cers, I believes that they did not represent our part of the community (p. 14).
Because of this, many black citizens and other minorities maintain a distrust of both the police and the criminal justice system (Carter, 1995, p 15). A poll taken in 1991 by the Dallas Morning News reported that "over 80 percent of black respondents believed that the police administer justice unequally" (Johnson, 1991, p. 9-A).
The objective of most police-community relations programs is to raise both officer and citizen awareness levels so that there is a greater sensitivity to the values, problems, and threats--both real and perceived--that each group possesses (Maddox, 1993, p. 10). To this end, Maddox observes, "Education and community-wide programs are essential if public perception of police service is to change. As law enforcement personnel, we must present what we are, as well as how and why we do what we do, to the public as often as possible" (p. 11).
"Community policing" has become the both the most talked about and most i
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