Publication Date

Fall 2018

Document Type

Project Summary

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Education

First Advisor

Marlon Cummings, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Brent A. Calderwood

Third Advisor

Mary D. Bruce, Ph.D.

Abstract

This study focused on police and community trust and how it may be affected by one’s sense of community. The idea of sense of community has been compared to school spirit. There has been little research that examines if sense of community influences trust in their police. A quantitative study was conducted utilizing an online survey. The location was the city of Elgin, Illinois. Its purpose was to determine what level of sense of community the respondents had and what level of trust they had in the police overall and the Elgin police specifically. The study resulted in 637 respondents answering the survey. Though there was a lack of diversity there was still interesting data gathered. The analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between the sense of community score and the level of trust. Additional data showed there was a large gap in trust for minority members in the city of Elgin. Specifically, the African-American population reported the lowest levels of trust for policing and the Elgin police. Further data review showed that all groups wanted a closer connection with their police. Further implications and research are discussed.

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