Police legitimacy and culture revisited through the lens of self-legitimacy

In Pursuit for Legitimacy: An Overview of Contemporary Policing In Indonesia

“…Ethical legitimacy should be the backbone for Polri's policies. The public would consider police power as legitimate if they perceived that the police actions were in line with the moral framework of society (Hough, et al, 2010;Jackson, et al, 2012;Debbaut and Kimpe, 2023). Moreover, a polite, fair, and equal treatment of service during police-public encounters based on procedural justice needs to be applied as it was found more influential in shaping public support for police in Indonesia (Davies, et al, 2014).…”

“…Any officer serving within the scope of public relations should have a capability to argue in an open debate while also receiving feedbacks from the general public. Police legitimacy improved when people were able to express their viewpoint on the Polri decision (Debbaut and Kimpe, 2023). Polri's decisions towards counter-argumentations in society involve a delicate balance between maintaining public order and respecting citizen's rights.…”

“…Police members individually also need to convince themselves of their legitimacy in power and attribute themselves as a distinguished identity from ordinary people (Debbaut and Kimpe, 2023). In this regard, police members were challenged to be able to position themselves wisely during police-public encounters.…”

“…In this regard, police members were challenged to be able to position themselves wisely during police-public encounters. A balanced belief in the moral justice of police member authority increased the chance of a procedurally just manner of action (Bradford and Quinton 2014;Tankebe 2018;Debbaut and Kimpe, 2023). Likewise, Polri's internal procedural justice needs to be improved by removing certain policies that are against organizational fairness and transparency.…”

Self-Legitimacy of Prison Workers and Treatment of Correctional Clients: A Study in Slovenian Prisons

“…In contrast to the positive aspects of self-legitimacy on the efficiency of prison workers, Bottoms and Tankebe (2013) warned about the double danger of underconfidence and overconfidence, which are reflected in the lack of prison workers’ claims of authority and overweening sense of power. In this context, Debbaut and De Kimpe (2023) discuss (un)balanced (excess or lack of) self-legitimacy driven by a desirable normative framework. While their discussion is focused on police officers, prison workers with a balanced belief in the moral justice of their authority should be less rigid and more inclined to develop relations with correctional clients, so-called soft power (Crewe, 2011).…”