Trust In Police Research Articles

Race and support for police use of force: findings from the UK

ABSTRACT The use of force is arguably the defining feature of police. Yet this power is often controversial: a key node in the contest and debate that almost always swirls around police, with the question of race never far from such contestation. In this paper, we consider the influence of race in responses to use of force incidents among British-based samples. Using two text-based vignette experiments and one video study, our aims are threefold: (1) to explore the influence of suspect race in how people respond to police use of force; (2) to test the interaction between participant ethnicity and suspect race; and (3) to understand what attitudes and beliefs influence how people respond to police use of force. We found no effect of suspect race on how people judged police use of force. White participants were slightly more accepting of police use of force than black participants, but there was no interaction with suspect race. The strongest predictor of acceptance of police use of force was trust in police, and, controlling for other relevant predictors, racial prejudice was also a significant positive predictor of acceptance of use of force. To our knowledge this is the first study of its kind to be fielded in the UK.

Police discretion in encounters with people who use drugs: operationalizing the theory of planned behavior

BackgroundPolicing shapes the health risks of people who use drugs (PWUD), but little is understood about interventions that can align officer practices with PWUD health. This study deploys the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to understand what influences police intentions to make discretionary referrals to treatment and harm reduction resources rather than arrest on less serious charges.MethodsOn-line surveys integrating TPB constructs and adapting an instrument measuring police intentions to make mental health treatment referrals were completed by police employees in Indiana, Massachusetts, and Missouri. They also included items about stigma towards PWUD and attitudes and beliefs about opioid addiction, treatment, and recovery.FindingsAcross the sites, 259 respondents perceived control over their decision to arrest for misdemeanors (69%) and confiscate items such as syringes (56%). Beliefs about others’ approval of referrals to treatment, its ability to reduce future arrests, and to increase trust in police were associated with stated practices of nonarrest for drug and possession and making referrals (p ≤ .001), and nonarrest for syringe possession (p ≤ .05). Stigma a towards PWUD was negatively associated with stated practices of nonarrest (p ≤ .05). Respondents identified supervisors as having the most influence over use of discretion, seriousness of the offense as the most influential value, and attitude of the suspect as the most important situational factor. The 17 Likert scale items analyzed had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.81.ConclusionThe TPB offers untapped potential to better understand and modify police practices. In designing interventions to improve the health outcomes of police encounters with PWUD, further research should validate instruments that measure the relationship between these variables and discretionary intentions, and that measure role-relevant police stigma towards PWUD.

Community policing does not build citizen trust in police or reduce crime in the Global South.

Is it possible to reduce crime without exacerbating adversarial relationships between police and citizens? Community policing is a celebrated reform with that aim, which is now adopted on six continents. However, the evidence base is limited, studying reform components in isolation in a limited set of countries, and remaining largely silent on citizen-police trust. We designed six field experiments with Global South police agencies to study locally designed models of community policing using coordinated measures of crime and the attitudes and behaviors of citizens and police. In a preregistered meta-analysis, we found that these interventions led to mixed implementation, largely failed to improve citizen-police relations, and did not reduce crime. Societies may need to implement structural changes first for incremental police reforms such as community policing to succeed.

Police interactions and the autistic community: perceptions of procedural justice

Autistic people are a vulnerable group in the community who are regularly coming into contact with police. This study examined the perceptions of autistic adults and parents of autistic people about the autistic person’s interactions with police using a procedural justice framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 autistic adults and 19 parents of autistic children and adults who recalled interactions with police in Australia in the previous five years. Content analysis of the descriptions of 39 separate interactions revealed that autistic adults’ perceptions of procedural justice were predominantly negative. The majority of accounts given by parents indicated a higher proportion of positive perceptions of procedural justice for their son or daughter. Findings shed light on the barriers to fair and just treatment that may exist for autistic people when interacting with police and ways that police may be supported to respond to autistic people in a procedurally just manner. Points of interest People who believe that police have treated them fairly are more likely to trust police and follow their directions. Previous research has found that many autistic people are very unhappy with their treatment by police but it is not clear why this is the case. The research found that autistic adults described many instances of unfair treatment by police and many of them no longer trust police. Parents of autistic children and adults also talked about unfair treatment but they also gave examples of times where police were helpful. Positive descriptions often included examples of police changing the way they spoke or did things to take into account the needs of the autistic person. The research recommended that police receive training about autism so that they can have a better understanding of how to talk with and assist autistic people.

