U.S. blacks less confident in police

WASHINGTON, April 6 (UPI) -- Blacks in the United States are less likely to have confidence in their local police forces than are whites or Hispanics, a poll summary indicates.

Nationwide surveys by the Pew Research Center to be released Tuesday reveals 55 percent of blacks say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in police in their local communities.

By comparison, 61 percent of Hispanics have confidence in their local police, while 78 percent of whites said they believe police in their communities do a good job.

The poll also found blacks have the lowest confidence level, at 38 percent, that police will not use excessive force on suspects, compared with 46 percent of Hispanics and 73 percent of whites.

Pew did not disclose the sample size and margin of error in its summary Monday.