Representative bureaucracy and residents’ perceptions of the police

• In Event: Policing and Racialized Communities: Legitimacy, Trust, and Surveillance

Abstract

Building on the representative bureaucracy theory and prior research, this study uses an online survey experiment to investigate how minority police representation influences residents’ perceptions of the police and their willingness to cooperate with the police. We find that shared racial identity between an officer and civilian will not result in higher levels of perceived legitimacy of the police, nor will it lead to higher levels of civilians' willingness to cooperate with the police. Thus, we failed to find support for the representative bureaucracy theory in policing.

Authors

• Xia Wang, Arizona State University

• Laura Smalarz, Arizona State University

• Michael Scott, Arizona State University