This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, December 16, 2016. I'm Caleb Brown.

Americans tend to agree on how police ought to do their jobs, but there are stark divides by political affiliation and race over whether or

not police are living up to what we expect.

Emily Ekins is author of a new Cato Institute study of American attitudes toward police

entitled Policing in America.

We spoke this week.

What do we know now about how Americans feel about both the proper role of police and how police actually do their jobs.

So on the surface, Americans appear favorable towards the police,

about 64% so they have a favorable view of the police, and when it comes

to their own personal experiences, about two-thirds say that they're satisfied with the

interactions they've had with the police.

However, when it comes to what... with the interactions they've had with the police.

However, when it comes to what Americans think policing should be,

it really differs from what a lot of the experts in the field

say it actually is. So for instance,

majorities of Americans don't think that the police should be using military

equipment, that they should not take people's money or property before they are convicted of a crime,

you know, civil asset forfeiture.

And they don't think that police department should conduct

their own officers and instead have an outside agency conduct those

investigations.

However, the reality is, this is often not what's actually happening.

...