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PIJPSM 31,4

Chinese immigrants perceptions of the police in Toronto, Canada

Doris C. Chu
Department of Criminology, Sociology, and Geography, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA, and

610
Received 24 September 2007 Revised 2 December 2007 Accepted 24 February 2008

John Huey-Long Song

Criminal Justice Department, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA
Abstract
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 signicant 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 ndings to all Chinese immigrants in Toronto. Since the sample was taken from participants of various community service organizations in Toronto, the ndings 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 ofcers (or ofcers 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 rst to specically examine Chinese communities perceptions of law enforcement in Canada. Law enforcement can utilize these ndings to improve their services and address the Chinese communitys concerns; not only can this promote the police-citizens relationship, but it can also encourage the Chinese communitys participation in a crime reduction partnership. Keywords Immigrants, Perception, Police, Canada Paper type Research paper

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Vol. 31 No. 4, 2008 pp. 610-630 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1363-951X DOI 10.1108/13639510810910599

The authors would like to thank the Editor and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Special thanks go to Henry Liu at Sing-Tao Daily Newspaper, Mary Song, and Mary Donaghy. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Toronto.

Introduction With the emergence of community policing around the globe, fostering good police-community relations has become a primary focus for many police departments. One of the important tenets in community policing is to make police departments more responsive to community needs (Goldstein, 1987). For effective policing, citizens perceptions of the police are important, as public distrust of them may impair the polices ability to control crime. People who are dissatised with the police are less likely to provide police with crime-related information and more reluctant to cooperate with the police, which would diminish the polices effectiveness in controlling crime (Decker, 1985; Brown and Benedict, 2002). Policing communities that contain large numbers of immigrants is challenging. Many immigrants come to their adopted countries having had negative experiences with police in their native countries (Davis, 2000; Pogrebin and Poole, 1990). Language barriers, along with past perceptions of the police, may negatively impact their attitudes and judgment toward the police in their adopted country (Davis, 2000). In a multi-ethnic metropolitan city with large numbers of immigrants, such as Toronto, it can be a challenge for the police administration to gain cooperation and deliver effective services for those diverse communities. With growing numbers of Chinese immigrants in Canada in recent years (approximately 800,000 immigrants arrived between 1980 and 2000), Chinese have become the largest group of immigrants into Canada (Wang and Lo, 2004). Among these recent Chinese immigrants, most (about 40 percent) have chosen to settle in Toronto, Ontario, which has an area of 243.2 square miles. According to the 2004 revised gures of Statistics Canada 2001, the City of Toronto has a population of 2.5 million people; the metropolitan area of Toronto (Greater Toronto) has more than 5.5 million people. The 259,710 Chinese comprise the largest immigrant group in the city (10.6 percent of the population), followed by East Indians (253,920 population, 10.3 percent of the city population), Blacks, including persons from the West Indies (204,075 population, 8.3 percent of the city population), and Filipinos (86,460 population, 3.5 percent of the city population) (Statistics Canada, 2004). The City of Torontos Chinese population has increased continuously over the past two decades. The Chinese community has become an important sector in Canadian society. Today, the Chinese are dispersed throughout the metropolitan area of Toronto. Outside downtown Toronto, Scarborough has the largest enclave of Chinese immigrants. Other cities such as Markham and Mississauga have also experienced sizable inuxes of Chinese immigrants. It is challenging to police a city with multicultural and multiethnic communities such as Toronto. Currently, the City of Toronto has 5,376 uniformed police (Toronto Police Service, 2007b). Toronto police have long devoted their efforts to community policing, as witnessed by a variety of community policing programs they provided for their communities, such as the Empowered Student Partnerships program (ESP), the Public Education and Crime Eradication (PEACE) Project, and the Newcomer Outreach Program (Toronto Police Service, 2007a). Nevertheless, with the dramatic demographic changes brought by immigration in the past decades, the police now face new and more difcult challenges (Stenning, 2003). With the large recent inux of Chinese immigrants to the city, there is an urgent need for effective policing in those communities. To the best of our knowledge, there is

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no research that specically examines the Chinese communities perceptions of law enforcement in Canada. Different historical backgrounds and cultures raise difculties with regard to effectively surveying Chinese perceptions of law enforcement, which may explain why this ethnic group has been under-studied in this area. Language and cultural differences may generate problems in police-community relationships for Chinese that are different from problems for other ethnic minority groups, such as Blacks and Hispanics. It can be a challenge for the criminal justice system to address the needs of and provide efcient services for those culturally diverse communities. Thus, this kind of research is important because the law enforcement community can utilize these ndings to improve their services and address the Chinese communitys concerns; not only can this promote the police-citizens relationship, but it can also encourage the Chinese communitys participation in a crime reduction partnership. In an attempt to bridge the gap in previous research, this study uses a survey format to examine Chinese immigrants perceptions of the police in Toronto, Canada. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of how Chinese immigrants perceive the police. This study begins with a literature review of perceptions of the police, followed by the delineation of the dimensions that measure Chinese immigrants perceptions of the police. Multivariate regression analyses are then performed to assess Chinese immigrants perceptions of the police in three dimensions. Finally, promising directions for future research and policy implications are discussed. Literature review Relations between the police and minority groups are a continuing problem in the United States and other multiracial societies (Weitzer and Tuch, 2004, p. 305). The charge that police exercise their discretion to selectively target certain minority groups has existed not only in Britain, but also in the USA and Canada (Waddington et al., 2004). In October of 2002, the Toronto Star published a series of articles on the controversial topic regarding Toronto polices engagement in racial proling (Melchers, 2003). The topic of police and ethnic minorities has sparked a renewed interest for academic and public debate in Canada. Police interest in public opinion surveys has increased tremendously around the globe as police administrations began recognizing the critical role of public perceptions of and attitudes toward police as a determinant of police effectiveness (Beck et al., 1999). Using surveys as an interactive tool to explore citizens attitudes and the perceptions of citizens from different ethnic population sectors toward police has become much more popular in recent years. After conducting a review of numerous studies of perceptions of the police, Brown and Benedict (2002) noted that the predictors of perceptions of the police in past studies have primarily focused on individual variables (e.g. race, gender, age, and contact and experience with the police), contextual variables (neighborhoods characteristics and victimization), and other factors (e.g. police policy, community policing, and police use of force). Race, in particular, has been the focus of a number of studies that examine perceptions of the police. Different ethnic groups may have differing values, beliefs, and thus have varying expectations of legal authority. Understanding the experience with and perceptions of the police among different ethnic groups may help the legal

