Situating police legitimacy

Abstract

The public health effects of punitive policing practices towards female sex workers and women who use drugs have been fairly well documented, but few studies have considered how experiences of policing shape their perceptions of police legitimacy. This chapter explores women’s experiences of street-level policing and construction of law enforcement legitimacy using in-depth interviews with female street-based sex workers and cannabis users in Nigeria. Street-based sex work and drug use increased women’s vulnerability to police targeting and arrests. Street-level policing involved surveillance and raids on street-based sex work and drug use scenes, as well as extra-legal violence and abuse of authority. The women experienced multiple forms of police violence, including physical abuse, sexual harassment and coercion, public humiliations, financial extortion, unlawful arrest and detention in unsanitary facilities. Everyday policing strategies were seen as corrupt and illegal, violating fundamental tenets of procedural justice which underpin police legitimacy. Violence facilitated compliance with police orders despite legitimacy deficits, highlighting the limits of procedural justice concepts for understanding women’s experience of policing in African contexts. On the other hand, the women’s recognition of human rights violations provides a basis for collective action to challenge police impunity.