To Protect…Themselves? Study Finds Police Are More Concerned About Their Safety

    A survey finding more police are reluctant to use force after attention surrounding shootings.

    FOX’s Lilian Woo reports: 

    Police officers fear for their safety now more than ever and are increasingly backing off policing because they’re afraid their actions will be questioned.

    A Pew study out finds three quarters of officers surveyed by the nonpartisan research center say they’re hesitant to use force, even when it’s appropriate and are less willing to stop and question suspicious looking people.

    The results, part of a national survey of about 8,000 officers conducted by the National Police Research Platform. Another finding: the racial divide between how officers view protests following some shootings of black suspects.

    Most black officers seeing the demonstrations as genuine acts of civil disobedience, more white officers expressing skepticism about the protesters motives.

    Lilian Woo, FOX News.

    Follow Lilian Woo on Twitter: @LilianNY
    Also finding about 86 percent of officers say their jobs are harder now because of the protests, and about 70 percent of Americans believe policing has become more dangerous in the past five years.