authority to better accommodate the expectations of different ethnic groups (Davis, 2000). In addition, it can reduce mutual conicts between minority groups and the police. Nevertheless, most extant studies examining citizens perception of law enforcement in the USA focus on Blacks and Hispanics. In general, studies nd that Whites are more likely to express greater satisfaction with different aspects of policing than other minority groups (e.g. Weitzer and Tuch, 2004). African-Americans express less condence in police than Whites. Hispanics ratings on police fall between those of Whites and African-Americans, but are closer to those of African-Americans (Rosenbaum et al., 2005; Skogan et al., 2003). Huo and Tyler (2000) nd that compared to Whites, African-Americans and Latinos reported more negative experiences during different types of encounters with police. Studies conducted in Britain found that perceptions of the police, derived from direct or indirect contact with them, are different among Whites, Blacks, and Asians (Webster, 2004). Waddington and Braddock (1991), found that Asians and white young people in their sample included both those who considered police as trustworthy guardians and those who viewed police as bullies, while black young people exclusively viewed police as bullies. In Websters (2004) study on policing in British Asian communities, he indicated the perceptions of Asians through the contact with the police, either as victims or witnesses, tend to fall between Blacks and Whites or are similar to Whites. Blacks tend to be more hostile to the police compared to Whites and Asians (Webster, 2004). Some studies (e.g. Southgate and Ekblom, 1984, Southgate and Crisp, 1992) that examine minorities perceptions of the police in different contexts of contact reveal that Asians are less likely to be dissatised with the police compared to African/Caribbeans or Whites. Some studies nd Asians ratings on police fall between those of Whites and African/Caribbeans (Webster, 2004). Interestingly, Waddington and Braddock (1991) have found that different ethnic minorities tend to perceive the police differently. Asians are more likely to complain that the police are ineffective in protecting them from racial attacks, whereas Blacks predominantly complain they are racially harassed or abused by the police. Compared to the USA, there are fewer studies in Canada that examine minority perceptions of law enforcement or criminal justice systems. A notable exception is Wortleys (1996) study using data from a 1994 general population survey of residents in Toronto. He found that Blacks were more likely than Whites and Asians to perceive injustice in the criminal justice system. Except for race, age and education levels were the other two demographic variables that affected the perception of injustice. In general, older people were less likely than younger people to have perceptions of injustice toward the criminal justice system, and people with higher education were more inclined to perceive discrimination than those with lower education. Race was found to be the strongest variable that predicts the perception of injustice. Blacks were found to perceive higher levels of injustice than Whites and the other minority groups. The author suggests that involuntary contact with the police and courts and the legacy of racism shared by the informal social networks of black communities contributed to shaping Blacks perceptions of injustice (Wortley, 1996). In general, race is the most common demographic characteristic found to be signicantly associated with attitudes toward the police (e.g. Wortley, 1996). As for the inuence on perceptions of the police of other demographic variables, such as education, gender, and age, the ndings tend to be inconsistent (e.g. Cao et al., Correia

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et al., 1996). Some studies (e.g. Chermak et al., 2001; Reisig and Parks, 2002) nd contact and experience with the police, prior victimization and fear of crime are also signicantly associated with citizens evaluations of the police. For example, Dean (1980) reports that citizens who had contacts with police as a result of trafc stops or as crime victims expressed less favorable attitudes toward the police. Similarly, the British Crime Survey also found that the assessment tended to be lower among those who had contact with the police (regardless of any type of contact) than those without previous contact with the police (Southgate, 1986). In Ren et al.s (2005) study, it was found that those who had voluntary contact with police, such as involvements in community crime prevention programs, rated police more favorably than those who had involuntary contact with the police. Other studies (e.g. Reisig and Parks, 2002) have found that people expressed greater satisfaction with the police in general when police met their service expectation during the course of encounters or when they called the police for help. In addition, Skogan et al. (2002) indicated that language was associated with minorities perceptions of police helpfulness and fairness. Similarly, Davis and Miller (2002) also reported that immigrants carried with them their own former experiences with legal authorities in their mother country, along with cultural and language barriers, which may negatively impact their perceptions of the police in the host country. This study examines whether the predictors of citizens perceptions of the police among Whites and other ethnic minority groups such as Blacks and Hispanics can be applicable to an ethnic group with a different culture and language. The predictors identied by the previous studies include contact with the police, fear of crime, prior victimization, and poor communication. Building on the literature regarding citizens perceptions of the police, the current study tests the following hypotheses: . Poor communication will affect citizens evaluations of the police. . People who experienced prior victimization will evaluate police less favorably. . People who are fearful of crime will rate police as less effective. . Previous experience of self-initiating contact with police, such as calling police for help, will affect the individuals perceptions of the police. Methodology Sampling and data collection The target population in this study refers to Chinese immigrants in Toronto, Canada. Chinese people who live in Toronto and were not born in Canada are considered as Chinese immigrants, regardless of their immigration status and length of stay in Canada. Collecting systematic and representative research data in seemingly homogeneous ethnic communities is always a challenge (Song, 1992). The mixture of latest immigrants and their earlier, more adjusted counterparts reects the different need of various groups in the community. Other than ethnic business directories, there are no lists of ethnic populations in Toronto. A true probability sample is impractical. Without workable ethnic population lists, we adopted a three-stage sampling method. First, we consulted with Mr Henry Liu, a senior reporter working with Sing-Tao Daily Newspaper the largest Chinese language newspaper in Canada to identify a number of community organizations that constitute a microcosm of the

