Citizen Satisfaction With Private Police in Russia: Does Satisfaction With Public Police Matter?

Abstract

In this study, we assess citizens’ satisfaction with private security guards (PSGs) and whether contact experience and their assessment about the guards’ competence in their work and procedural fairness in their interactions influence their satisfaction. We also examine whether their general satisfaction with public police mediates the factors that influence their satisfaction with PSGs. Results from a sample of 364 respondents from the city of St. Petersburg show that citizens come in contact with private police in large numbers as they do with public police. Findings suggest that citizens’ judgments of effectiveness and procedural fairness of private police appear to be the strongest predictors of citizens’ satisfaction with PSGs. In addition, respondents’ satisfaction with private police on various dimensions of professionalism, effectiveness, and procedural fairness of PSGs is partially mediated by citizen satisfaction with public police, a finding that does not hold for those who had contact with PSGs. We discuss implications in light of strengthening training protocols by incorporating procedural justice issues to highlight citizen-guard interactions, as well as to enhance self-legitimacy of guards.