Maarten Van Craen

Explaining officer compliance: The importance of procedural justice and trust inside a police organization

The extent to which police officers obey instructions and policies is of permanent concern to police leaders and the community. This is especially the case when it comes to preventing police misconduct, such as the use of excessive force. In the current study we examined officer compliance from a procedural justice and social exchange perspective. Using data collected among 536 police officers of the Metropolitana Police in Buenos Aires, we explored to what extent internal procedural justice and trust are related to: (1) officer compliance with supervisors and policies; and (2) officer endorsement of regulations on the use of force. The results indicate that perceptions of fair treatment by supervisors and trust in supervisors are positively associated with (stated) compliance. Our findings suggest that a procedural justice approach may facilitate the implementation of police policies and contribute to preventing police violence.

Trust in the Belgian police: The importance of responsiveness

The international literature contains very few empirical tests of Tyler’s (2011) claim that in Europe, as in the United States, procedural justice plays a larger part than police performance in accounting for citizens’ trust in the police. With regard to procedural justice, there has also been little research on the distinct effects of responsiveness and fair treatment. This study is a step towards filling in these gaps. We used quantitative data collected in Belgium to examine to what extent citizens’ trust in the police is determined by being a victim of crime, perceptions of disorder, feelings of insecurity, perceptions of the way the police treat people and perceptions of police responsiveness. The results indicate the relevance of procedural justice for explaining police trustworthiness in European countries. In Belgium, perceived responsiveness seems to be the cornerstone of a strong trust relationship.

Achieving Fairness in Policing: The Link Between Internal and External Procedural Justice

Decades of research on public support for the police has documented the prominent role of procedural justice in shaping popular views of police legitimacy and the predisposition of citizens to comply and cooperate with them. However, much less attention has been given to the issue of how to get police officers to actually act in accord with its principles when they interact with the public. Reminders of the importance and the difficulty of fostering police legitimacy are not hard to come by, as witnessed in events in the United States during 2014 to 2015. This article addresses the hard, multifaceted issue of fostering procedural justice in the ranks. It theorizes and assesses the relationship between fair supervision and fair policing. The results of our study indicate that perceived internal procedural justice is directly related to support for external procedural justice (modeling thesis), and also indirectly, via trust in citizens.

Understanding police officers’ trust and trustworthy behavior: A work relations framework:

In recent years, theorization and research on citizens’ trust in the police have expanded enormously. Compared with citizens’ trust, police officers’ trust – both in citizens and in supervisors – has attracted very little attention. Further, it is striking that, although scholars have pointed to police officers’ procedural justice as a key factor for building public trust in the police, the question of how trustworthy police behavior can be achieved has hardly been theorized. To help fill in these gaps and understand police officers’ functioning, I offer a work relations framework. The building blocks for this approach come from different scientific disciplines: criminology, psychology, management, and political science/public administration. Theoretical elements and empirical indications from different fields are combined into a framework that aims at widening the scope of police research. More specifically, it identifies origins and consequences of police officers’ trust and origins of officers’ trustwo...In recent years, theorization and research on citizens’ trust in the police have expanded enormously. Compared with citizens’ trust, police officers’ trust – both in citizens and in supervisors – has attracted very little attention. Further, it is striking that, although scholars have pointed to police officers’ procedural justice as a key factor for building public trust in the police, the question of how trustworthy police behavior can be achieved has hardly been theorized. To help fill in these gaps and understand police officers’ functioning, I offer a work relations framework. The building blocks for this approach come from different scientific disciplines: criminology, psychology, management, and political science/public administration. Theoretical elements and empirical indications from different fields are combined into a framework that aims at widening the scope of police research. More specifically, it identifies origins and consequences of police officers’ trust and origins of officers’ trustworthy behavior.

Differences and similarities in the explanation of ethnic minority groups’ trust in the police

Little is yet known about which factors influence the trust in the police of different ethnic minorities in European countries. This article is a step towards filling in that gap. To assess differences and similarities in the explanation of minority groups’ trust, we replicated a recent study on Turkish and Moroccan minority group members’ trust in the Belgian police (Van Craen, 2013). The study on which we report here shifted the focus from traditional minority groups in Belgium to a new immigrant group: Polish immigrants. We anticipated that our findings would depart in two ways. We hypothesized that social capital and perceptions of discrimination would not play an important role in the explanation of Polish immigrants’ trust in the Belgian police. Regression analyses on data gathered in the city of Antwerp (N = 418) suggest that there is no correlation between Polish immigrants’ social capital and their trust in law enforcement. However, perceptions of discrimination are a key explanatory factor for this minority group too. Implications for theorization and research are discussed.

Officer Support for Use of Force Policy: The Role of Fair Supervision:

Police use of force is an issue of great concern, even in democratic societies. Recent events in the United States and Europe reinforce older lessons that legitimate policing is both important and hard to achieve. This article adds to our understanding of how a fundamental aspect of police organizations—supervision—might contribute to a better justified use of force by the police. We examine the relationship between fair supervision (internal procedural justice) and officers’ support for restrictions on their use of force. Our findings suggest that supervisor modeling can provide an important linkage between the two. The results also suggest that fair supervision fosters support for restraint in the use of force through greater moral alignment with citizens and increased trust in the general public. The implications of this for research and police practice are discussed.

Internal Procedural Justice, Moral Alignment, and External Procedural Justice in Democratic Policing:

Notwithstanding the popularity of the process-based model of policing among social scientists, research on factors that encourage police officers to engage in procedurally fair behavior is relatively scarce. Based on the fair policing from the inside out framework and survey data collected from Taiwan police officers, this study explored the connection between internal procedural justice and external procedural justice through the mechanisms of moral alignment with both supervisors and citizens and perceived citizen trustworthiness. Fair supervision was found to build up moral alignment between officers and supervisors and between officers and citizens, which in turn led to stronger commitment to responsiveness and fair treatment of the public. Internal procedural justice and moral alignment also cultivated officers’ perceptions of public trustworthiness, which similarly strengthened officers’ response and fair treatment toward the public.

Institutional procedural justice and street procedural justice in Chinese policing: The mediating role of moral alignment

Although the process-based model of policing has been widely tested, research on how procedural justice works within police agencies, particularly its impact on officer willingness to engage in procedurally fair behavior on the street, is relatively scant. Based on survey data collected from Chinese police officers, this study assessed the linkages between internal procedural justice and external procedural justice through the mechanisms of moral alignment with both supervisors and citizens and perceived citizen trustworthiness. Greater internal procedural justice was directly related to higher external procedural justice. Fair supervision helped build up moral alignment between officers and supervisors and between officers and citizens, which in turn led to stronger commitment to fair treatment of the public. Internal procedural justice and moral alignment with citizens also cultivated officers’ perceptions of public trustworthiness, which further strengthened officers’ fair treatment toward the public.

Linking supervisory procedural accountability to officer procedural accountability in Chinese policing

ABSTRACT An important yet severely understudied issue in the procedural justice literature involves the linkage between supervisory procedural accountability within a police agency and officer procedural accountability on the street. Relying on the survey data collected from more than 700 police officers in a large Chinese city, this study finds that the effect of supervisory procedural accountability on officer procedural accountability is principally indirect through the mediating factors of officer satisfaction with job and morale, net of several control variables. Noticeably, surveyed officers report only moderate levels of procedural accountability delivered by their supervisors, and even lower levels of accountability that they themselves are willing to render to the public. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.