Chinese immigrant community in the Greater Toronto area. Second, we paid visits to the heads of these agencies to understand the backgrounds of their clientele and explain to them our research project. Based on our years of contact with the Asian community and its elite members, we understand that most ethnic social service and community organizations are keenly interested in the challenges their community faces. We secured their cooperation by agreeing to share our research results with their agencies. We then conveyed to them the importance of getting a representative sample and how to achieve that goal. According to the size of their clientele, the administrators and our research team decided the number of questionnaires they would receive from us. We made a number of trips in the months of March, April, and early May of 2005 to visit the agencies. In many instances, our reporter contact introduced us to various community agencies. Sing Tao Daily even published a half-page story with a photo to help us gain some publicity and cooperation for our research in the Chinese community. With the help of our reporter contact, we identied the primary social service and community organizations in the metropolitan Toronto area that provide a variety of services as well as cultural activities for the Chinese community. Although we did not have a random sample, we asked our contacts to be mindful of the representative nature of the subjects in their respective programs and organizations. Also, after meeting these leaders of the agencies included in our survey, we realized that they all have extensive experience and knowledge of the necessity to enhance the demographic representation of the subjects. Given the undened population, the method adopted, though not a probability procedure, to some extent may possibly reect the perceptions of Chinese immigrants who were in need of cultural support and services from various social and community organization in the community. To accommodate language barriers, we prepared three versions of the same questionnaire in English, and in simplied and regular Chinese. The questionnaires were pre-tested to enhance the validity and reliability of responses. A pre-test with 30 Chinese immigrants and a focus group discussion were administered before the formal survey was conducted. Appropriate modication was made based on the comments and suggestions at the pre-test discussion. A consent form was attached on the top of each questionnaire. We indicated in the consent form that there were no right or wrong answers to any of the questions in the survey. We also reminded respondents not to write down their names on the questionnaire. In addition, we ensured all information would be kept condential by the researchers. At the beginning of the questionnaire, we asked respondents to rate how seriously they perceive nine different problem areas, such as fear of crime, slow response to call, etc. We then asked about their experience related to their interaction with police, for example whether the police were helpful when they called for help or when they reported a property or violent crime of victimization. At the end of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to provide demographic information, which included age, educational background, employment, gender, marital status, length of residence in Canada, political afliation, household income, and place of birth. Five hundred and eight questionnaires were distributed, and 293 of them were completed and returned (with an approximate 58 percent response rate).

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Characteristics of study samples In the sample, 38 percent of the respondents were male and 62 percent were female. Ninety-nine percent of the respondents were not born in Canada. The mean length of stay in Canada was 11.5 years (SD 9:9). Approximately 73 percent of the respondents were married. Approximately 24 percent of the respondents had an education level of some high school or below high school; 21 percent of respondents were high school graduates. About 10 percent of respondents had attended college, and approximately 45 percent of respondents were college graduates or had earned a degree higher than college. Most respondents came from China (46.4 percent; n 122); 21 percent (n 58) of the respondents came from Taiwan; 21 percent (n 58) were from Hong Kong and 9.5 percent of the respondents were from the other regions. In addition, more than 90 percent of the respondents were either Canadian citizens or permanent residents. A further analysis indicated that only 24 percent of the respondents had ever contacted bilingual police in the city (result not shown). The demographic characteristics of the respondents are presented in Table I. Measures Dependent variables. We measure three different dimensions of Chinese immigrants perceptions of the police: (1) perceived police prejudice; (2) perceived police effectiveness; and (3) respect for police. The rst dependent variable, perceived prejudice by police was measured by a single survey item: How serious is the following issue concerning the police-Chinese interactions in the city where you live? Police prejudice against Asians. Response categories range from 1 (not serious at all) to 6 (very serious). A higher score indicates a higher level of perceived prejudice against Asians. The measure of perceptions of police effectiveness comes from a single item in which the respondent was asked whether The police in the city where you live are generally effective in dealing with crime problems. Responses range from a score of 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). A higher score indicates they considered police are more effective in dealing with crime. The third dependent variable, Respect for police, was measured through one item: Considering everything about the way the police do their job in the city where you live, would you say that you have (1) little respect for them; (2) mixed feelings; or (3) great respect for the police? A higher score on the measure indicates greater respect for the police. Independent variables. The main independent variables are previous contact with police, police being helpful when calling the police, fear of crime, being a victim, and poor communication. Previous contact with police was measured by the index asking the respondent Have you ever had any contact with the police? The contact includes any types of contact that can be proactive or reactive, such as calling police for help, reporting crimes to police, or being arrested. In our survey we asked respondents if they felt police were helpful during different types of contact (e.g. when they called the police for help, or reported crimes to them, or were arrested). However, we limited the perceived helpfulness to only one item i.e. calling the police for help because there were too fewer cases in the other types of contact to allow for meaningful statistical analyses. The construct of police being helpful when calling the police was

Toronto 2005 n Sex Male Female Total Marriage Married Divorced Separate Widowed Single Total Age 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 or older Total Where did you come from? Taiwan China Hong Kong Vietnam Other Total Status Canadian citizen Permanent resident Other legal status Undocumented Other Total Income Under $10,000 $10,001-20,000 $20,001-30,000 $30,001-40,000 $40,001-50,000 $50,001-60,000 $60,001-70,000 $70,001-80,000 $80,001-90,000 $90,001-100,000 Above $100,000 Total 99 161 260 196 16 7 13 37 269 21 27 70 61 47 42 268 58 122 58 19 6 263 169 75 12 1 10 267 55 44 38 29 17 10 9 9 6 4 9 230 % 38.1 61.9 100.0 72.9 5.9 2.6 4.8 13.8 100.0 7.8 10.1 26.1 22.8 17.5 15.7 100.0 22.1 46.4 22.1 7.2 2.3 100.0 63.3 28.1 4.5 0.4 3.7 100.0 23.9 19.1 16.5 12.6 7.4 4.3 3.9 3.9 2.6 1.7 3.9 100.0 (continued )

