They Protect Our Homeland but Neglect Our Community

Abstract

Objectives: Terrorism is becoming a priority among police agencies in many Western democracies. Scholars argue that increasing homeland security responsibilities can erode police–community relations, in that people perceive the police as neglecting local crime problems for homeland security concerns. Methods: Using Israel as a case study, we evaluate, through path analyses, whether Israeli Jews who perceive that the Israeli National Police (INP) values homeland security more than its crime responsibilities have lower evaluations of police legitimacy and, in turn, are less willing to cooperate with the police. Results: The findings demonstrate that those who believe the INP neglects its crime responsibilities for homeland security view the police as less legitimate, and lower evaluations of police legitimacy decrease willingness to cooperate. The overall indirect effect of perceived neglect on cooperation is not significant. Conclusions: Based on the findings, it is clear that perceptions of what the police ought to be doing influence legitimacy evaluations, even when controlling for key antecedents of legitimacy. The implications of these findings for policing terrorism and legitimacy studies are discussed.

Is it un‐American to view the police as illegitimate? The role of national identity in the legal socialization process

“…This is due, in large part, to the incredible influence of Tom Tyler's (2006) seminal work that argues that when individuals perceive criminal justice officials to be acting in a manner that is polite, honest, and unbiased, they will perceive that official's authority to be legitimate and be more likely to comply with their directives, as well as the law, more generally. This hypothesis has largely withstood the scrutiny of numerous tests in a variety of contexts (Jackson, Bradford, Stanko, et al, 2012;Jonathan-Zamir & Weisburd, 2013;McLean & Wolfe, 2016;Metcalfe et al, 2016;Piquero et al, 2005;Reisig & Bain, 2016;Reisig et al, 2012Reisig et al, , 2014Tankebe, 2013b;Tankebe et al, 2016), with few exceptions (cf., Nagin & Telep, 2017). While important, this focus has unfortunately obscured the role of legal socialization in setting the stage for legitimacy evaluations prior to individuals' interactions with the police.…”

“…Most importantly, police legitimacy evaluations are associated with voluntary compliance with the law (Reisig et al, 2007;Tyler & Jackson, 2014;Murphy et al, 2016;Tankebe et al, 2016; but see Nagin & Telep, 2017;Pina-Sánchez & Brunton-Smith, 2020). The effect of legitimacy on compliance tends to be quite generalizable as it has been found in various countries (Jackson, Bradford, Stanko, et al, 2012;Jonathan-Zamir & Weisburd, 2013;Metcalfe et al, 2016;Reisig et al, 2012;Tankebe, 2013b), using different samples (Piquero et al, 2005;Reisig & Bain, 2016;Tankebe et al, 2016), and is robust to potential intervening mechanisms (McLean & Wolfe, 2016;Reisig et al, 2011).…”

“…The third dimension, boundary concerns, reflects peoples' attitudes about what behaviors the police or other legal actors should be allowed to regulate, and under what conditions such regulation should occur . People evaluate the police based on whether they believe officers respect such boundaries and this influences their overall evaluations of the police (Metcalfe et al, 2016;Trinkner et al, 2018).…”

Scrutiny, legal socialization, and defiance: Understanding how procedural justice and bounded‐authority concerns shape Muslims’ defiance toward police

“…Relatedly, police spending too much time on certain "controversial" activities may also be perceived as a boundary violation. Two survey studies from Israel found that police legitimacy evaluations were lower when people felt the police spent too much time focusing on counter-terrorism activities at the detriment of other crime prevention activities (Jonathan-Zamir & Weisburd, 2013;Metcalfe et al, 2016). In sum, concerns regarding procedural injustice and bounded-authority violations appear to have significant and negative impacts on citizens' legal socialization experiences with police, and both appear to trigger negative attitudes and defiance toward police.…”

Understanding the Bounds of Legitimacy: Weber’s Facets of Legitimacy and the Police Empowerment Hypothesis

“…From Weber to Beetham to Tyler, legitimacy is important because it generates compliance and cooperation (Beetham, 2013;Tyler, 2006b;Weber, 1947;Zelditch, 2006). In the realm of criminal justice, scholars have particularly focused on the potential for legitimacy to increase compliance and cooperation with the police (Hough et al, 2010;Metcalfe et al, 2016;Reisig et al, 2007Reisig et al, , 2012Reisig & Lloyd, 2009;Tankebe, 2013;Tyler & Fagan, 2008). Thus, police legitimacy has played a critical role in calls for police reform as a promising avenue for improving community-relations and reducing the use of force through the promotion of voluntary compliance (President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015;…”