A Multilevel Examination of the Relationship Between Racial Tension and Attitudes Toward the Police Susan McNeeley 1 & Garrett Grothoff 2 Received: 25 June 2015 /Accepted: 27 November 2015 # Southern Criminal Justice Association 2015 Abstract Prior research has established the effect of race and ethnicity on citizens’ perceptions of the police. This paper serves to build on this body of literature by examining the effect of racial tension on attitudes toward the police. Specifically, we conduct multilevel analyses using survey data from Seattle, Washington to explore whether individual perceptions of racial tension and/or community-level racial tension are related to residents’ attitudes toward the police. The results show that attitudes toward the police were generally less favorable among respondents who perceived racial tension or mistrust in their communities. Additionally, community racial tension had significant contextual effects on residents’ perceived racial profiling by the police. This study has implications for future police policy: understanding how racial tension shapes perceptions of the police will assist in selecting and adapting crime control strategies. Keywords Attitudes toward police . Racial tension . Race . Neighborhoods Introduction Currently, as police departments work toward improving their public image, public perceptions of the police is of major concern (Worrall, 1999). Public perception can affect citizens’ relationship with the police on many fronts. Public attitudes regarding police legitimacy can influence residents’ trust of the police, discouraging cooperation with police investigations and other practices. Additionally, negative attitudes held by citizens can cause police officers to become cynical toward the public. Am J Crim Just DOI 10.1007/s12103-015-9318-2 * Susan McNeeley smmcneeley@ualr.edu 1 Department of Criminal Justice, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 540 Ross Hall, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA 2 School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA