Police-Public Contact Survey, 2011

The Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS) provides detailed information on the nature and
characteristics of face-to-face contacts between police and the public, including the
reason for and outcome of the contact. The PPCS interviews a nationally representative
sample of U.S. residents age 16 or older as a supplement to the National Crime
Victimization Survey. To date, the PPCS has been conducted six times by BJS:
The first survey - described in the BJS publication Police Use of Force: Collection of National Data
(NCJ 165040) - documented levels of contacts with police during 1996.
The second survey - described in Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the
1999 National Survey (NCJ 184957) - recorded police-citizen contacts in 1999. These data are
archived as POLICE-PUBLIC CONTACT SURVEY, 1999: [UNITED STATES] (ICPSR 3151).
The third survey - described in Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the
2002 National Survey (NCJ 207845) - covered interactions between police and the public in
2002. These data are archived as POLICE-PUBLIC CONTACT SURVEY, 2002: [UNITED STATES]
(ICPSR 4273).
The fourth survey - described in the BJS publication Contacts between
Police and the Public, 2005 (NCJ 215243) - covered interactions between police and the
public in 2005. These data are archived as POLICE-PUBLIC CONTACT SURVEY, 2005: [UNITED
STATES] (ICPSR 020020).
The fifth survey - described in the BJS publication Contacts between Police and the
Public, 2008 (NCJ 234599) - covered interactions between police and the public in
2008. These data are archived as POLICE-PUBLIC CONTACT SURVEY, 2008 (ICPSR 32022).
The sixth survey (split sample design due to instrument changes) - new instrument findings described in
two publications: Police Behavior During Traffic and Street Stops, 2011 (NCJ 242937) and Requests for Police Assistance, 2011 (NCJ 242938) - covered interactions
between police and publice and public perceptions of police in 2011. These data are archived as POLICE-PUBLIC CONTACT SURVEY, 2011 (ICPSR 34276).