Factors that influence trust in the police in Mexico

ABSTRACT Despite Mexico’s justice reform, most Mexican citizens do not trust in their criminal justice system. Particularly, public dissatisfaction with the police has not been solved in Mexico. Researchers have examined citizens’ trust in the police to improve public-police relationship in Mexico. Relatively less attention, however, has been made to the theoretical framework, which explores factors such as instrumental and expressive factors that influence the public trust in the police. Thus, using a data set from the Latin American Public Opinion Project, this study conducted multiple regressions to find those factors. Results indicated that neighbourhood security (key instrumental factors) was significantly related to trust in the police. In addition, police corruption showed a negative association with trust in police and public satisfaction with police performance. This study found supporting evidence that securing neighbourhoods builds more confidence in the police among residents. Overall, these results suggest meaningful strategies to improve trust in the Mexico’s police.

Is a Decentralized Police Organization a Better Option in a Modern Democratic Society? A Case Study From South Korea

While western countries have had a decentralized policing model for many years, some countries, such as South Korea, still employ a centralized, national police department. Responding to calls for reform, South Korea launched a pilot program and implemented a more decentralized policing structure in Jeju Island in 2006. This study adds to the policing literature by offering the empirical comparison of a region before and after decentralization of a police department. This study will examine the intervention effects of police decentralization in Jeju, specifically related to crime rates, crime clearance rates, victimization, trust in police, and fear of crime. Using propensity score matching and interrupted time series analysis, this study found that the decentralized policing intervention significantly reduced total crime, violent crime rates, and property crime rates that lasted throughout the intervention period, while improving crime clearance rates for violent crime, as well as reduced fear of crime among residents.

International perspectives on procedural justice: Trust and respect matter even when body-worn cameras are present.

We assessed the impact of body-worn cameras (BWCs) in two countries on perceptions of everyday encounters with police, independent of officer respectfulness and participants' preexisting trust in police. We expected BWC presence, officer respectfulness, and preexisting trust in police to all significantly improve individuals' perceptions of a police encounter. We also expected interactions indicating that BWC presence and preexisting trust in police reduce the effect of officer respectfulness on perceptions of the encounter. In each of three experimental studies, we measured participants' preexisting trust in police, and then presented participants with a vignette describing an encounter with a police officer in which officer respectfulness (respectful, disrespectful) and the presence/disclosure of a BWC (absent, present and disclosed by officer, present but undisclosed by officer) were independently manipulated. In Studies 1 (N = 422, Mage = 29 years, 73% women, 68% Australian) and 2 (N = 210, Mage = 19 years, 64% women, 59% Hispanic) in Australia and the United States, respectively, participants assumed the role of the driver in a traffic stop as they read the vignette. In study 3 (N = 504, Mage = 29 years, 72% women, 34% English), participants in Australia assumed the role of a citizen interacting with a police officer enforcing COVID-related restrictions. Participants then recorded their perceptions of procedural justice of and satisfaction with the encounter, legitimacy of the police, and willingness to co-operate with police. Across three studies and two countries, we found no support for the notion that BWC presence influenced people's perceptions of police-citizen interactions independent of officer respectfulness and preexisting trust. The effect of BWC presence, established in prior research, might operate via its effect on officer respectfulness. These findings underscore the importance of preexisting trust in police and respectful behavior by police officers, even in BWC-recorded encounters. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Accountability and transparency as levers to promote public trust and police legitimacy: findings from a natural experiment

