Police Trustworthiness Research Articles

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between policing and collective efficacy

ObjectivesTo systematically review the evidence of the relationship between policing and collective efficacy.MethodsA systematic review and meta-analysis synthesising data from 16 studies (4 experimental/quasi-experimental, 12 observational) assessing the relationship between policing and collective efficacy.ResultsOverall, police trustworthiness was the only measure of policing that was significantly associated with collective efficacy. People who thought the police were an effective and supportive resource perceived greater collective efficacy in their neighbourhoods.ConclusionsThe contribution of policing to collective efficacy seems to be about supporting communities by providing a trustworthy presence, which may reassure people that the police will be there if needed.

Procedural Fairness and Fear of Crime: Extending the Procedural Justice Theoretical Model Under the Chinese Context

This study examines the relationship between procedural fairness and fear of crime in the context of China. Based on original data collected from a random sample of 2,245 residents in a southeast city in China, this study reveals a salient influence of procedural fairness on fear of crime, reflected by its significant positive effects on not only emotional-based fear but also cognitive fear (perceived risk of victimization). Results also suggest that perceived neighborhood cohesion and police trustworthiness partially mediate the relationship between procedural fairness and the outcome variable. The findings of this study demonstrate broad consequences of procedural fairness (a meaningful social impact within the community) that go beyond its implications for legitimacy and compliance.

Policing pandemic in China: investigating the roles of organizational adjustment, procedural justice, and police trustworthiness on public compliance

ABSTRACT In December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was first detected in Wuhan, China. Soon after, China became the first country in the world to enforce strict lockdown protocols in an effort to mitigate the spread of the disease. This study examines the perceptions of pandemic rules enforcement during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 among 600 Chinese police officers. The analyses reveal that police departments’ prompt and adequate adjustment to the pandemic, police officers’ procedural justice in interacting with citizens, and police perceptions of police trustworthiness among the citizens all had direct and indirect effects on public compliance to lockdown enforcement during the pandemic. These findings affirm the role of police procedural justice in public compliance to law enforcement in China and stress the importance of organizational adjustment and public trust during an emergency situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications to pandemic-related policymaking and enforcement are also discussed.

The power of protest on policing: Black Lives Matter protest and civilian evaluation of the police

AbstractIn 2020, police brutality against Black Americans catalyzed Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests across all 50 states. Though BLM protests continue to permeate society, few scholars explore how these protests change Americans' perceptions of the police. To investigate this phenomenon more meticulously, we administered an online survey experiment—oversampling Black American participants—to measure how protest culture, specifically BLM protests, influences civilians' perceptions of the police. Our survey found that (1) Black American participants have a lower evaluation of police performance, but a higher evaluation of the BLM Movement than White American participants; (2) the presence of a general protest negatively impacts peoples' perception of safety, police trustworthiness, and police performance; and (3) a BLM protest casts a stronger effect on White American participants than on Black American participants. Using Critical Race Theory and QuantCrit these findings suggest that the visibility of BLM protests changes both Black and White perceptions of the police to varying degrees.

Police perceptions of body-worn cameras (BWCs) by type of police agency

ABSTRACT This study compared police perceptions of BWCs in terms of officers’ perceptions of BWCs acceptance (police support for BWCs, citizen support of BWCs, and comfort with the use of BWCs), the effect of BWCs on police (transparency, accountability, respectful treatment, use of force, and officer safety), the effect of BWCs on citizens (general perceptions of police, perceptions of police trustworthiness, respect toward police, satisfaction with police, and citizen safety), officer activity (response to calls for service and enforcement of the law), and complaints (internal and citizen complaints) among different types of police agencies. The data were collected from a survey administered to 131 police officers from the State Police (SP), City Police (CP), and University Police (UP). The results of bivariate and multivariate analysis showed that CP officers have the most positive views of BWCs, followed by UP officers, and SP officers. The multivariate analyses also showed that a significant difference was found between CP and SP officers for BWCs acceptance, effect of BWCs on police and citizens, and complaints, between CP and UP officers for effect of BWCs on citizens, while no significant difference was found between SP and UP officers. The results and policy implications are discussed.

