Police officers and biased policing

Police officers are often accused of policing in a racist manner. One measure to reducing this problem that has already been implemented in the United Kingdom is to recruit more police officers with a migration background. Nevertheless, the difference between police officers with and without a migration background with respect to discriminatory behavior, is still unknown. In the present study we derive our conceptual framework from theories concerning the influence of familiarity on the judgment of decision-making processes. The research was steered by the main research question of: “Are police officers with a migration background and with high familiarity with people with migration background less racially biased when policing than police officers without a migration background and with low familiarity with people with migration background?”. A quantitative online survey of 92 police officers was conducted in the cities of Münster and Cologne, NRW. We assessed variables of having a migration background, being familiar with people with a migration background, the private bias a police officer can have towards people with a migration background and if this bias can also be seen in the policing of the officers.