Officers talk to black drivers with less warmth and respect: research



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Police officers address black drivers with less warmth and respect during traffic stops, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.

The University of Michigan research team collected 250 audio clips of the officer body camera footage during traffic stops with black men to draw conclusions.

Research team extracts audio clips at 10 seconds, only the voice of the police officer being heard in the background. Their study found that the tone of voice of these officers showed “less warmth, respect and ease” with the black driver.

The research team also conducted three experiments with 414 local students and drivers to listen to agent recordings and assess their tone of voice.

Participants were not told of the ride of the driver who was stopped, but reported that the tone of the officers was significantly less friendly, less respectful, and less at ease with black men.

“Police officers are the human face of the law,” said Nicholas Camp, assistant professor of organizational studies at the University of Michigan. “Clues as subtle as an officer’s tone of voice can shape citizens’ confidence in the police as an institution. ”

The researchers also found in two other studies that negative interactions between police officers and black drivers can reduce people’s trust between the police and their services, according to the study.

“Body camera images offer a way to unwrap the differences in interactions that might look the same on paper,” Camp said.



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