Public Confidence in Policing

Cooperating with the Police as an Act of Social Control - Trust and Neighbourhood Concerns as Predictors of Public Assistance

“…When thinking about 'the state of society' and its apparent direction of travel, those who are concerned about long-term social change, who perceive a modern world in long term moral and social decline, or who buy into a 'community lost' narrative, seem often to blame the police as representatives of the social order that allows these things to happen, and their trust in police is undermined (Jackson & Bradford, 2009). At a more local or neighbourhood level, assessments of community cohesion, social control and civility, which may of course themselves reflect wider concerns about the breakdown and fragmentation of society, also seem to damage trust in the police (Jackson & Sunshine, 2007). This is a perspective that positions the police as exactly the kind of 'proto-typical group representatives' (Sunshine & Tyler, 2003) envisaged by the procedural justice model.…”

Do the citizens of Europe trust their police?

“…The degree to which the public trust police clearly varies across countries (Jackson, 2012), although the reasons for this are not straightforward. Within some countries there appears to be a decline in public trust, and as a result, such countries are experiencing increases on the demand for policing services at a time when governments are under pressure to reduce the cost of public services.…”

“…Within some countries there appears to be a decline in public trust, and as a result, such countries are experiencing increases on the demand for policing services at a time when governments are under pressure to reduce the cost of public services. Many national policing organisations therefore face the dual challenge of reducing costs whilst at the same time maintaining levels of public confidence and trust in the services they provide (Larsen and Blair, 2009;Bradford, 2011;Jackson, 2012).…”

Aboriginal People and Confidence in the Police

“…Many studies of police-citizen relations focus on bivariate correlation or examination of only a few demographic variables, which do not fully exhaust the range of determinants of confidence in the police. Citizen views are also strongly influenced by both expressive concerns, such as trust, and instrumental concerns, such as victimization and community disorder (Jackson and Bradford 2010;Jackson and Sunshine 2007). These factors may confound the relationship between race or ethnicity and the police.…”

“…These factors may confound the relationship between race or ethnicity and the police. Multivariate analyses are capable not only of considering and controlling for the effects of other variables but also of identifying the strength of each independent variable in comparison to other independent variables in the same model (Cao, Lai, and Zhao 2012;Chu and Song 2008;Jackson and Bradford 2010;Jackson and Sunshine 2007;O'Connor 2008;Schafer, Huebner, and Bynum 2003;Sprott and Doob 2009).…”