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The purpose of this research was to assess public perceptions of the police in Mexico.

Surveys were administered to more than 300 law school students in Tampico, Tamaulipas.

Analyses of the data show that the majority of respondents view the municipal, state, and federal police forces negatively. The analyses also indicate that the federal police are viewed less negatively than the state police and the state police are viewed less negatively than the municipal police. Finally, the analyses show that there is a difference in diffuse and specific support for the police agencies, but there was not a consistent pattern of diffuse support being greater than specific support.

Because the sample was composed of law school students, the results cannot be generalized to the Mexican populace. And the unusual findings pertaining to diffuse and specific support for the police indicate a need for additional research on this phenomenon.

The findings suggest that the recent police reforms in Mexico have failed to instill public confidence in the police and that the Mexican government needs to increase police reform efforts. In addition, because of the large influx of immigration from Mexico into the USA, police agencies in the USA will need to increase efforts to work with Hispanic communities in order to gain the confidence of the Mexican immigrants.

To date, this is the most comprehensive empirical examination of perceptions of the police forces in Mexico.

This research updates and expands upon Decker’s article “Citizen attitudes toward the police: a review of past findings and suggestions for future policy” by summarizing the findings from more than 100 articles on perceptions of and attitudes toward the police. Initially, the value of research on attitudes toward the police is discussed. Then the research pertaining to the impact of individual level variables (e.g. race) and contextual level variables (e.g. neighborhood) on perceptions of the police is reviewed. Studies of juveniles’ attitudes toward the police, perceptions of police policies and practices, methodological issues and conceptual issues are also discussed. This review of the literature indicates that only four variables (age, contact with police, neighborhood, and race) have consistently been proven to affect attitudes toward the police. However, there are interactive effects between these and other variables which are not yet understood; a finding which indicates that theoretical generalizations about attitudes toward police should be made with caution.

WITH this issue we are commencing the twenty‐seventh year of our career as an independent Library Journal and trust that we shall carry on the tradition of our illustrious founder and continue to criticise or praise without fear or favour. During the past twelve months our editorial staff has successfully produced special numbers dealing with Bookbinding, Book Selection, Children's Departments, Classification, and Colonial Libraries. Judging by the correspondence we have received, our efforts have been greatly appreciated by the majority of our readers. Naturally we have not pleased everybody and we have even been dubbed the “little contemporary” in some quarters. However, we can point to an unbroken record of twenty‐six years' endeavour to serve the library profession and we ourselves are justly proud of the contemptible “little contemporary” that did not cease to appear even during the darkest hours of the dread war period.

IT is not a bad idea for every librarian—when time can be found for such relaxations—to undertake a mental and professional stock‐taking. Once every few years is sufficient; indeed, it is inadvisable to indulge too frequently in such introspective searchings, as it is easy to engender pessimism instead of the needful healthy discontent. What is the position of librarianship to‐day, in general and in particular, as compared with the position a few years ago? What advancement really has been made? What work really has been done? What effect have my own efforts had upon the work in general? These are the questions that every earnest library worker is bound to ask himself at times if he is not to develop into an optimistic or pessimistic nuisance. They are necessary to the preservation of a just mental balance.