Acts that Legitimate: Widening the Array of Predicate Policing Practices

Abstract

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Theories of police legitimacy – its sources and effects

“…There is however disagreement on whether the scope of the police should be enlarged to include also the extra-roles which is suggested in the community policing model, especially in the specifications close to view of Meares (see for instance Herbert, 2006). Huq, Jackson and Trinkner (2016) note that in the current state of widening police tasks beyond "crime control" in a narrow sense, there is a higher probability that people would consider the police activities as unjustified because of too much intervention in their private lives.…”

“…The current criminological conceptions of police legitimacy (Bottoms & Tankebe, 2012;Huq, Jackson, & Trinkner, 2016;Tyler & Huo, 2002) draw heavily on the definition by social psychologist Tyler (2006b) and political theorist Beetham (1991). Tyler (2006b, p. 375) described legitimacy as a psychological property of an authority, institution, or social arrangement that leads those connected to it to believe that it is appropriate, proper, and just.…”

“…8 Compared to trust in the police, the belief in normative alignment is more concerned with reflection of one's own community moral values, than with performing according to norms specifying appropriate power possession (Jackson & Gau, 2015). Currently, it is equated with the perceived right to power (Huq, Jackson, & Trinkner, 2016) or with the identification with the police (Tyler & Fagan, 2008). 9 In the UK data sample, appropriateness seems to be relatively stronger predictor of police legitimacy and willingness to cooperate with the police than felt obligation to obey (Jackson et al, 2016b).…”

“…There is also certain disagreement on how to conceptualize other related aspects of police legitimacy. Tankebe and colleagues (Bottoms & Tankebe, 2012;Tankebe, Reisig & Wang, 2016) view procedural fairness, distributive fairness, effectiveness and legality (lawfulness) as components of legitimacy, for Jackson an colleagues those are rather legitimizing factors of trustworthiness (Huq, Jackson, & Trinkner, 2016;Tyler 2006b), while legitimacy 10 would be their outcome.…”

“…Recently, Huq, Jackson and Trinkner (2016) made use of the dual conception of legitimacy consisting of normative alignment and duty to obey. They try to develop a universal model of police legitimizing practices without the necessity to specify any universal values or practices leading to legitimacy in all social contexts.…”