An Unanticipated Police Reform and Its Effect on Perceived Community Cooperation during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Navigating the Covid-19 Pandemic and Calls for Reform: Police Perceptions and Responses

Abstract

This study expands the scholarly knowledge of policing during the COVID-19 pandemic by exploring officer perceptions of community response from an international angle. Relying on survey responses from police officers in two geographically and culturally adjacent nations, China (N = 600) and Taiwan (N = 613), we investigate the effects of reforms in policing activities on the perceived community obedience to the law and cooperation with law enforcement through procedural justice. Our results partially support this hypothesis, such as that reactive policing activities exert stronger direct effects on the outcome. In contrast, proactive policing activities often shape perceived community response indirectly and via the delivery of procedural justice.

Authors

• Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovic, Michigan State University

• Yuning Wu, Wayne State University

• Ivan Sun, University of Delaware

• Yang Vincent Liu, Michigan State University

• Marijana Kotlaja, University of Missouri-Kansas City