Building trust in digital policing: a scoping review of community policing apps

ABSTRACT Perceptions of police trustworthiness are linked to citizens’ willingness to cooperate with police. Trust can be fostered by introducing accountability mechanisms, or by increasing a shared police/citizen identity, both which can be achieved digitally. Digital mechanisms can also be designed to safeguard, engage, reassure, inform, and empower diverse communities. We systematically scoped 240 existing online citizen-police and relevant third-party communication apps, to examine whether they sought to meet community needs and policing visions. We found that 82% required registration or login details, 55% of those with a reporting mechanism allowed for anonymous reporting, and 10% provided an understandable privacy policy. Police apps were more likely to seek to reassure, safeguard and inform users, while third-party apps were more likely to seek to empower users. As poorly designed apps risk amplifying mistrust and undermining policing efforts, we suggest 12 design considerations to help ensure the development of high quality/fit for purpose Police/Citizen apps.

Are Trustworthiness and Legitimacy \u2018Hard to Win, Easy to Lose\u2019? A Longitudinal Test of the Asymmetry Thesis of Police-Citizen Contact

ObjectivesTest the asymmetry thesis of police-citizen contact that police trustworthiness and legitimacy are affected more by negative than by positive experiences of interactions with legal agents by analyzing changes in attitudes towards the police after an encounter with the police. Test whether prior attitudes moderate the impact of contact on changes in attitudes towards the police.MethodsA two-wave panel survey of a nationally representative sample of Australian adults measured people’s beliefs about police trustworthiness (procedural fairness and effectiveness), their duty to obey the police, their contact with the police between the two waves, and their evaluation of those encounters in terms of process and outcome. Analysis is carried out using autoregressive structural equation modeling and latent moderated structural models.ResultsThe association between both process and outcome evaluation of police-citizen encounters and changes in attitudes towards the police is asymmetrical for trust in police effectiveness, symmetrical for trust in procedural fairness, and asymmetrical (in the opposite direction expected) for duty to obey the police. Little evidence of heterogeneity in the association between encounters and trust in procedural fairness and duty to obey, but prior levels of perceived effectiveness moderate the association between outcome evaluation and changes in trust in police effectiveness.ConclusionsThe association between police-citizen encounters and attitudes towards the police may not be as asymmetrical as previously thought, particularly for changes in trust in procedural fairness and legitimacy. Policy implications include considering public-police interactions as ‘teachable moments’ and potential sources for enhancing police trustworthiness and legitimacy.

Does procedural fairness matter for drug abusers to stop illicit drug use? Testing the applicability of the process-based model in a Chinese context

ABSTRACTThis study examined the influences of procedural fairness on Chinese drug users’ efforts to stop substance abuse, with a primary goal to test the applicability of the process-based model in the Chinese context. According to Tyler (1990, Why people obey the law. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), the core theoretical argument underpinning the process-based model is that if citizens consider the police to be fair in using their powers, they will view the police as legitimate and accordingly cooperate with the police and comply with the law. Using data from a sample of 202 Chinese drug users, this study found that procedural fairness has an indirect effect on drug users’ efforts to stop illicit drug use. Specifically, procedural fairness used by the police increased Chinese drug users’ efforts to stop substance abuse through its prior effects on drug users’ perceptions of police trustworthiness. These findings provide some support for the key arguments of the process-based model of regulation, and have important implications for the direction of efforts to encourage desistance-related behavior among substance abusers.

Legitimizing policing practices: a study of stakeholder perceptions of police trustworthiness, effectiveness and relationship with the community

ABSTRACT In an attempt to better meet the needs of the communities, the Tuvalu Police Service (TPS) commissioned a survey to investigate stakeholder perceptions of police service provision across its nine islands. This paper presents the findings of the survey and examines the responses of community residents (N = 1896) to determine public perceptions of police trustworthiness, police effectiveness and the relationship between the TPS and the community. The results suggest community residents have positive views of the TPS as service providers. However, there are mixed views about police trustworthiness and the ability of TPS officers to respond to crime. We examine how community policing in Tuvalu shapes public perceptions of police, thus building on a small body of scholarship examining perceptions of police in the developing world. As such, this study contributes new knowledge regarding public perceptions of the TPS and police fairness in Tuvalu, an area hitherto under researched in the policing literature examining policing in the South Pacific. It also informs police practice regarding improving policing in communities where justice systems are dominated by cultural practices involving community elders and chiefly councils.

