Justin Nix
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska, Omaha
Key Findings
- Officers believe that residents of high crime areas who perceive greater fairness from the police are more trusting of the police.
- Officers believe that residents of low and high crime areas feel obligated to obey police when they are fair in exercising their power during citizen/police interactions.
- Officers think that residents of low crime areas trust police when the residents believe the police are acting in a fair and unbiased manner.
Description
In the article, “Police Perceptions of Their External Legitimacy in High and Low Crime Areas of the Community,” Nix examines police perceptions of their own legitimacy in communities with differing crime rates. Current scholarship has only focused on citizen perceptions of police legitimacy. This study surveyed a nationally representative but stratified sample of police officers totaling 12,315 county/city/municipal departments and 3,059 sheriff’s departments. The factors included were population served, U.S. region, and agency type. The results showed that officers believe residents of high crime areas that perceive greater fairness from the police are more trusting of the police. Officers believe residents of low and high crime areas feel obligated to obey police when they are fair in exercising their power during citizen/police interactions. Officers believe residents of low crime areas trust police officers when they do well and believe the police are acting in a fair in an unbiased manner. Nix concludes that moving forward, it is important to determine that police perceptions are translated into police action on patrol.