Police-Public Contact Survey: Assessment and Recommendations for Producing Trend Estimates after 2011 Questionnaire Redesign

• NCJ Number: 250485
• Author(s): Marcus Berzofsky, DrPH, RTI International; Glynis Ewing; Matthew DeMichele, RTI International; Lynn Langton, PhD, BJS Statistician; Shelley S. Hyland, PhD, BJS Statistician; Elizabeth Davis, BJS Statistician
• Date Published: April 2017
• Length: 18 pages
• Agencies: BJS-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Third-Party Report; Report (Grant-Sponsored)

Abstract

This research and development paper describes changes to the 2011 Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS), a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, and their impact on estimating trends. It details how the PPCS was redesigned in 2011 to better capture police-public contacts and characteristics of these encounters. A split-sample design was used to assess the extent to which apparent changes in rates, outcomes, and perceptions of contacts with police are a product of changes to the survey rather than actual changes in the rates over time. The report also discusses the adjustment factors that were created to allow for the examination of trends between 2002 and 2011.