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Data Collection: Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS)
Status: ActiveFrequency: Every three years since 1996
Latest data available: 2008
Provides detailed information on the nature and characteristics of face-to-face contacts between police and the public, including the reason for and outcome of the contact. The PPCS interviews a nationally representative sample of more than 60,000 residents age 16 or older as a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. The survey enables BJS to estimate the likelihood of a driver being pulled over in a traffic stop and the percentage of all contacts that involve the use of force by police.
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| Collection Period | |
1996, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008
| Questionnaires | |
| Police Public Contact Survey: A Supplement to the NCVS | ||
| 2008 PDF (83K) | 2005 PDF (136K) | 2002 PDF (169K) | 1999 PDF | ||
| Documentation | |
| Methodology | |
The 2008 Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS) was conducted for the Bureau of Justice Statistics during the last 6 months of 2008 by the U.S. Census Bureau as a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). In 2008 the PPCS interviewed 57,978 of the 72,566 eligible individuals in the NCVS sample.
Among the PPCS interviews, 22,301 (38.5%) were conducted in person and 35,677 (61.5%) were by telephone. A total of 14,588 nonrespondents who were excluded from the 2008 PPCS as non-interviews or as proxy interviews. Non-interviews (12,803) included respondents not available for the interview, those who refused to participate, and non-English speaking respondents. (Unlike the NCVS interviews, PPCS interviews are conducted only in English.) The remaining 1,785 were proxy interviews representing household members who were unable to participate for physical, mental, or other reasons. After adjustment for nonresponse, the sample cases in 2008 were weighted to produce a national population estimate of 236,511,832 persons age 16 or older.
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