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While the significance of public cooperation for police effectiveness is widely acknowledged, less is known about factors associated with cooperation in hate crime cases. The current study aims to explore how individuals’ perspectives on police legitimacy, contact experience with police and race/ethnicity shape their willingness to cooperate with police in hate crime incidents.

This study used a sample of 693 college students and was conducted at a public university in the south-central region of the southern United States of America. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models were used to examine factors related to willingness to cooperate with police.

Findings show that those who have a high level of positive perceptions of police legitimacy and those who have a low level of negative personal experience with police reported more willingness to cooperate. Asian respondents were less likely to report that they would cooperate with police compared to white respondents.

This study, emphasizing the relationships between perceived police legitimacy and positive personal experiences with a willingness to cooperate in hate crime cases, has practical implications. The identification of racial/ethnic differences in cooperation attitudes, particularly the lower likelihood of cooperation among Asian respondents, contributed to the current literature and underscores the importance of considering diverse perspectives and outreach efforts.

Public cooperation with the police is of great significance in the maintenance of social security and social harmony, but studies investigating the mechanisms of public cooperation with the police in China are scarce. Using survey data obtained from Xiamen, China, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of social capital on willingness to cooperate with the police and their mediating mechanisms.

Data with 938 respondents were used in this study. Ordinary least squares regression models were used to test the influence of social capital on the willingness of the Chinese public to cooperate with the police and its mediating mechanisms.

The results show that associational life participation, social trust and neighborhood cohesion can all enhance public willingness to cooperate with the police by cultivating public spirit or trust in government, whereas participation in community collective resistance is negatively correlated with willingness to cooperate with the police. Theoretical explanations are offered to understand different effects of social capital elements on public cooperation with the police, and possible ways to foster such cooperation are discussed.

This paper takes the lead in examining the effects of social capital on willingness to cooperate with the police and their mediating mechanisms in China.

Procedural justice is important for fostering peoples’ willingness to cooperate with police. Theorizing suggests this relationship results because procedural justice enhances perceptions that the police are legitimate and entitled to be supported. The purpose of this paper is to examine how legitimacy perceptions moderate the effect of procedural justice policing on Muslims’ willingness to cooperate with police.

Survey data from 800 Muslims in Australia are used.

This study shows Muslims’ procedural justice perceptions are positively associated with two types of cooperation: willingness to cooperate with police in general crime control efforts; and willingness to report terror threats to police. Muslims’ perceptions of police legitimacy and law legitimacy also influence willingness to cooperate. Specifically, police legitimacy is more important for predicting general willingness to cooperate with police, while law legitimacy is more important for predicting Muslims’ willingness to report terror threats. Importantly, legitimacy perceptions moderate the relationship between procedural justice and both types of cooperation. Specifically, procedural justice promotes cooperation more strongly for those who question the legitimacy of police or the legitimacy of counter-terrorism laws, but the moderation effects differ across the two cooperation contexts. The findings have implications for procedural justice scholarship and for counter-terrorism policing.

The current paper examines an under-explored aspect of legitimacy; it examines police legitimacy perceptions, but also examines how people view the legitimacy of laws police enforce (i.e. law legitimacy). It is argued that perceptions about law legitimacy can also impact people’s willingness to cooperate with police.

While public support for and cooperation with the police has been deemed vital for police effectiveness, what shapes such support and cooperation has not been fully examined. The purpose of this study is to explore three perspectives on public cooperation with police simultaneously: (1) police legitimacy, (2) legal cynicism, and (3) neighborhood norms.

The data used in this study came from a survey conducted with 408 residents across three neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan, in 2009. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to assess the relationship between the three groups of theory-based predictors, representing police legitimacy, legal cynicism, and neighborhood norms, and the dependent variable of cooperation.

The findings partially support the legitimacy model, as trust in police, but not perceived obligation to obey, predicts cooperation with police. This study provides strong support for the legal cynicism and neighborhood norms perspectives. Specifically, residents who have higher levels of legal cynicism and who report a stronger anti-snitch neighborhood subculture report being less inclined to cooperate with the police.

This study is the first to compare the relative influences of three major perspectives on public cooperation. Future studies should continue to analyze competing theories in explaining public cooperation with the police and determine if findings from this study are applicable to locations outside Detroit.

This study seeks to answer (1) how perceived neighborhood collective efficacy and disorder affect residents' cooperation with the police, both directly and indirectly through perceptions of the police and (2) how Arab American ethnicity moderates the linkages between perceived collective efficacy, disorder and cooperation.

Relying on survey interview data from a probability sample of 414 residents in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, MI and path model analysis, this study tests an explanatory model of public cooperation with the police that integrates both neighborhood and policing factors.

Perceived neighborhood disorder undermines residents' desires to cooperate, and this influence is chiefly direct. Meanwhile, although no significant total effect, perception of neighborhood collective efficacy does have a positive effect on cooperation through the mediator of positive assessment of police effectiveness. Further, collective efficacy has a direct, positive effect on cooperation among Arab Americans only. Finally, perceptions of police equal treatment and effectiveness, rather than procedural justice, are significant correlates of public cooperation.

This study contributes to the extremely limited literature on policing and Arab American communities. The findings can deepen the understanding on why and for which groups neighborhood context is related to cooperation with the police. Findings can also add to the knowledge base for designing policies and practices that help secure and promote public support and cooperation in both Arab and non-Arab communities.

