Elise Sargeant

Ethnicity, trust and cooperation with police: testing the dominance of the process-based model

Some scholars question whether procedural justice is the key driver in promoting support for the police across all cultural contexts. In this study we examine the relationship between procedural justice, police performance, trust in the police and the willingness to cooperate with the police, and we compare Vietnamese and Indian ancestral groups with the general population in Australia. We find that procedural justice is less effective in encouraging cooperation with the police among Vietnamese and Indian ancestral groups when compared with a general population group. Procedural justice is also found to be less effective in promoting trust among Vietnamese participants, compared with the general population group. Instead, police performance is found to be more effective in promoting trust in the police among Vietnamese participants. We set out to explain these observed differences and describe why some ethnic minority groups may judge process-based factors to be less important when it comes to trusting the police or being willing to cooperate with the police.

Collective Efficacy as a Task Specific Process: Examining the Relationship Between Social Ties, Neighborhood Cohesion and the Capacity to Respond to Violence, Delinquency and Civic Problems

In the neighborhood effects literature, collective efficacy is viewed as the key explanatory process associated with the spatial distribution of a range of social problems. While many studies usefully focus on the consequences of collective efficacy, in this paper we examine the task specificity of collective efficacy and consider the individual and neighborhood factors that influence residents’ perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy for specific tasks. Utilizing survey and administrative data from 4,093 residents nested in 148 communities in Australia, we distinguish collective efficacy for particular threats to social order and assess the relative importance of social cohesion and neighborhood social ties to the development of collective efficacy for violence, delinquency and civic/political issues. Our results indicate that a model separating collective efficacy for specific problems from social ties and the more generalized notions of social cohesion is necessary when understanding the regulation potential of neighborhoods.

Procedural justice and legitimacy in policing

Introduction.- Effective Approaches Using the Principles of Procedural Justice.- Use of Research Evidence.- Barriers to Implementation.- Mechanisms that Help Translation.- Conclusions.

Community Norms, Procedural Justice, and the Public’s Perceptions of Police Legitimacy:

A significant body of research has demonstrated the importance of procedurally fair policing in fostering citizens’ feelings of obligation to obey the police. A handful of recent studies have begun to explore the role of community processes within this relationship. They show perceptions of police use of procedural justice, and their consequences can vary according to community context. The present study utilizes data collected within a randomized controlled trial of procedural justice in policing, the Queensland Community Engagement Trial (QCET). We find perceived community norms about obeying the police are strongly associated with individuals’ own feelings of obligation to obey police. Moreover, this relationship holds net of individual assessments of police. Second, procedurally just policing appears to have a greater effect on the obligation to obey police for those who believe others in their community feel less obligated to obey the police. Results demonstrate that one’s ties to the community can therefore moderate the associations between procedural justice and the obligation to obey police. The findings are interpreted within a social-psychological framework.

The importance of procedural justice and police performance in shaping intentions to cooperate with the police: Does social identity matter?

Research consistently reveals that public perceptions of procedural justice and police performance are important for fostering citizens’ willingness to cooperate with police, with procedural justice being more important than police performance. Identifying factors that motivate people’s intentions to cooperate with police is the focus of the present study. Of particular interest will be how people’s affiliations with different groups in society moderate their responses to questions about their willingness to cooperate with police. The study utilizes survey data from 10,148 Australian residents and demonstrates that procedural justice, police performance, and identity each predict people’s intentions to cooperate with police. The findings also reveal that identity can moderate citizens’ concerns about procedural justice and police performance when predicting cooperation.

Policing community problems: Exploring the role of formal social control in shaping collective efficacy:

Research finds police-led crime control interventions focusing on places and involving partnerships tend to yield positive crime control outcomes. Some scholars argue that these positive outcomes are achieved when police use place-based, partnership-oriented interventions to facilitate and encourage collective efficacy (CE), the corollary being that these CE-enhancing efforts lead to less crime. Nevertheless, differentiating the police activities that impact CE across different types of communities is not well understood. This paper examines the role of police in shaping CE in two contrasting communities. Using in-depth interviews with residents and key informants we find that police are most likely to enhance CE when they foster a sense of effectiveness, use inclusive and partnership-oriented strategies and when they implement strategies in a manner that encourages perceptions of police legitimacy. Moreover, if police can maintain or cultivate a sense of empowerment among community residents, they are more likely to foster CE. Yet the role of police in enhancing CE is different in different community types. We discuss the implications of these findings for policy and practice.

Legitimacy and policing

Successful policing relies on the ability of police to secure compliance and cooperation from the public (Tyler, 1990). We all know that police can, if they choose, use arrest, threat of arrest and graduated forms of force to obtain compliance. However, given the obvious negative side effects of arrest and use of force, coupled with their limited resources, police know that they must employ strategies that do not rely solely on their unique and legislated powers to maintain order in society (Mastrofski, Snipes, & Supina, 1996; Tyler, 1990). Indeed, critiques about the negative consequences of the use of force (e.g. risk of harm to police and citizens) and concerns about the concomitant result of poor police-citizen relations point to the growing awareness amongst police, police scholars and policy makers of the importance of procedurally just approaches as the primary means of enhancing perceptions of police legitimacy and thereby generating public compliance and cooperation (McCluskey, 2003; Sunshine & Tyler, 2003; Tyler, 1990).

Keeping it in the family: Parental influences on young people’s attitudes to police

Prior research finds young people are less satisfied with police than their older counterparts. Despite this, our understanding of youth attitudes to police is limited, as most research has focused on adult attitudes to police. This study adds to our understanding by examining the influence of parent–child dynamics on youth attitudes to police. We predict that youth attitudes to police will be influenced by their parents’ attitudes. A survey of 540 school students in South East Queensland reveals that perceived parental attitudes to police are associated with youth attitudes to police. However, this effect is partially mediated by maternal, but not paternal attachment. These findings suggest that youth attitudes to police are not simply influenced by contact with police and delinquency, but that familial context is important. Consequently, our theoretical understanding of youth attitudes to police must move beyond a focus upon police contact and delinquency.

Social identity and procedural justice in police encounters with the public: results from a randomised controlled trial

The role of social identity in shaping citizen views of police is central to the group-value model (GVM). The GVM suggests that the relationship between public perceptions of fair treatment and views of police legitimacy will be tempered by social identity. Our paper employs a randomised field trial of procedural justice dialogue – the Queensland Community Engagement Trial – to test the role of social identity in the GVM. Under randomised field trial conditions we find that social identity is connected to perceptions of procedural justice and legitimacy, but that it does not moderate the effect of procedural justice on legitimacy. We discuss the implications of this finding, concluding that when police use procedurally just dialogue in encounters with the public, they can enhance perceptions of police, regardless of social identification.

Policing and collective efficacy: the relative importance of police effectiveness, procedural justice and the obligation to obey police

ABSTRACT The role of police in building collective efficacy remains an unanswered question. This paper employs a sample of 4403 people living in 148 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia, to examine the relationship between perceptions of police and collective efficacy. Results indicate that even when controlling for neighbourhood compositional and structural characteristics, trust in police effectiveness and procedural justice are the key variables explaining collective efficacy. Although trust in police effectiveness and procedural justice do not predict neighbourhood differences in collective efficacy, they do explain variations in perceptions of collective efficacy among those residents in a given neighbourhood. These findings reveal that when people trust the police are effective and procedurally just, they are more likely to view their neighbourhoods as collectively efficacious. This research suggests that police can help to encourage collective efficacy, and potentially reduce crime, by communicating their effectiveness and delivering procedural justice to citizens.