Police legitimacy and public cooperation

Abstract

The procedural justice model has been shown to explain motivations for cooperation with the police in the UK, United States, and Australia. This chapter presents on the sources of legitimacy beyond Japan and evaluates the applicability as well as the limits of the procedural justice model. In the procedural justice model, questions used to measure the sub-concept 'duty to obey' stand out as being collectivist in nature. While the individualism-collectivism link provides an alternative understanding of the felt obligation to obey, other possible sources of legitimacy should also be addressed here. Community policing is an ideal way to incorporate principles of procedural justice theory due to its citizen-focused approach. Japan's low crime levels may indicate a lack of deep public concern about policing. In order to better understand the sources of police legitimacy, researchers should extend their focus beyond the normative explanation of subjective legitimacy. Evidence suggests that effectiveness is sometimes more important than fairness as in Pakistan and Ghana.