The London Metropolitan Police and their Clients: Victim and Suspect Attitudes

Using data from the 1982 British Crime Survey, this article examines attitudes toward police among residents of metropolitan London, focusing on two particular groups of clients: crime victims and suspected offenders. Contact with police often produces negative reactions from both types of clients. But the erosion of attitudes among victims is mostly due to the large proportion of victims who have also attracted the attention of police as suspects. Annoyance at police contact has a limited effect on general ratings of police performance. Attitudes about police demeanor has a greater impact on general assessments, but few clients felt that this was a problem in their contacts with London police.