CONTACT WITH POLICE

While police-citizen contacts have been the subject of a number of studies conducted over the past three decades, very little is known about the frequency and nature of encounters between Chinese and their local police. Using survey data collected from 868 students from several Chinese and American universities, this study answers two research questions: (1) Do Chinese and American college students differ in the occurrence and number of their contacts with police; and (2) Does country affiliation significantly influence levels of police-citizen encounters controlling for demographic characteristics, college major, and family/friend experience with police? Frequency distributions indicated that Chinese students were much less likely than their American counterparts to have contacts with their local police. Chinese students' contacts with police were most frequently due to having casual conversation with police and asking police officers for information or advice, while American students' contacts often resulted from traffic violations and accidents. Regression results showed that country affiliation, gender, age, college major, and family/friend contact with police significantly influenced the occurrence of contact with police. In addition, country affiliation, age, income, and family/friend contact with police affected the number of contact with police. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.