ETHNIC-MINORITY STATUS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS POLICE POWERS - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF GREAT-BRITAIN, NORTHERN-IRELAND AND THE REPUBLIC-OF-IRELAND

It is one of the axioms of police research that the relationship betwe en the police and ethnic minorities is, to say the least, problematic. There is now a growing body of empirical research which shows that th e relationship is characterized by mutual antipathy. Using recent comp arable data from Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of I reland, such conventional wisdom is tested in this article by means of ethnic responses to the power of the police in dealing with known cri minals. Using multivariate regression analysis, the results suggest th at not only is the relationship between ethnic minority status and att itudes towards the power of the police clearly different across these three countries, it also operated in unexpected ways which run directl y counter to well-accepted beliefs about the problematic relationship between the police and members of ethnic minority groups. In other wor ds, for these three societies at least, occupying an ethnic minority g roup status does not automatically lead to a negative view of the powe rs that the police should be accorded in the pursuit of known criminal s.