PurposeThis paper examines the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing's recommendation that police promote trust and legitimacy by creating a culture of transparency and accountability.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a panel survey of 841 Chicago residents that was interrupted between the waves by a momentous local policing event that proved to be known to virtually every participant. The reinterview period encompassed this event, its political repercussions and subsequent efforts to hold Chicago Police accountable and increase transparency. The authors examine whether these events and reform efforts improved African Americans' assessments of police legitimacy and trust relative to other respondents.FindingsTrust in Chicago Police improved by 21%, and trust in neighborhood police increased 30% among Black residents. In contrast, views of Whites became more negative, declining by 62% in their assessments about Chicago Police and by 39% regarding neighborhood police.Originality/valueEvents occurring between the waves of a panel survey created an opportunity to examine the impact of events on residents of a large and diverse city. The authors discuss why reforms promoting transparency and police accountability can alter levels of trust in the police but in different and politically consequential ways.

Race, Trust in Police, and Mental Health Crisis Support

This abstract is incorrect. Please see the corrected abstract here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15365042221083001 . This report examines police-public encounters that resulted in the fatal shooting of civilians during 2015 and 2016. How police contact was initiated varies by race/ethnicity, age, sex, mental health status, and whether (or how) the individual killed by police was armed with a weapon. This crucial information sheds further light on fatal police shootings.

Police visibility, trust in police fairness, and collective efficacy: A multilevel Structural Equation Model

Areas high in collective efficacy – where residents know and trust one another and are willing to intervene to solve neighbourhood problems – tend to experience less crime. Policing is thought to be one antecedent to collective efficacy, but little empirical research has explored this question. Using three waves of survey data collected from London residents over three consecutive years, and multilevel Structural Equation Modelling, this study tested the impact of police visibility and police–community engagement on collective efficacy. We explored direct effects as well as indirect effects through trust in police. The findings showed levels of police visibility predicted trust in police. Trust in police fairness, in turn, predicted collective efficacy. There was a small indirect relationship between police visibility and collective efficacy, through trust in police fairness. In other words, police presence in neighbourhoods was associated with more positive views about officer behaviour, which in turn was associated with collective efficacy. The findings have important implications for policies designed to build stronger, more resilient communities.

Policing and collective efficacy: A rapid evidence assessment

Collective efficacy is a neighbourhood social process that has important benefits for crime prevention. Policing is thought to be one antecedent to collective efficacy, but the mechanisms by which police activity and officer behaviour are thought to foster collective efficacy are not well understood. This article presents findings from a rapid evidence assessment conducted to take stock of the empirical research on policing and collective efficacy. Thirty-nine studies were identified and examined. Overall, trust in police was the aspect of policing most consistently associated with collective efficacy. There was also some evidence that community policing activities, such as visibility and community engagement, predicted collective efficacy. Police legitimacy, on the other hand, was relatively unrelated to collective efficacy: a finding which suggests perceptions of police linked to the ‘action’ of individual officers may be more enabling of collective efficacy than perceptions of the policing institution as a whole. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Examining Support for University-to-Police Reporting Policies for Sexual Assault: The Role of Survivors' Consent.

In several states, bills have been introduced that require universities to report sexual assaults to law enforcement. Opponents argue that such policies can compel survivors to disclose against their will, stripping survivors of autonomy and harming campus communities. We used a mixed method approach to examine people's support for reporting policies that do and do not consider survivor consent: compelled police disclosure (requires a report regardless of victim consent) and consented police disclosure (requires a report if the victim consents). We examined individual characteristics and attitudes associated with support for these approaches (i.e., had experienced sexual assault, trust in police). Participants (1,045 adults in the United States) were randomly assigned to read one of three policy statements, and we collected quantitative and qualitative survey data. Participants were less supportive of compelled police disclosure than consented police disclosure. People who supported compelled disclosure frequently focused on the crime and potential social benefits, were more likely to be non-victims, and held greater trust in the police. People who supported consented disclosure focused on the victim's needs, were more likely to be survivors, and held less trust in the police. Survivor consent should be considered in the discussion of university-to-police reporting policies for sexual assault.

