public opinion on policing 2021 Trends

Zencity is a best-in-class tool that helps
law enforcement agencies hear from all of the voices in their community while safe guarding privacy. Law enforcement professionals use Zencity to build trust, measure impact and improve community relationships based on real-time resident feedback.

Between January - July 2021, Zencity analyzed data on American sentiment towards law enforcement and public safety from over 200 communities.

Here's what we found:

Americans’ discourse about
police has been most critical in The Midwestwith the highest negative sentiment and lowest positive sentiment. By contrast, discourse about police is most positive in the Southeast.

Sentiment Comparison by Region

Police Discourse

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PD social media posts about personnel
and community activities see
more resident interaction than
updates on crime and police work.

When it comes to public health, law enforcement agency communications around COVID account for the highest positive sentiment of any channel in city hall. They have been essential for updates around the enforcement of public health guidelines.

All Covid-19 Conversations

Positive sentiment

So far in 2021, online discourse about public safety has been 2.2X higher than public health.

Across most communities where ‘defund the police’ has been evident in the discourse, residents expressed agreement that some policy changes and reforms are needed, but opted to use existing police budgets to invest in such changes rather than take money away from the police.

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