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Purpose – While there is a growing body of studies on the people's views of community policing, there have been a very few cross-national studies. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast students’ views on community policing from India and the USA. Design/methodology/approach – The data were from a survey from a total of 434 Indian and 484 US college students. Findings – Punitive orientation had a significant effect on attitudes toward community policing, but was related to an increase in the support in India and reduction of support in the USA. Among the Indian respondents, concern for crime and support for aggressive policing had positive associations with support for community policing, and police involvement in the community had a negative association. Among the US respondents, age, educational level, and perceptions of police effectiveness had positive associations with support for community policing, and holding a punitive orientation had a negative association. Originality/value – This study represents the attempt to examine Indian perceptions of community policing empirically. Uncovering factors that affect public support for community policing can provide useful references for police administrators to develop policies and practices that encourage more active community involvement in crime control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is a large amount of research on public attitudes toward the police, far fewer studies have examined citizen's views of the police in non-Western nations. Even less is known regarding Indian citizens' perceptions of the police. Based on survey data collected from over 900 college students, this exploratory study compared and contrasted college students' views of policing in India and the United States. The results uncovered both intranational and international differences in three areas of views of the police, including general satisfaction with the police, support for aggressive policing, and support for community policing. Indian students in general were less satisfied with the performance of the police; yet, more supportive of both aggressive policing and community policing than their U.S. counterparts. Perceptions of the police varied somewhat by gender, age, and academic level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]