Suchergebnisse

This article makes three points. First, the police need public support & cooperation to be effective in their order-maintenance role, & they particularly benefit when they have the voluntary support & cooperation of most members of the public, most of the time. Second, such voluntary support & cooperation is linked to judgments about the legitimacy of the police. A central reason people cooperate with the police is that they view them as legitimate legal authorities, entitled to be obeyed. Third, a key antecedent of public judgments about the legitimacy of the police & of policing activities involves public assessments of the manner in which the police exercise their authority. Such procedural-justice judgments are central to public evaluations of the police & influence such evaluations separately from assessments of police effectiveness in fighting crime. These findings suggest the importance of enhancing public views about the legitimacy of the police & suggest process-based strategies for achieving that objective. 64 References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2004.]