Citizen Trust in Police

Abstract

This study assesses the extent to which Chinese citizens trust their police and explores factors that account for variation in public trust in police. Very few studies have empir ically examined Chinese attitudes toward police. Using conflict theory as the guiding theo retical framework and interview data collected from eight Chinese cities, the study tests the effects of conflict variables, including gender, age, education, income, employment, and perceived political influence, and relevant control variables on Chinese public trust in police. The results show that conflict variables only have a modest explanatory power o Chinese attitudes toward police. Younger Chinese and Chinese with lower levels of per ceived political power tend to have lower levels of trust in police. Chinese attitudes toward police are also influenced by satisfaction with public safety, governmental capability of dealing with crime, quality of life, and corruption among government officials Implications for future research are discussed.