2008 Police Public Contact Survey

2008 POLICE PUBLIC CONTACT SURVEY: SUPPLEMENT TO THE NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY	OMB No. 1121-0260. Approval Expires --/--/2011 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Economics and Statistics Administration U.S. CENSUS BUREAU ACTING AS COLLECTING AGENCY FOR THE BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
NOTICE - We are conducting this survey under the authority of Title 13, United States Code, Section 8. Section 9 of this law requires us to keep all information about you and your household strictly confidential. We may use this information only for statistical purposes. Also, Title 42, Section 3732, United States Code, authorizes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice, to collect information using this survey. Title 42, Sections 3789g and 3735, United States Code, also requires us to keep all information about you and your household strictly confidential.
PRA Burden Statement - We estimate that it will take between 2 to 10 minutes to complete this interview. If you have any comments regarding these estimates or any other aspect of this survey, send them to the Special Analysis and Methodology Unit, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, DC 20531. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number.
A. CONTACT SCREEN QUESTIONS
FIELD REPRESENTATIVE - Read introduction INTRO 1- I would like to ask some questions about any contacts you may have had with the police. Exclude telephone contacts, contacts with private security guards, police officers you see socially or through employment or volunteer work, or relatives who are police officers.
1. Before I get to the questions about contacts you may have had with the police, I would like to find out how often you usually drive. Is it ... (Read answer categories.)	1 □ Almost every day? 2 □ A few days a week? 3 □ A few days a month? 4 □ A few times a year? 5 □ Never?
2. During the last 12 months, that is, any time since 1, 2007, did you have any face-to-face contact with a police officer?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No -SKIP to Check Item G
3. How many face-to-face contacts did you have with police during the last 12 months?	___________ Number of contacts
CHECK Did the respondent have more than one ITEM A face-to-face contact in the last 12 months? Is 2 or more times entered in item 3?	1 □ Yes -READ INTRO 2 2 □ No - SKIP to item 4
B. USE OF FORCE DURING CONTACT
FIELD REPRESENTATIVE- Read introduction. INTRO 2 - For the rest of the interview, please tell me ONLY about the MOST RECENT face-to-face contact you had with the police.
4. About what time did this contact occur?	During day 1 □ After 6 a.m. - 12 noon 2 □ After 12 noon - 6 p.m. 3 □ Don’t know what time of day At night 4 □ After 6 a.m. - 12 noon 5 □ After 12 midnight - 6 a.m. 6 □ Don’t know what time of night OR 7 □ Don’t know whether day or night
5. During this contact, did the police USE or THREATEN TO USE force against you for any reason?	1 □ Yes - Ask Item 6 2 □ No - SKIP to Item 9 3 □ Don’t know -SKIP to Item 9
6. Did the police do any of the following: (Read answer categories.) Mark all that apply.	01 □ Shout at you? 02 □ Curse at you? 03 □ Threaten to use force against you? 04 □ Actually push or grab you? 05 □ Actually kick or hit you? 06 □ Actually spray you with chemical or pepper spray? 07 □ Actually use an electroshock weapon against you, such as a stun gun? 08 □ Actually point a gun at you? 09 □ Use any other type of force? Please specify - ➘_____________________________________
7. Do you feel any of the force used or threatened to use force against you was excessive?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No
8. Were you injured as a result of the force used?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No
9. During this contact were you arrested?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know
10. During this contact were you handcuffed?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know
11. At any time during this contact, did you argue with, curse at, insult, or verbally threaten the police?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know
12. At any time during this contact, did you ... (Read answer categories.) Mark all that apply.	1 རྦ Disobey or interfere with the officer(s)? 2 རྦ Try to get away? 3 རྦ Push, grab, or hit the police officer(s)? 4 རྦ Resist being handcuffed, arrested, or searched? 5 རྦ Physically do anything else? Please specify ོཾ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ 6 རྦ None of the above
C. REASON FOR CONTACT
13. Did this contact occur because you were involved in or witnessed a traffic ACCIDENT?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to item 45 2 □ No
