Building Police Legitimacy: Public Judgments and Police Practices

• In Event: Cultivating Satisfaction, Trust and Confidence in Police

Abstract

We know that levels of trust and confidence in the police – police legitimacy – are fairly high, that public trust and confidence is associated with other judgments about police – e.g., the procedural justice with which they act – and that public attitudes toward the police are fairly stable, shaped by their prior attitudes toward the police and thus not strongly influenced by their direct experiences with the police. Consequently, we have a limited understanding of how police might change public attitudes for the better. We report on a research effort to examine both the basis for public judgments about their trust in police and police department efforts to cultivate public trust. We analyze semi-structured interviews with community leaders about how they form judgments about police, and with police executives about what police do to build community trust and confidence. We characterize what communities expect and what departments do, allowing us to gauge the degree of correspondence: the extent to which police leaders are taking the steps that will build trust in their communities, and the missed opportunities to foster trust that could potentially guide future efforts.

Authors

• Sarah J. McLean, The John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety, Inc.

• Robert E. Worden, University at Albany, SUNY

• Caitlin J. Dole, The John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety, Inc.

• Danielle L. Reynolds, University at Albany, SUNY