Following social disorganization theory and the process-based model of policing, the present study aims to examine how characteristics of communities are meaningful in shaping citizens' willingness to work with the police in urban China.

Based on survey data from Shanghai, China, the study adopts a generalized hierarchical linear modeling (GHLM) approach to examine the effects of both individual- and neighborhood-level predictors on the outcome, while taking into consideration the unobserved additional neighborhood-level variations.

Results suggest potential need of the process-based model to be modified in a Chinese context in that while police presence matters, measures on legitimacy are nonsignificant in shaping willingness to help the police, after controlling for neighborhood characteristics. More importantly, collective efficacy at the neighborhood level is related positively to residents' willingness to work with the police. Constant attention should be paid to the promotion of a collaborative and collectively caring environment, which can contribute to better coordination with the police, and greater willingness to be part of the larger cause of public safety.

The paper advances the scholarship with multi-level modeling and the role of communities in building stronger relationship with the police.

Measuring the normative obligation to obey the police, a key component of police legitimacy, has proven difficult. Pósch et al.’s (2021) proposed scales appear to overcome the problems associated with traditional measures. This study introduces new items for these scales and empirically assesses whether such additions have the desired effects on scale performance.

This study uses data from a national online survey administered in July 2022 (N = 1,494). Measures of internal consistency and factor analysis were used to evaluate the properties of the obligation to obey scales. Linear regression was used to test the hypothesized effects.

The results show that adding the new items to the existing scales increased the level of internal consistency and improved how well the factor model fit the data. In terms of antecedents, procedural justice and bounded authority concerns were correlated with normative and non-normative obligations to obey the police in the expected direction and relative magnitude, findings that held for both the original and expanded scales. Although both normative obligation scales were significantly associated with willingness to cooperate with the police and significantly mediated the effect of procedural justice on cooperation, the relationship for the expanded scale was stronger and the mediation more pronounced.

This study extends previous research working to overcome some of the setbacks associated with measuring a crucial feature of police legitimacy. Effectively navigating this challenge will help advance legitimacy studies in criminal justice settings.

Limited research exists on the perceptions of police within specific ethnic minority groups. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of Korean and Korean American residents in the Metro Atlanta area regarding their perceptions of cooperation with the police, particularly in relation to hate crimes, along with their perceptions of police legitimacy and other relevant factors. By focusing on this specific population, the study aims to shed light on their unique perspectives and contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics between ethnic minorities and law enforcement.

The authors’ sample comprised 128 Korean residents who were asked about their demographics, victimization experiences, self-rated English proficiency and police legitimacy. Multiple linear regression analyses were employed to investigate the impact of police legitimacy, victimization experiences and English-speaking skills on the participants' level of cooperation with the police.

Police legitimacy and self-rated levels of English proficiency emerged as the most significant factors in predicting the level of cooperation among residents with the police. Furthermore, individuals who have experienced crime victimization in the past were more willing to cooperate with the police compared to those who have not. Additionally, men showed a higher tendency to cooperate with the police compared to women participants.

The findings of this study suggest important implications for the policies and strategies aimed at enhancing the relationship between the Korean American community and the police. These implications include the need for improved language support for non-English speaking community members and the importance of building trust and fostering mutual understanding to cultivate positive police-community relations. By implementing measures based on these findings, it is recommended to promote a more inclusive and effective approach to policing within the Korean American population.

The police require the cooperation of the public to ensure security in society. People cooperate with the police because they share norms and values reflected in the law and police action. Police face challenges in obtaining the cooperation of the public. There are studies examining the relationship between the legitimacy of the police and cooperation with the police. Using Tankebe's (2013) model of legitimacy as a multidimensional concept, this study examines the relationship between legitimacy and cooperation with the police in India.

For examining the relationship, the study uses data collected from a survey of 705 victims of crime in India who had interacted with the police. The research questions were examined using structural equation modeling (SEM).

On the basis of the analyses, the study concludes that legitimacy is a multidimensional concept encompassing police lawfulness, procedural justice, distributive justice and effectiveness. The legitimacy of the police has both a direct impact on cooperation with the police and the obligation to obey as a mediating variable. The study indicates that legitimacy is an important antecedent to cooperation with the police, which has significant policy implications.

The study is significant as there are no studies examining the relationship between the legitimacy of police and cooperation with the police in India, which is a non-Western developing country and the largest democracy in the world. The present research is the first study of this nature.

This chapter examines how citizen journalism affects perceptions of legitimacy among local residents and police officers.

Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with residents and police officers.

Local residents are mostly willing to obey police commands, but a lack of trust in the police and fear of retaliation hinder willingness to cooperate with the police. Citizens’ willingness to follow police orders is mostly a way for them to end the encounter as quickly as possible so the contact will not extend for a prolonged period of time and cause even more serious consequences. Citizens have recorded the police in the past when they witnessed officers not following proper procedures. The police view citizens recording them as a form of defiance and while this makes policing challenging, police officers interviewed still hold high levels of self-legitimacy, most likely due to their organizational and occupational culture. Recording the police has emerged as a way for citizens to challenge police authority and legitimacy during encounters.

While recording the police has increased with recent technological advances, little empirical research has examined its impact on policing and police-community relations. This study connects three critical issues in policing – technology, citizen journalism, and police legitimacy – by assessing the impact of recording the police on police legitimacy in the eyes of the public and police officers. Not only does this study fill our gap in knowledge on citizens recording the police, but it also furnishes valuable implications for policy and future study.