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Table I. Characteristics of the respondents

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Education (last grade of school completed) Some high school or below High school graduate College College graduate or more Total

Toronto 2005 n 65 56 26 120 267 % 24.3 21.0 9.7 45.0 100.0

618
Table I.

measured through two indices. First, we asked the respondent: Have you ever called the police for help? If the respondents responded, Yes, they were asked, If you have ever called the police for help, in your most serious case, were the police involved (1) not helpful; (2) a little helpful; (3) helpful; (4) very helpful? A higher score indicates a higher level of police helpfulness. An individuals fear of crime could also affect their perception of the police. In general, we assumed it would be unlikely for people who felt fearful of crime to rate police as effective in dealing with crime or to feel they received adequate protection from the police. The variable fear of crime was constructed based on a single item: Because of crime some people are afraid to go out at night to get together with friends and relatives. How often do you feel this way in the city where you live (1 never, 2 rarely, 3 sometimes, 4 frequently)? A higher score on the measure reects a higher level of fear of crime. Previous studies also indicate experience of victimization can negatively impact peoples evaluations of the police. The variable of ever being a victim was constructed based on the question, Have you or anyone in your household ever been a victim of a crime in Canada? (No 0; Yes 1)? Finally, previous studies indicate that communication barriers between police and immigrants can negatively impact immigrants perceptions of the police. The variable of poor communication was based on a single item: How serious is the following issue concerning the police-Chinese interactions in the city where you live? poor communication between police and residents (1 not serious at all . . . 6 very serious). A higher score represents a higher degree of communication barriers between police and immigrants. Control variables. The demographic control variables include age, gender, marital status, educational level, household income, and length of residence in Canada. Previous studies that examine citizens evaluations of law enforcement usually include age, gender, education, and income as control variables. In this project we also included marital status and length of residence in Canada. We assume immigrants marital status and length of residence in Canada may impact their perceptions of police since individuals who are married or have resided longer in the host country may be more stable and thus are more assimilated into their host country. The sense of stability may directly or indirectly affect their evaluations of law enforcement. Gender was coded as a dummy variable with 0 representing female and 1 representing male. Marital status was also coded as a dummy variable with 0 as single, widowed, separated, or divorced, and 1 representing currently married. Educational level was coded as a dummy variable with 0 representing with an education of some college or less, and 1 representing college graduates or higher. Household income was coded as ordinal

(1 under 10,000; 2 10,001 to 20,000; 3 20,001 to 30,000; 4 30,001 to 40,000; 5 40,001 to 50,000; 6 50,001 to 60,000; 7 60,001 to 70,000; 8 70,001 to 80,000; 9 80,001 to 90,000; 10 90,001 to 100,000; 11 above 100,000 Canadian dollars). The variable of age was also coded as ordinal (1 18 to 24; 2 25 to 34; 3 35 to 44; 4 45 to 54; 5 55 to 64; 6 65 and over). Length of residence in Canada is a continuous variable, which was measured by year. We considered receiving trafc tickets from the police and English ability in dealing with the police as factors that needed to be controlled. Thus, apart from the demographic variables stated above, we also controlled for the variables of numbers of trafc tickets received, and English ability to deal with police. The variable of number of trafc tickets received was measured by a single item, How many times did you receive a trafc ticket from the police?. It is a continuous variable. The variable English ability to deal with the police was measured by one item: How would you evaluate your English when you deal with the police (1 cant communicate at all; 2 barely able to communicate; 3 not uent enough; 4 no problem at all)?. A higher score indicates a higher level of prociency in English. Table II reports the inter-correlations of all variables, which indicates multicollinearity is not a problem among the variables. Analysis plan Two different types of multivariate regression estimates were employed in the analyses. Ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis was performed to assess the inuences of all explanatory variables on Police prejudice against Asians and Police effectiveness dealing with crime[1]. Ordered logit estimate was conducted to examine the effects of independent and control variables on the ordinal measure Respect for police. Findings The descriptive statistics for all variables are displayed in Table III. At the beginning of the questionnaire, all respondents were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 6 (not serious at all to very serious) their perceptions of the level of seriousness of nine issues regarding police-citizen interactions in the city where they reside. The issues regarding problem areas include the following: . police failure to pay attention to complaints; . slow police response to calls; . residents fear of crime; . failure of people to report crime; . organized crime activities in the community; . poor communication between police and Asians; . police prejudice against Asians; . reluctance of Chinese to cooperate with the police; and . juvenile gang activities. Respondents rated residents fear of crime as the most serious among the nine issues, with a mean score of 4.29. The respondents also rated poor communication between police and Chinese and failure of people to report crime as the second and third most serious problems, with a mean score of 3.89 and 3.88, respectively (results not shown).

