences with, police are examined. While
this is not a comparative study, 'race' is theorized to be an
important variable governing police treatment of Aboriginal
peoples as citizens, suspects, offenders and victims of
crime. The interactional processes of encounters are
regarded as essential to understanding police-Aboriginal
relations. This study also seeks to reveal perceptions of
differential treatment; pertinent factors which contribute to
the construction and maintenance of attitudes held by urban
Aboriginal peoples towards police, and what Aboriginal
peoples feel can be done to improve the current state of
police-Aboriginal relations.
Theoretically, a synthesized left realist criminological/agency tradition of racialization perspective is developed
for it focuses on accumulated knowledge and lived experiences
of subjects as a basis for the social relations to be
studied. The argument is made that Aboriginal people are
perceived by police to be a population of 'moral concern' and
as such, are more apt to be regarded as troublesome and
treated as criminals.
The data were gathered via questionnaire which asked
Aboriginal respondents a wide variety of questions pertaining
to their perceptions of, attitudes towards, and experiences
with, Saskatoon police. The questionnaires obtained
background information about respondents, responses to a 5
point Likert scale of attitudinal statements pertaining to
police-Aboriginal relations, and responses to specific
questions which requested written responses.
Analysis of the quantitative data involved descriptive
presentation, factor analysis, reliability analysis,
difference of means tests, Pearson's correlation procedures
and regression analysis. Qualitative data were thematically
coded and examined.
Importantly, the study revealed two primary factors
pertaining to attitudes towards the police. These are
conceptualized as 'Persecution' and 'Marginalization' and
they are useful in arguing that police perceive Aboriginal
peoples to be a population of 'moral concern'. It was also
found that many respondents had experienced trouble with
police, and that physical or verbal abuse by police is not
uncommon.
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Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Sociology
Program
Sociology