Narrowing Racial Differences in Trust: How Discrimination Shapes Trust in a Racialized Society

In the United States, survey research and qualitative studies consistently find that people of color-and Blacks in particular-report substantially lower levels of trust than do whites. These racial differences in trust pervade a range of social contexts, from interpersonal relationships with friends, family, and neighbors to interactions with the health care and criminal justice systems. Scholars often attribute racial differences in trust to historical and contemporary forms of discrimination, yet few studies have assessed the relationship among race, discrimination, and trust in the context of the United States. Using the Chicago Community Adult Health Study, I examine how the experience of discrimination relates to generalized trust, trust in neighbors, and trust in community police. Findings reveal that personal experience with discrimination contributes modestly to racial differences in trust. In fact, the negative association between discrimination and generalized trust appears strongest for whites. These findings suggest that understanding distrust requires a richer conceptual framework that moves beyond personal experience with discrimination. I argue that the theory of systemic racism provides a framework for understanding distrust as a consequence of countervailing efforts to uphold and contest the racial hierarchy.

Understanding Knife Crime and Trust in Police with Young People in East London

We explore young people’s experiences and perceptions of knife crime, and we compare these to the understanding of police experts, to explore the perceptions shaping trust in the police and policin...

Understanding Knife Crime and Trust in Police with Young People in East London

We explore young people’s experiences and perceptions of knife crime, and we compare these to the understanding of police experts, to explore the perceptions shaping trust in the police and policing. We carry out an experience sampling survey deployed using a mobile application reflecting on safety and knife crime, to understand young people’s daily lived experiences. We then use the mental models approach to interview young people and police experts and construct a shared mental model which identifies mismatches between the two groups and key areas of discord related to breakdown of trust and communication. We identify gaps, misconceptions and expectations for re-establishing trust and propose strategies to tackle knife crime and improve trust between young people and the police.

Police bias and diminished trust in police: a role for procedural justice?

PurposeSince 9/11, Muslims have experienced discrimination and scrutiny from authorities. For many, this experience has damaged their trust in law enforcement and left them with the impression that they are viewed as suspect. This study seeks to better understand the relationship between Muslims' perceived police bias and trust, and how procedural justice may shape this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected survey data from 398 Muslims in Sydney, Australia, as part of a larger study on immigrants' views of police. Participants were surveyed on a range of topics including contact with police, global assessments of police procedural justice and how they believe police treat their cultural group.FindingsOverall, the authors find that the extent to which people perceive police bias is associated with their level of trust in police. Greater preconceived bias is associated with lower trust in police. The authors also find that perceiving police as procedurally just is positively related to trust. Importantly, this study finds a significant interaction effect between perceptions of police bias and procedural justice on Muslims' trust in police. Specifically, for those who hold the view that police are unbiased, perceiving police as generally procedural just has a strong positive effect on trust. For those who view police as biased against Muslims, procedural justice has a weak but positive effect on trust. This interaction effect suggests that perceived bias may shape how Muslims interpret police treatment of Muslims.Originality/valueThis study is the first to explore how perceived police bias and perceptions of procedural justice predict and interact to shape Muslims' trust in police, advancing existing procedural justice policing scholarship.