14a. Did this contact occur during a traffic STOP?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No - SKIP to item 15
14b. Were you the driver or the passenger of the vehicle that was stopped?	1 □ Driver - SKIP to item 20 2 □ Passenger - SKIP to Item 45
15. Did this contact occur because you reported a crime or some other problem to the police?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to Item 45 2 □ No
16. Did this contact occur because the police were providing some sort of service or assistance to you?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to Item 45 2 □ No
17. Did this contact occur because the police were investigating a crime?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to Item 45 2 □ No
18. Did this contact occur because the police suspected you of something?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to Item 45 2 □ No
19. What was the reason for this contact?	Describe briefly - ➘ _ ________________________________________________ _ ________________________________________________ SKIP to Item 45
D. REASON FOR TRAFFIC STOP
20. Did the police officer(s) give a reason for stopping the vehicle?	1 □ Yes - ASK item 21a 2 □ No - SKIP to item 23 3 □ Don’t know - SKIP to item 23
21a. Was the reason speeding?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to item 22 2 □ No
21b. A vehicle defect?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to item 22 2 □ No
21c. A record check?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to item 22 2 □ No
21d. A roadside check for drunk drivers?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to item 22 2 □ No
21e. A seatbelt violation?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to item 22 2 □ No
21f. An illegal turn or illegal lane change?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to item 22 2 □ No
21g. A stop sign or stop light violation?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to item 22 2 □ No
21h. Was there some other reason?	1 □ Yes - Please specify ➘ 2 □ No
22. Would you say that the police officer(s) had a legitimate reason for stopping you?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know
E. CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAFFIC STOP
23. In your initial contact with police, was there one or more than one officer present?	1 □ One officer - ASK item 24a 2 □ More than one officer - SKIP to item 24b
24a. Was the race of the police officer White, Black, or some other race?	1 □ White - SKIP to Item 25 2 □ Black - SKIP to Item 25 3 □ Some other race - SKIP to Item 25 4 □ Don’t know - SKIP to Item 25
24b. Were the police officers: (Read answer categories 1-7.)	1 □ All White? 2 □ All Black? 3 □ All of some other race? 4 □ Mostly White? 5 □ Mostly Black? 6 □ Mostly some other race? 7 □ Equally mixed? 8 □ Don’t know race of any/some
25. Were there any other persons in the vehicle with you at the time of the traffic stop?	1 རྦ Yes – ASK item 26 2 རྦ No – SKIP to item 27
26. How many other persons were in the vehicle with you at the time of the traffic stop?	_________ Number of persons
27. In what city/town/village did this traffic stop occur?	1 རྦ Not inside a city/town/village 2 རྦ SAME city/town/village as present residence 3 རྦ DIFFERENT city/town/village from present residence
28. How many minutes would you say the traffic stop lasted?	_________ Number of minutes
F. TRAFFIC STOP - VEHICLE/PERSONAL SEARCH
29. At any time during this traffic stop,... a. Did the police officer(s) ASK PERMISSION to conduct a vehicle search? b. Did you give the police officer(s) PERMISSION to conduct a vehicle search? c. Did the police officer(s) ASK PERMISSION to search you, frisk you, or pat you down? d. Did you give the police officer(s) PERMISSION to search you, frisk you, or pat you down?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know 1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know 1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know 1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know
30. At any time during this traffic stop, did the police officer(s) actually conduct a vehicle search?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No - SKIP to item 32 3 □ Don’t know - SKIP to item 32
31. Do you think the police officer(s) had a legitimate reason to search the vehicle?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No 3 རྦ Don’t know
32. At any time during this traffic stop, did the police officer(s) actually search you, frisk you, or pat you down?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No - SKIP to Check Item B 3 □ Don’t know - SKIP to Check Item B
33. Do you think the police officer(s) had a legitimate reason to search you, frisk you, or pat you down?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No 3 རྦ Don’t know