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620

PIJPSM 31,4

Variables 0.01 1.00 0.27 0.20 * * 0.24 * * 2 0.02 2 0.12 2 0.16 * 0.07 2 0.03 2 0.14 * 0.07 0.03 2 0.11 0.06 0.14 * 0.10 2 0.02 0.52 * * 0.20 * * 2 0.01 1.00 2 0.03 0.11 0.18 0.10 2 0.22 * * 0.14 * 2 0.13 2 0.16 * 0.00 0.13 * 2 0.06 0.07 0.09 0.21 2 0.08 0.18 2 0.07 2 0.03 1.00 2 0.18 0.06 0.10 2 0.37 * 0.09 2 0.22 * 2 0.17 2 0.03 2 0.14 * 2 0.17 * * 2 0.15 * 2 0.10 2 0.22 * * 0.19 * * 2 0.03 0.06 2 0.12 1.00 2 0.08 2 0.09 0.65 * * 2 0.01 2 0.19 * * 0.06 0.27 * * 1.00 0.08 0.12 * 0.52 * * 0.08 2 0.10 0.09 2 0.22 * * 2 0.17 * * 2 0.07 2 0.17 2 0.17 * * 0.17 * * 0.15 * 0.21 * * 0.20 * * 0.08 1.00 0.29 * * 0.20 * * 2 0.33 * * 0.15 * 0.21 0.33 * * 2 0.15 * 0.30 * * 0.27 * 0.14 * 0.02 0.06 0.29 * * 0.24 * * 0.14 * 0.29 * * 1.00 2 0.01 2 0.16 * * 2 0.05 2 0.08 0.25 * * 2 0.10 0.18 * * 0.18 2 0.12 2 0.03 2 0.04 2 0.22 * * 2 0.12 0.08 2 0.33 * * 2 0.16 * * 2 0.03 1.00 0.06 2 0.07 2 0.24 * * 0.19 * * 2 0.25 * * 2 0.07 0.26 * * 0.04 2 0.11 0.14 * 2 0.16 * 2 0.10 0.15 * 2 0.05 0.11 0.06 1.00 2 0.03 0.18 * * 2 0.03 0.26 * * 0.02 0.05 2 0.01 0.02 0.20 * * 2 0.03 2 0.22 * * 0.33 * * 0.25 * * 0.10 2 0.24 * * 0.18 * * 2 0.18 1.00 2 0.12 0.33 * * 0.30 * * 2 0.13 2 0.16 * 0.06

Gender Marital status Age Household income Education Years of residence Fear at night Been a victim Number of tickets English Poor communication Contacted police Police helpfulness Police prejudice Respect for police Police effectiveness

Notes: *p , 0:05; * *p , 0:01

Table II. Correlation matrix

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 0.26 * * 0.07 2 0.07 0.30 * * 0.18 * * 0.14 * 2 0.25 * * 0.26 * * 0.10 0.33 * * 2 0.08 1.00 2 0.08 0.01 2 0.18 * * 2 0.10 13 2 0.03 0.03 2 0.17 0.27 * 0.18 2 0.13 2 0.07 0.02 2 0.37 * 0.30 * * 2 0.09 2 0.08 1.00 2 0.08 0.43 * * 0.33 * * 14 0.02 2 0.11 2 0.17 * * 2 0.14 * 2 0.12 2 0.16 * 0.26 * * 0.05 0.09 2 0.13 0.65 * * 0.01 2 0.08 1.00 2 0.20 * * 2 0.10 15 2 0.10 0.06 0.17 * * 0.02 2 0.03 0.00 0.04 2 0.01 2 0.22 * 2 0.16 * 2 0.01 2 0.18 * * 0.43 * * 2 0.20 * * 1.00 0.37 * * 16 0.10 0.14 * 0.15 * 0.06 2 0.04 0.13 * 2 0.11 0.02 2 0.17 0.06 2 0.19 * * 2 0.10 0.33 * * 2 0.10 0.37 * * 1.00

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

1.00 0.01 0.06 0.21 * * 0.29 * * 0.10 2 0.22 * * 0.14 * 2 0.06 0.20 * * 2 0.03 0.26 * * 2 0.03 0.02 2 0.10 0.10

Variable Dependent variables Police prejudice against Asians Respect for police Police effectiveness in dealing with crime Independent and control variables Gender Married Age Household income Education Years of residence Fear at night Been a victim of crime Number of tickets received Poor communication English ability Ever contacted police Police helpful

Minimum 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 1.00

Maximum 6.00 3.00 6.00 1.00 1.00 6.00 11.00 1.00 48.00 4.00 1.00 77.00 6.00 4.00 1.00 4.00

Mean 3.33 2.32 3.38 0.38 0.73 3.79 3.68 0.45 11.54 2.48 0.08 2.14 3.89 2.47 0.48 3.03

SD 1.39 0.56 1.38 0.49 0.45 1.46 2.73 0.50 9.94 0.83 0.28 7.88 1.43 1.06 0.50 0.74

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Table III. Descriptive statistics for variables

More than 80 percent of respondents agreed that to gain cooperation from the ethnic communities, the police must rst understand the cultural background of residents in these communities. About 94 percent of the respondents stated that there were not enough bilingual police in their city. Among all the respondents, only 25 percent stated that they had ever had contact with a bilingual police ofcer (results not shown). The respondents were asked to estimate their ability in English when they had to deal with the police. Only about 19 percent of the respondents claimed they had no problem with English in communicating with the police. Forty-nine percent of the respondents indicated that they could barely communicate in English or that they could not communicate at all in English. Good communication is based on an understanding of culture and language. It is likely that language and cultural barriers may block the communication channels between Chinese immigrants and the police. With regard to their perceptions of the police, about 20 percent of immigrants surveyed indicated that the problem of police prejudice against Asians was serious or very serious. Approximately 36 percent of the respondents stated they had great respect for the police; about 60 percent of respondents expressed mixed feelings toward the police. More than half of the respondents considered the police in the city effective (somewhat effective to very effective) in dealing with crime. None of the evaluations was found to be signicantly associated with gender. Gender and perceptions of the police is presented in Table IV. Multiple regression analyses Perceived prejudice against Chinese by police. The multiple regression summary is presented in Table V. We rst regressed perceived prejudice against Chinese by police by the variables of ever contact police, police helpfulness while calling police for help, fear of crime, being a victim, and poor communication by controlling for gender, marital status, age, education, years of residence in Canada, number of

PIJPSM 31,4

Female Variable n % 9.6 24.3 22.8 22.8 14.0 6.6 n 9 12 25 23 14 2 85 6 13 20 21 23 12 95 5 59 28 92 Police prejudice against Asians 1 not serious at all 13 2 33 3 31 4 31 5 19 6 very serious 9 Total 136 Police effectiveness in dealing with crime 1 least effective 9 2 23 3 41 4 45 5 15 6 very effective 15 Total 148 Respect for the police 1 little respect 2 mixed feelings 3 great respect Total 5 80 56 141

