Four research projects aimed at reducing and eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in Arkansas are being funded by the Institute on Race and Ethnicity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. A total of $20,000 has been approved for the projects, including one that addresses the relationship between police and communities. Project investigators will examine whether perceptions of the criminal justice system, fear of crime, victimization and generalized trust influences community members' decision to call police. The researchers are also examining whether decisions to contact police varies across racial and ethnic groups and social classes. Distrust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system has re-emerged in national debate after a grand jury declined to indict a white police officer for killing an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.
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