CHECK Did the police officer(s) search the vehicle OR ITEM B the respondent? Is box 1 marked in item 30 or item 32?	1 □ Yes - Ask item 34 2 □ No - SKIP to item 36
34. During the search, did the police officer(s) find any illegal items, such as a weapon, drugs, or an open container of alcohol?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know
CHECK Was the respondent arrested? ITEM C Is box 1 marked in item 9?	1 □ Yes - ASK item 35 2 རྦ No - SKIP to item 36
35. Earlier you said that you were arrested and searched. Did the search occur before you were arrested?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No 3 རྦ Don’t know
G. OUTCOME OF TRAFFIC STOP
36. During this contact were you given a traffic ticket?	1 □ Yes - ASK item 37 2 □ No - SKIP to item 39 3 □ Don’t know - SKIP to item 39
37. Earlier you said that the police stopped you for Import from item 21 , was this what you were ticketed for?	1 རྦ Yes – SKIP to item 41 2 རྦ No - ASK item 38 3 རྦ Don’t know - ASK item 38
38. What were you ticketed for?	Please specify ོཾ _______________________________________ - SKIP to item 41
39. During this contact were you given a warning?	1 □ Yes - ASK item 40 2 □ No - SKIP to item 41 3 □ Don’t know - SKIP to item 41
40. Were you given a written warning or a verbal warning?	1 □ Verbal 2 □ Written 3 □ Don’t know
41. Did you get out of the vehicle at any time because the police asked or told you to?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No 3 □ Don’t know
42. Looking back on this contact, do you feel the police behaved properly or improperly?	1 □ Properly - SKIP to Item 44 2 □ Improperly - ASK item 43 3 □ Don’t know -SKIP to Item 44
43. Did you file a complaint against the police?	1 □ Yes 2 □ No
44. Looking back on this contact, do you feel the police treated you respectfully or disrepectfully?	1 □ Respectfully - SKIP to Check Item D 2 □ Disrespectfully - SKIP to Check Item D 3 □ Don’t know - SKIP to Check Item D
H. OTHER CONTACT - PERSONAL SEARCH
45. Where did this contact occur?	1 □ At or near your own home? 2 □ Some other location - Please specify _________________________________ 3 □ Don’t know
46. At any time during this contact, did the police officer(s) ASK PERMISSION to search you, frisk you, or pat you down?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No 3 རྦ Don’t know
47. Whether or not the police officer(s) asked for PERMISSION, at any time during this contact did you GIVE the police officer(s) PERMISSION to search you, frisk you, or pat you down?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No 3 རྦ Don’t know
48. Did the police officer(s) actually search you, frisk you, or pat you down?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No - SKIP to item 50 3 རྦ Donཧt know – SKIP to item 50
49 During the search, did the police officer(s) find any illegal items, such as a weapon, drugs, or an open container of alcohol?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No 3 རྦ Donཧt know
50. Do you think the police officer(s) had a legitimate reason to search you, frisk you, or pat you down?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No 3 རྦ Donཧt know
I. OUTCOME OF OTHER CONTACT
51. Looking back on this contact, do you feel the police behaved properly or improperly?	1 རྦ Properly – SKIP to Item 53 2 རྦ Improperly - ASK item 52 3 རྦ Donཧt know – SKIP to Item 53
52. Did you file a complaint against the police?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No
53. Looking back on this contact, do you feel the police treated you respectfully or disrepectfully?	1 □ Respectfully - Go to Check Item D 2 □ Disrespectfully -Go to Check Item D 3 □ Don’t know - Go to Check Item D
CHECK Did the respondent have more than one face-to- ITEM D face contact in the last 12 months? Is the entry in item 3 more than “1”?	1 □ Yes - Go to Check Item E 2 □ No – SKIP to Check Item G
CHECK Was the respondent the driver in a traffic stop in ITEM E the most recent contact? Is box 1 marked in item 14b?	1 □ Yes - SKIP to Check Item F 2 □ No – ASK item 54
54. During any of your EARLIER contacts with police in the last 12 months, were you the DRIVER in a TRAFFIC STOP?	1 རྦ Yes – Go to Check Item F 2 རྦ No –Go to Check Item F
CHECK Was force used or threatened against the ITEM F respondent in the most recent contact? Is box 1 marked in item 5?	1 རྦ Yes – SKIP to Check Item G 2 རྩྭ No – ASK Item 55
55. During any of your EARLIER contacts with police in the last 12 months, did the police USE or THREATEN TO USE force against you?	1 རྦ Yes 2 རྦ No 3 རྦ Donཧt know
CHECK Is this the last household member to be ITEM G interviewed?	1 □ Yes -END SUPPLEMENT 2 □ No - Interview next NCVS household member