‘Only in our best interest, right?’ Public perceptions of police use of facial recognition technology

ABSTRACT Facial recognition technology (FRT) offers police a fast, efficient, and accurate way of identifying criminals. However, as with any new technology, the public is often sceptical about how the police will use this technology and how it may impinge on the public’s privacy and security. Subsequently, if police use of FRT is perceived as illegitimate, police-citizen relationships may deteriorate – this is especially concerning given the current lack of trust and confidence in police as expressed in the Black Lives Matter movement and other protests against police actions. This paper takes a novel approach to examining public opinions and attitudes about the use of FRT by police. To do this, we thematically analysed 609 public commentary posts published on 71 YouTube clips about police use of FRT. We found that the public in this sample expressed mostly negative sentiments about the use of FRT by police, identifying three main concerns: authority and power, technology, rights and freedoms. However, we also found some support for police using FRT. These findings are discussed in terms of the theoretical concept of the new regulatory state; in particular steering (government policy) and rowing (implementation). These findings suggest that if police authorities and policy makers address these specific concerns by being transparent in their practices and educate the public about misinformation, then policing agencies may have an increase support for the use of FRT by police and, moreover, build trust and confidence in police.

Examining the COMM in COMMunity Policing: Communication Accommodation, Perception, and Trust in Law Enforcement-Suspect Encounters

Since the 1980s, community policing has been embraced as the dominant police strategy. Thompson and Jenkins (2013) estimated that 97% of an officer’s time is spent communicatively interacting with the public, indicating a strong incentive to study how communication affects those involved in police interaction. Utilizing communication accommodation theory, this study examines the relationship between accommodation, trust, and overall perceptions of police. An experiment using hypothetical situations was conducted with 257 students at a large, southeastern university in the USA. The data indicates that accommodative behavior can lead suspects to be more trusting of an individual police officer but did not significantly affect their overall perceptions of police officers. There were mixed results related to the effects of consumption of crime television shows indicating a complex relationship between media representation, officer behavior, and trust. We argue that to improve communication between officers and suspects, we need to look beyond the community policing principle, and examine the key communication behaviors that help officers build trust with suspects and more generally in their communities.

Scrutiny, legal socialization, and defiance: Understanding how procedural justice and bounded‐authority concerns shape Muslims’ defiance toward police

AbstractPolice rely on citizens to report crime and victimization. Yet for many people low levels of trust in police and concerns about unjust police treatment impact their willingness to engage proactively with police. For some, defying police authority is common. This can be particularly so for ethnic, racial, and religious minority groups. The personal and vicarious experiences these groups have with police play an important role in the legal socialization process, shaping how they perceive and behave toward police. As a religious minority group Muslims have experienced intense scrutiny from police. As such, the current study examines how and why Muslims defy police authority. Using survey data from 398 Australian Muslims, this study tests whether Muslims’ concerns about procedural justice and bounded‐authority violations (i.e., the belief that police overstep the boundaries of acceptable authority) have differential effects on two types of defiance: resistance and disengagement. Findings show that Muslims’ concerns about procedural justice are most important for understanding resistance, while disengagement is dominated by concerns about perceived boundary violations. Further, procedural justice moderates the association between bounded‐authority concerns and resistance, but not disengagement. The implications of these findings for the legal socialization process, theory, and police practice are discussed.

Police trust and domestic violence among immigrants: evidence from VAWA self-petitions

AbstractDomestic violence is a serious under-reported crime in the United States, especially among immigrant women. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was an attempt to partially address this problem by allowing battered immigrants to petition for legal status without relying on the sponsorship of an abusive U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident spouse. The tougher immigration policy climate may have made immigrant women more vulnerable to domestic violence, as well as more reluctant to report domestic violence to law enforcement. Sanctuary policies, which limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities, may counteract these effects. After exploiting the temporal and geographic variation in the adoption of interior immigration enforcement and sanctuary policies, we can successfully identify the impact of sanctuary policies, which help boost the rate of VAWA self-petitions. Additionally, we provide suggestive evidence of the channel through which this impact is likely taking place—namely through victims’ increased willingness to report cases and leave their abusers. Understanding survivors’ responses to immigration policy is crucial given growing police mistrust and immigrants’ vulnerability to crime.