Males % 10.6 14.1 29.4 27.1 16.5 2.4 n 22 45 56 54 33 11 221 15 36 61 66 38 27 243 10 139 84 233

Total % 10.0 20.4 25.3 24.4 14.9 5.0

622

6.1 15.5 27.7 30.4 10.1 10.1

6.3 13.7 21.1 21.1 24.2 12.6

6.2 14.8 25.1 27.2 15.6 11.1

Table IV. Gender and perceptions of the police

3.5 56.7 39.7

5.4 64.1 30.4

4.3 59.7 36.1

Variable

Police prejudice against Asiansb (0.36) (0.38) (0.20) (0.08) (0.61) (0.03) (0.25) (0.45) (0.21) (0.21) (0.12) (0.75) (0.26)

Police effectiveness in dealing with crimeb 0.275 2 0.463 0.005 0.089 0.967 2 0.038 2 0.388 0.207 0.371 0.169 2 3.066 * 2 0.346 0.527

Respect for policec (1.02) (1.10) (0.48) (0.20) (1.47) (0.07) (0.70) (1.42) (0.33) (1.42) (0.92)

Table V. Multiple regression summarya

Gender 0.012 Married 2 1.265 * * Age 0.257 Household income 0.093 Education (Bachelors degree or above) 2 1.050 Years of residence 2 0.085 * * Fear at night 2 0.552 * Been a victim of crime 2 0.413 Number of tickets received 0.257 English ability 2 0.254 Poor communication 0.661 * * * Ever contacted police 2 0.521 Police helpful 2 0.156 R2 0.859

(0.620) 2 0.284 (0.653) 1.196 (0.317) 0.396 (0.138) 2 0.116 (0.974) 1.136 (0.049) 2 0.007 (0.423) 0.130 (0.769) 2.661 (0.302) (0.207) 0.102 (1.281) 2 3.171 * (0.448) 2.791 * * 0.516

Notes: aFigures are unstandardized regression coefcients, with standard errors in parentheses; bOLS estimates; cOrdered logit estimates; *p , 0:05; * *p , 0:01, * * *p , 0:001

tickets received in the past, and English ability. We found that among all independent and control variables, poor communication was the most powerful variable that predicted police prejudice against Asians. In addition, marital status and length of residence in Canada were also signicantly associated with police prejudice against Chinese. The longer the Chinese immigrants resided in Canada, the less likely they were to perceive police prejudice. In addition, people who were married were less likely to perceive police prejudice. One possible explanation is that marriage as well as length of residence in the host country increase the sense of stability, which may lead to greater assimilation into Canadian society. Thus, these respondents are less likely to perceive injustice from law enforcement. The independent and control variables together explain about 86 percent of variations on perceived police prejudice. Police effectiveness. We then regressed perceptions of police effectiveness in dealing with crime at ve variables previous contacts with the police, level of help from the police, poor communication, fear of crime and being a victim by controlling for marital status, education, gender, household income level, length of residence, and number of tickets received in the past. We found that previous contact with the police was negatively associated with positive perceptions of the police. People who had previous contact (voluntary or involuntary) with the police expressed less satisfaction with police. Neither police helpfulness nor fear of crime and being a victim had a signicant effect on perceived police effectiveness. In addition, none of the demographic or control variables had a signicant effect on perceived police effectiveness. Combined, these variables explained approximately 53 percent of variations in the dependent variable of police effectiveness. Respect for police. We also regressed respect for police with ever contacting police, police helpfulness, fear of crime, being a victim, and poor communication by controlling for gender, age, marital status, educational level, household income, length of residence. Consistent with the nding on perceived effectiveness of police, we found that people who had previous contact with the police showed less respect for them. In addition, people who rated police as helpful when they called the police for help expressed greater respect for the police. None of the demographic variables were found to be signicantly associated with respect for police. About 52 percent of the variation on respect for police was explained by these variables. Summary of ndings About one third of the respondents expressed great respect for the police. More than half of the respondents claimed police in the city were effective (somewhat effective to very effective) in dealing with crime. Only 20 percent of the respondents indicated that the problem of police prejudice against Asians was serious or very serious. Consistent with previous research ndings (e.g. Cordner and Jones, 1995; Hawdon et al., 2003; Stoutland, 2001), we found that previous contact with police may not necessarily enhance immigrants evaluations of the police. Nevertheless, the services received during the course of self-initiated police-citizen contact might affect citizens satisfaction with the police. We found that respondents who rated police as helpful while calling for assistance had more respect for the police. Among the demographic variables, marital status and length of residence in Canada were the only two signicant variables that affected their perceptions of the police. People who were married and had resided in Canada for a longer period of time were found to be less

