DOI: 10.3886/icpsr34276.v1
title: Police-Public Contact Survey, 2011
title: Version 1

description: 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).
description: The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is an annual survey that collects data on crime against persons aged
12 years or older from a nationally representative, stratified, multistage cluster sample of United States households. Since 1999, the
Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS) has been administered every 3 years as a supplemental survey to all persons aged 16 years or older within households sampled for the NCVS.
The United States Census Bureau fielded the 2011 PPCS questionnaire, processed the survey data, and provided estimation specifications. The 2011 PPCS was pretested in the spring of 2011 and conducted between July 1, 2011, and December 31, 2011. Respondents were asked about their contacts with police during the past 12 months. For instance, persons interviewed in July 2011 were asked about contacts that occurred between August 2010 and July 2011. Those interviewed in August 2010 were asked about contacts between September 2009 and August 2010.
In 2011 the PPCS interviewed 49,246 of the 62,280 eligible individuals in the NCVS sample. A total of 13,034 nonrespondents were excluded from the 2011 PPCS as non-interviews or as proxy interviews. Non-interviews (10,907) included respondents not available for the interview, those who refused to participate, and non-English speaking respondents. (Unlike the NCVS interviews, PPCS interviews are conducted only in English.) The remaining 2,127 were proxy interviews representing household members who were unable to participate for physical, mental, or other reasons. After adjustment for nonresponse, the sample cases in 2011 were weighted to produce a national population estimate of 241,404,142 persons aged 16 years or older.
description: To obtain national estimates, the weight variable must be
used.
description: Stratified multistage cluster sample.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Police-Public Contact Survey, 2011
description: Respondents aged 16 years and older to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) during the last six months
of 2011. The universe of the NCVS is all persons in the United States aged 12 years and older. Smallest Geographic Unit: country
description: computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI); face-to-face interview; telephone interview