Professional Issues in Criminal Justice Vol 6(1 & 2), 2011 53 Comparing Urban and Rural Police Views of Bias-based Policing Ralph Ioimo, J. Bret Becton, Leslie M. Meadows, Rachel S. Tears, and Michael T. Charles Police departments all over the United States are addressing the issue of bias- based policing. Assessment of bias-based policing has focused traditionally on officer and citizen interaction during traffic stops. This research project sought to broaden the assessment of bias-based policing beyond traffic stop data by surveying officers in urban and rural police departments within the Com- monwealth of Virginia to determine whether they are aware of bias-based policing practices in their department or in others. Our research found that while a large number of officers indicated that bias-based policing is not a problem, a significant number of them believe it is a problem. In addition, significant differences in the perception of bias-based policing exist between White officers and minority officers in both urban and rural police departments throughout the Commonwealth. This article reports our findings and explores these differences in-depth. Key Words: Racial profiling  Bias-based policing  Racial prejudice  Urban policing  Rural policing  Community oriented policing The issue of biased-based policing and racial profiling began to capture the attention of practitioners and researchers alike because of a number of highly publicized events involving racial bias-based policing/racial profiling (Harris, 2002; Martin, 1999). Until recently, research focused on reviews of secondary data—primarily, traffic citations and arrest reports—or surveys of citizens’ perceptions. Most of the research in this area examined traffic stops as the source of data, and from this data the researchers drew conclusions as to the extent of biased policing. Lundman and Kaufman (2003) argue that secondary data and citizen self-reports are a valid means of measuring the effects of race, ethnicity, and gender on citizen reports of traffic stops and police actions; however, these sources do not take into consideration other factors that may explain what appears to be biased police actions. Lundman and Ralph Ioimo is an associate professor in the Department of Justice and Public Safety, Auburn University Montgomery; J. Bret Becton is an assistant professor in the Department of Management and Marketing, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg; Leslie M. Meadows is associate director, Alabama Training Institute, Montgomery; now retired, Rachel S. Tears was an organizational scientist in Montgomery; also retired, Michael T. Charles was a professor of Human Resource Education and Police Training.