Chinese immigrants perceptions 623

PIJPSM 31,4

likely to perceive police prejudice. Probably, those who were married and had resided in Canada for longer had a deeper sense of stability and security, which led to deeper adaptation and assimilation into the Canadian criminal justice system. Thus, they were less likely to perceived police prejudice. However, we have no way to validate our speculation due to the restraint of the current data. In addition, poor communication was a signicant predictor of perceived police prejudice against Asians. Discussion and policy implications Since we did not employ a probability sampling method in this study, the power of generalization may be limited. In addition, the sample we included was taken from various community service centers which cater to Chinese who are less integrated into mainstream Canadian society and are still in need of ethnic community service or cultural companionship. Such a sampling procedure is unlikely to reach the more established portion of the Chinese community or those who are more socially or culturally integrated into Canadian society and do not need as much ethnic support as less culturally integrated Chinese residents. As a result, it is not surprising that the mean income in this sample is low. Thus, ndings from this study should be interpreted with this caveat in mind. They may be more appropriate to generalize only to participants of those Chinese community service or cultural organizations in Toronto. The demographic characteristics indicate that only 7.8 percent of the respondents were under 24 years old. It is true that more assimilated Chinese such as second-generation Chinese Canadians with better ability in English may not have as much need for social or other services as older or less integrated Chinese immigrants. We have to acknowledge that this survey may under-represent the constituency of younger people who usually rate police less favorably than do older people. In addition, it appears that the ndings from this study are somehow different from most studies conducted in the USA, which have consistently demonstrated that most people rate the police favorably. Although previous studies examine race and the effects on perceptions of the police, very few studies reach out to groups of immigrants with different ethnic or cultural backgrounds. The contributing factors that predict immigrants perceptions of the police in the adopted country may not be the same as those affecting other minorities who were born locally. As Menjivar and Bejarano (2004) suggest, there are some immigrant-specic factors that affect immigrants perceptions of crime and the police. These include immigrants previous experience with crime and their perceptions of the criminal justice system in their mother country, contacts with immigration authorities in the host country, and the social networks of family and friends from which they learned about the police and crime-related information in the host country. In addition, language and cultural barriers can also affect immigrants perceptions of the police. As a result, the ndings do not come as a total surprise. More studies on immigrants perceptions of the police can further disentangle the factors involved in immigrants perceptions of police. As with any study utilizing a non-probability sample, readers must be careful to avoid generalizing our ndings to all Chinese immigrants in Toronto. Since the sample was taken from participants in various community service organizations in Toronto, it may not be appropriate to generalize the ndings to other constituencies in the Chinese community, such as young people.

624

Furthermore, our measure of police contact cannot capture the nature of different types of police contact. Although in our survey we included various types of contact with police, such as reporting a violent crime or a property crime, and being arrested by the police, there were too few cases in each type of contact, which prevented us from further analyzing the relationship between different types of contact and perceived effectiveness of police. In addition, the measures of perceptions of the police that we included in the analysis are more inclined to be global assessments in which we asked the respondents their general perceptions of the police in the city (Brandl et al., 1994, 1997). Future research should increase the sample size to capture the nature of various types of contact with the police to elicit more information on incident-specic (e.g. police attitudes while reporting a crime or seeking information or receiving a ticket) assessment of the police. Incorporating global assessment into incident-specic assessment should better present various outlooks on evaluations of the police (Brandl et al., 1994). In addition, future research may include independent variables that reect neighborhood characteristics such as perceived quality of life, crime rate, and aggregated socioeconomic status in the neighborhoods. It could further examine whether neighborhood context affects neighborhood residents perceptions of the police. As Dunham and Alpert (1988) and Reisig and Giacomazzi (1988) reported, the combination of ethnicity and socioeconomic status may generate specic neighborhood cultures that can inuence attitudes toward police. In addition, a few studies (e.g. Weitzer and Tuch, 2004) indicate that the coverage of media reports on police abuse or misconduct may be inuential in minorities perceptions of the police. Thus, future research should incorporate questions regarding exposure to media reports on incidents of police abuse to further examine whether the recent media coverage impacts minorities perceptions of the police. Despite the limitations, this research does provide valuable information for the police administration. Dear (1972) suggested that a problem of police-immigrants relations lies in the difculty of communication across cultural barriers (Dear, 1972; Holdaway, 2003). As the majority of the respondents stated in the survey, it was important for the police to understand the Chinese peoples culture to obtain their cooperation. How can the police administration resolve the problem and provide a better form of communication? Holdaway (2003) suggests that the provision of adequate information about immigrant cultures may help. In addition, consistent with the nding in Chu et al.s (2005) study conducted with Chinese immigrants in New York City, the present study also found that the majority of Chinese immigrants in the sample indicated that there were not enough bilingual police in Toronto. Furthermore, this study also echoes the ndings in Chu et al.s study indicating that Chinese immigrants who had contact with the police in the past tended to rate the police less favorably. In-depth interviews may further indicate whether language barriers or other factors involved during the police contact impeded Chinese immigrants perception of the police. To increase Chinese immigrants satisfaction with the police, police administrations should direct more efforts towards improving services during the course of police-citizen contact. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether Chinese immigrants vicarious experience (information learning from Chinese communities about the police) may inuence the overall evaluations of the police (Rosenbaum et al., 2005). It may be helpful for the police administration to have frequent contact with community leaders as well as the wider constituency (e.g. young people in the

Chinese immigrants perceptions 625

PIJPSM 31,4

626

communities) (Webster, 2004) to acquire information which may improve their services and enhance the polices positive image in Chinese communities. While the Chinese are one of the largest minority groups in Toronto, the police administration must recognize the Chinese as an important political sector. To enhance police-Chinese community relationships, it is important to understand Chinese peoples culture. Some studies suggest that when police agencies are ethnically diverse and resemble the communities they serve, then police-community relations will be more promising (Brown and Frank, 2006; National Crime Prevention Council, 1995; Zhao et al., 2001). Recruiting more bilingual police or Asian Canadian police could reduce language and cultural barriers and may be a viable way to begin to address Chinese immigrants concerns in the city. Consistent with the ndings of previous studies conducted with other ethnic groups (see Cheurprakobkit, 2000; Jacob, 1971; Scaglion and Condon, 1980; Smith and Hawkins, 1973; Zevitz and Rettammel, 1990), increasing quality of service during the police-citizen contact is also inuential in improving Chinese immigrants perceptions of the police. As community policing has become increasingly popular in recent years, relations between the police and the community have been a main focus. The fundamental tenet in community policing argues that effective policing relies heavily on resident support (Alpert et al., 1998; Hawdon et al., 2003). Community cooperation is considered an important indicator for the successful implementation of a community policing program (Carter and Radelet, 1999; Goldstein, 1987; Hawdon et al., 2003). To improve the Chinese communitys perceptions of the police, police-citizen contact may be a potentially promising area towards which the police could devote more effort. As indicated in the studies by Cox and White (1988) and Cheurprakobkit (2000), if the personal contact with the police was perceived as positive, the police department would be rated more favorably. We cannot ignore the fact that communication barriers may negatively impact Chinese immigrants perceptions of the police. Since Chinese immigrants in Toronto have mainly come from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Cantonese and Mandarin are the rst and second dominant languages spoken in the Chinese community. Increasing the recruitment of bilingual police or volunteers who can speak Cantonese and Mandarin and are culturally sensitive to the needs of the Chinese community should enhance mutual trust and improve the relations between the Chinese community and the police. Suitable training in communication skills and cultural diversity may facilitate creating a positive experience in the course of police-citizen contact and lead to greater satisfaction with the police.
Note 1. When there are ve or more categories, it is more common to treat the variables as continuous and use OLS for the analysis (Johnson and Creech, 1983; Zumbo and Zimmerman, 1993). Since the scales on police prejudice against Asians and police effectiveness dealing with crime range from 1 to 6, OLS was thus employed. References Alpert, G., Dunham, R. and Piquero, A. (1998), On the study of neighborhoods and the police, in Alpert, G. and Piquero, A. (Eds), Community Policing: Contemporary Readings, 2nd ed., Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL, pp. 407-24.

