PERCEPTIONS OF ABUSIVE POLICE PRACTICES IN A US-MEXICO BORDER COMMUNITY

Although research has examined relations between minorities and the po lice, there is a paucity of recent or systematic evidence concerning a busive police practices. This investigation contributes to our knowled ge of the issue by comparing perceptions of abusive police practices h eld by Angles and Hispanics in a U.S.-Mexico border community. The stu dy was based on a telephone/personal interview survey designed to yiel d a representative sample of the adult population of El Paso, Texas, a city which ranks among the poorest in the U.S. A four-item abusive po lice practices index was analyzed using OLS multiple regression. The f indings show that the young, males, Hispanics and those residing in th e barrio locale were more likely to report having seen abusive police practices, after controlling for general beliefs about police brutalit y and for various types of contact with the police.