Erika Harrell, Ph.D., Elizabeth Davis, BJS Statisticians

December 17, 2020    NCJ 255730

This report is the twelfth in a series that began in 1996. It examines the nature and frequency of residents' contact with police by residents' demographic characteristics, types of contact, perceptions of police behaviors, and police threats or use of nonfatal force.

Highlights:

In the prior 12 months, as of 2018, among persons age 16 or older—

• About 61.5 million residents had at least one contact with police.
• Twenty-four percent of residents experienced contact with police, up from 21% in 2015.
• Whites (26%) were more likely than blacks (21%), Hispanics (19%), or persons of other races (20%) to experience police contact.
• There was no statistically significant difference in the percentage of whites (12%) and blacks (11%) who experienced police-initiated contact.

Part of the Contacts between Police and the Public Series

Full report (PDF 675K)
Data tables (Zip format 14K)

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