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Southgate, P. and Ekblom, P. (1984), Contacts between Police and Public: Findings from the British Crime Survey, Home Ofce, London. Statistics Canada (2004), 2001 Census, Urban Development Services, City Planning, Policy and Research, Statistics Canada, available at: www.toronto.ca/committees/council_proles/ pdf/east_full.pdf Stenning, P. (2003), Policing the cultural kaleidoscope: recent Canadian experience, Police & Society, Vol. 7, pp. 13-47. Stoutland, S. (2001), The multiple dimensions of trust in resident-police relations in Boston, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 38, pp. 226-56. Toronto Police Service (2007a), Community mobilization, available at: www.torontopolice.on. ca/communitymobilization Toronto Police Service (2007b), 2006 Annual Statistical Report, available at: www. torontopolice.on.ca/publications/les/reports/2006statsreport.pdf Waddington, P.A. and Braddock, Q. (1991), Guardians or bullies? Perceptions of the police amongst Black, White and Asian boys, Policing and Society, Vol. 2, pp. 31-45. Waddington, P.A., Stenson, K. and Don, D. (2004), Race, and police stop and search, British Journal of Criminology, Vol. 44, pp. 889-914. Wang, S. and Lo, L. (2004), Chinese immigrants in Canada: their changing composition and economic performance, Working Paper Series, Joint Centre for Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, Toronto. Webster, C. (2004), Policing British Asian communities, in Burke, R.H. (Ed.), Hard Cop, Soft Cop: Dilemmas and Debates in Contemporary Policing, Willan Publishing, Portland, OR, pp. 69-84. Weitzer, R. and Tuch, S.A. (2004), Race and perception of police misconduct, Social Problem, Vol. 51, pp. 305-25. Wortley, S. (1996), Justice for all? Race and perceptions of bias in the Ontario criminal justice system: a Toronto survey, Canadian Journal of Criminology, Vol. 38, pp. 439-67. Zevitz, R.G. and Rettammel, R.J. (1990), Elder attitudes about police service, American Journal of Police, Vol. 9, pp. 25-39. Zhao, J., Herbst, L. and Lovrich, N. (2001), Race, ethnicity and the female cop: differential patterns of representation, Journal of Urban Affairs, Vol. 23, pp. 243-57. Zumbo, B.D. and Zimmerman, D.W. (1993), Is the selection of statistical methods governed by level of measurement?, Canadian Psychology, Vol. 34, pp. 390-400.

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Further reading Benson, P.R. (1981), Political alienation and public satisfaction with police services, Pacic Sociological Review, Vol. 24, pp. 45-64. Cao, L., Frank, J. and Cullen, F. (1996), Race, community context and condence in the police, American Journal of Police, Vol. 15, pp. 3-22. Cooper, J. (1980), The Police and the Ghetto, National University Publications, Kennikat Press, Port Washington, NY. Davis, R. (2000), The Use of Citizen Surveys as a Tool for Police Reform, Vera Institute of Justice, New York, NY. Frank, J., Brandl, S.G., Cullen, F.T. and Stichman, A. (1996), Reassessing the impact of race on citizens attitudes toward the police: a research note, Justice Quarterly, Vol. 13, pp. 321-34.

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Homant, R.J., Kennedy, D.B. and Fleming, R.M. (1984), The effects of victimization and the police response on citizen attitudes toward police, Journal of Police Science and Administration, Vol. 12, pp. 323-32. Reisig, M.D. and Parks, R. (2000), Experience, quality of life, and neighborhood context: a hierarchical analysis of satisfaction with police, Justice Quarterly, Vol. 17, pp. 607-29. Schafer, J., Huebner, B. and Bynum, T. (2003), Citizen perceptions of police services: race, neighborhood context, and community policing, Police Quarterly, Vol. 6, pp. 440-68. Sigler, R. and Johnson, I. (2002), Reporting violent acts to the police: a difference by race, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Vol. 25, pp. 274-93. About the authors Doris C. Chu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology, Sociology, and Geography at Arkansas State University. She received her PhD in criminal justice from the University at Albany, State University of New York in 2003. Her research interests include religiosity and desistance, policing, and comparative criminal justice. Her recent articles have appeared in Women & Criminal Justice, International Criminal Justice Review, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, Police Quarterly, and Criminal Justice and Behavior. Doris C. Chu is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: dchu@astate.edu John Huey-Long Song is a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, State University of New York, College at Buffalo. He received his PhD in Social Ecology from the University of California at Irvine. He has published several articles and book chapters on Asian immigrants adaptation to the American system of criminal justice, comparative criminal justice, transnational organized crime, and Asian gangs and victimization.

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