A new poll released Monday indicates that most Americans give low scores to police departments for holding cops accountable for their misconduct, using the appropriate amount of force, and treating racial and ethnic groups equally.
The Pew Research Center and USA TODAY poll that surveyed 1,501 adults comes in the heels of the shooting of an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri. It was conducted from Aug. 20 to Aug. 24.
It finds that overall perceptions of relations between blacks and whites are only modestly changed from five years ago, according to the poll.
However, most of those survey also continue to express at least a fair amount of confidence in their local police forces to avoid using excessive force and to treat blacks and whites equally, though there are large racial gaps in opinion here as well as in views of police performance nationally, the Pew Research and USA TODAY pollsters indicate.
Public confidence in community police in these areas has not changed substantially since 2009.