Residential Stability and Trust in the Police: an Understudied Area of Police Attitudinal Research

Residential in/stability has been observed to influence several behavioral outcomes such as mental health, child abuse, adolescent substance uses and crime/delinquency. Despite its record of predicting behavior, residential stability has barely been explored to explain citizens’ behavior and attitudes toward their local police departments. This lack deeply affects the extent to which we can formulate policies to strengthen police and community relationship. The purpose of the present study was to explore the predictive effects of three dimensions of residential stability on residents’ perception of police trustworthiness after accounting for the effects of individual, attitudinal, and contact variables. Using community survey data collected from several areas of Northwestern states, results from the analysis found statistically significant effects for years in the community, residence, level of education, political ideology, quality and frequency of contact on residents’ assessments of police trustworthy. The implications of these results are discussed.

How Does Race Affect Perceptions of Police Trustworthiness?

ABSTRACT:While race is often discussed in relation to police, there is still little empirical evidence on the role of race in shaping citizens’ evaluations of government performance. Using an experimental design, this study examines how different levels of police performance affect perceptions of police trustworthiness and to which degree observed effects vary by individual race and across communities with different racial makeups. Specifically, we study the effect of different levels of performance on perceived trustworthiness in two communities—one predominantly African American and one predominantly White—and replicate across two samples: a sample consisting of primarily White participants and another consisting of only African American participants. Results indicate that the interaction between the racial composition of a community and individual race plays a critical role in shaping the effects of performance among White participants, who appeared more sensitive to community context than African American participants. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The effects of police performance on agency trustworthiness and citizen participation

ABSTRACTWe examine the effect of performance information on citizens’ willingness to engage with government. We hypothesize that when performance information is positive, citizens perceive government as trustworthy, which increases proclivity for participation. To validate this framework, we conduct an experiment that tests the effect of police performance on citizens’ perceptions of police trustworthiness and intentions to participate in a neighbourhood watch programme. We find that information about police performance strongly affects perceptions of police trustworthiness. Yet, citizen decisions to participate in the community watch programme are more complex and can be triggered by either positive or negative police performance.

Chinese Trust in the Police: The Impact of Political Efficacy and Participation

ObjectiveWe assessed the influences of political efficacy and political participation on public perceptions of police trustworthiness in China.MethodsDrawing upon approximately 10,000 cases collected by the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), we used multivariate regression to assess the impact of two types of political efficacy, internal efficacy and external efficacy, and three forms of political participation, engaging in community affairs, grassroots election, and rightful resistance, on public trust in the police, controlling for demographics and social trust and justice.ResultsWe found that external efficacy and grassroots election are positively related to trust in the police, whereas internal efficacy and rightful resistance are negatively associated with such trust. Background characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, age, education, and household registration, and social trust and justice variables are also predictive of Chinese perceptions of police trustworthiness.ConclusionPolitical efficacy and participation mattered in influencing trust in the police. The Chinese government should continue its political reforms by allowing greater public participation in the selection of political representatives and the decision‐making process of public policy.

Vietnamese Australians' perceptions of the trustworthiness of police

Trust is a central concern in the policing of ethnically and racially identified communities. A challenge for contemporary policing research on trust, as for related concerns such as confidence or cooperation, is to relate the quality of personal police trust encounters to public views about the trustworthiness of the policing institution. Within the criminological literature on policing, many quantitative empirical studies are directed towards the measurement and comparison of how confidence, trust, effectiveness and fairness are related to community perceptions of police practice. Overall, there is a general scarcity of integrated frameworks applied to empirical studies of trustworthiness although the organisation and leadership literature offer some models. In this qualitative study, a sociological framework is used to explore Vietnamese Australian's perceptions of police trustworthiness. The paper investigates the key factors that influence Vietnamese Australians' perceptions of police trustworthiness using dimensions of trustworthiness described by Sztompka, namely, reputation, performance, appearance and accountability.

