Chinese immigrants' perceptions of the police in Toronto, Canada

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 with Chinese 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 the analysis. Findings - The paper shows that individuals who had previous contact with police rated police less favorably than those who had not had contact with police in the past. In general, people who rated police 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 of police prejudice. Finally, a majority of respondents expressed the concern that more bilingual police were needed in the city. Research limitations/implications - As with any study utilizing a non-probability sample, care must 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, the finding-, 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 in racial and cultural diversity, and reducing communication barriers to improve Chinese immigrants' evaluations of the police. Originality/value - This research is the first to specifically examine Chinese communities' perceptions of law enforcement in Canada. Law enforcement can utilize these findings to improve their services and address the Chinese community's concerns; not only can this promote the police-citizens relationship, but it can also encourage the Chinese community's participation in a crime reduction partnership.