Police Reveal Fears In National Survey

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DALLAS (CBS11) - The Pew Research Center released results from the National Police Research Platform survey of 8,000 police officers and sheriff's deputies.

They were offered questions about attitudes and experiences of their work environment.

"Do we feel we're targeted right now? Yes," said a 12-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department after a question about police safety. The question was posed after the release of the national survey.

In one segment of questioning, 93 percent of polled officers surveyed said they were more concerned about their safety today than in the past.

"Yes, it's more dangerous, now you have officers watching their backs, even with your family, because the bad guys get to know you, they may see you at the mall, the movies, there's a heightened awareness," veteran Dallas PD officer George Aranda said.

The survey also highlighted elevated concerns police have over protests nationwide against police-involved shootings of African-American men.

Seventy-five percent of those polled, said interactions with black citizens have become more tense.

Thomas Glover is President of the Black Police Association of Greater Dallas. He said protests of isolated accusations of police brutality or misconduct don't define the majority of police officer's actions, and police shouldn't negatively categorize black citizens as the cause of safety concern, based on protests.

"Officers do have the perception that a particular community May be upset. It doesn't sit well with me as a veteran police officer. I do believe that safety consciousness is at an all time high now. We had one of the worst incidents in the history of policing in Dallas, but we have to make sure we don't do it (elevate police safety concern) just in the black neighborhood," he said.

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