Trust in the Belgian police: The importance of responsiveness

The international literature contains very few empirical tests of Tyler’s (2011) claim that in Europe, as in the United States, procedural justice plays a larger part than police performance in accounting for citizens’ trust in the police. With regard to procedural justice, there has also been little research on the distinct effects of responsiveness and fair treatment. This study is a step towards filling in these gaps. We used quantitative data collected in Belgium to examine to what extent citizens’ trust in the police is determined by being a victim of crime, perceptions of disorder, feelings of insecurity, perceptions of the way the police treat people and perceptions of police responsiveness. The results indicate the relevance of procedural justice for explaining police trustworthiness in European countries. In Belgium, perceived responsiveness seems to be the cornerstone of a strong trust relationship.

One country, three populations: Trust in police among migrants, villagers, and urbanites in China

While the past decade has witnessed the burgeoning of research on public assessments of the police in China, marginalized social groups have rarely been considered in this line of inquiry. Using data collected from migrant workers, rural villagers, and urban dwellers, this study assesses whether Chinese perceptions of the police are distinguishable along procedural-based trust and outcome-based trust and whether expressive concerns and instrumental concerns are predictive of trust in the police. Findings show that Chinese citizens tend to conflate procedural-based trust and outcome-based trust. Expressive concerns play a more important role than instrumental concerns, with such expressive variables as trust in neighborhood residents committee, perceived law and order, and quality of life influencing trust in the police. Public perceptions of police trustworthiness are also significantly linked to media influence. Directions for future research are discussed.

Public trust in the police in Taiwan: A test of instrumental and expressive models

Although public assessments of the police have become the focal concern of a substantial amount of research efforts since the 1970s, a very small number of studies have analysed public opinions on the Taiwan police. Using survey data collected from three cities and two counties in 2010, this study expands the existing literature by assessing whether Taiwan residents’ perceptions are distinguishable in terms of procedural-based trust and outcome-based trust and whether both the instrumental and expressive models are predictive of Taiwanese trust in the police. Findings revealed that the Taiwanese tended to conflate procedural-based and outcome-based trust. Both the instrumental model (concerns about safety) and the expressive model (trust in neighbours and perceived quality of life) were significantly linked to Taiwanese trust in the police. Satisfaction with government performance and media influence were also predictive of police trustworthiness. Directions for future research and policy are discussed.

Public Confidence in the Police: Testing the Effects of Public Experiences of Police Corruption in Ghana

Nearly every study of police corruption hypothesizes that public experience of police corruption undermines the moral standing of the police. However, scarcely any studies actually test the hypothesis. My aim in this empirical study is to compare the effects of three dimensions of police corruption on perceptions of police trustworthiness, procedural justice and effectiveness. These three dimensions of corruption are personal experience, vicarious experience and subjective evaluations of police anti-corruption measures. The data come from a survey of people living in Accra, Ghana. The findings show that both vicarious experiences of corruption and satisfaction with reform measures explain assessments of police trustworthiness, procedural justice and effectiveness, but that personal experiences of police corruption do not do so.

Self-Help, Policing, and Procedural Justice: Ghanaian Vigilantism and the Rule of Law

Public recourse to vigilante self-help has often been attributed to a lack of effective state intervention; less attention has been given to the character of this intervention. Using the Tylerian procedural justice perspective, I argue in this article that perceived procedural injustice contributes to increased public support for violent self-help mechanisms such as vigilante violence. The current study tests this theoretical argument using survey data of 374 residents of Accra, Ghana. The results show that age, education, and police trustworthiness were the most significant predictors of support for vigilante self-help. The impacts of procedural fairness were found to be embraced within police trustworthiness, but perceptions of police effectiveness and experience of police corruption were not statistically significant predictors of vigilante support.

Police effectiveness and police trustworthiness in Ghana: An empirical appraisal

Although police researchers have often assumed that perceptions of police effectiveness enhance police legitimacy, there has been very little empirical support for this assumption. Employing the legitimacy scale developed by Sunshine and Tyler, this study sought to fill this gap in our criminological knowledge using data from a representative public survey in Accra, Ghana ( N= 374). The article reports a lack of reliability, in the Ghanaian context, for the overall Sunshine—Tyler scale, and therefore focuses attention on a sub-scale labelled `perceptions of police trustworthiness'. The findings show that though perceptions of police effectiveness exercise a direct impact on perceived police trustworthiness, the relationship is stronger if the police are also perceived to be procedurally fair. The findings are significant as they show that building public trust in the police requires democratic reforms that simultaneously improve the capacity of the police to achieve both substantive effectiveness and procedural fairness.