Stay cool, hang loose, admit nothing: Race, intergroup contact, and public-police relations

Drawing on the contact hypothesis of Allport (1954) and Pettigrew (1998) we examined whether public-police contact, among White and Black university students in Britain, mediated between participant race and perceived racism of police and cooperation with police, respectively. Study 1 (N= 105) showed this to be the case for quality, but not quantity of contact. High-quality contact mitigated the negative effects of being Black on greater perceived racism and lower cooperation. Study 2 (N= 130) assessed a general view of police and desired closeness to police as dependent variables and investigated the moderating potential of racial identification. Higher-quality and lower quantity of contact were associated with a more positive view of police and higher desired closeness. Identification moderated the effects of race on quantity of contact, view of police, and desired closeness, with negative effects driven by high identification.