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Policing differs across neighborhoods, but little is known about how context conditions residents’ assessments about police legitimacy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether procedural justice and police effectiveness differently contribute to legitimacy judgments depending on the security risk inherent in the context.

The research applies a series of multi-level regression models using nearly 3,000 surveys of Trinidad and Tobago residents.

Police legitimacy and the conditions that promote legitimacy vary across neighborhoods. In “good” neighborhoods, individuals draw on police effectiveness and procedural justice to infer legitimacy, but in at-risk neighborhoods, residents’ views derive from effectiveness. Procedural justice does not play a significant role.

One implication for police is that the current emphasis on evidence-based policing strategies, especially in high crime neighborhoods, can provide a mechanism to improve the generally negative views about police legitimacy held by those residents. The findings do not imply, however, that police need not be concerned about procedural justice in at-risk neighborhoods. In fact, as police improve their crime prevention prowess, views about how procedurally just their methods are increase in importance.

Prior research addressing the antecedents of legitimacy has focused on individual demographic and attitudinal predictors. Only two prior studies have begun to investigate whether residents of different contexts may form their views based on different antecedents. This study outlines a theoretical basis for why different bases may be expected and then tests those expectations using rigorous statistical analyses.

Drawing from representative bureaucracy theory, hiring minority police officers has been a perpetual reform recommendation for improving tense police-community relationships with minority communities since the 1960s. The expectation is that minority officers will provide active/symbolic representation, but little is known about minority officers' experiences during racially tense situations. This paper examines whether black officers experienced double marginality in the context of prolonged protests against police in Ferguson, MO in 2014 and compares black vs. nonblack officers' self-assessments about their preparedness to handle the crisis, procedural justice during the crisis and mental and emotional effects on officers following protest policing.

In-depth interviews with 45 police personnel who policed the Ferguson protests provide a rich description of the context and experiences through the lens of police officers. Surveys of 218 officers who conducted protest policing in Ferguson are used to compare the impact on black vs. non-black officers.

The results provide a detailed portrayal of the double marginality experienced by black officers while policing the Ferguson protests, but also demonstrate that black officers were resilient to the effects of that experience, showing significantly more favorable outcomes than their nonblack peers.

This is the only study to utilize a mixed methods approach with police officers who conducted protest policing to understand officers' experiences in the midst of a racially inflamed context. The findings provide support for policymakers interested in advocating and supporting hiring more minorities in policing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised unique challenges for police. Reductions in manpower due to officer illness and the need to social distance to suppress spread of the disease restricts the ability of police to fully engage with the public and deliver full services. Changes to policing strategies may affect residents’ feelings of safety and their relationships with police. The purpose of this study is to understand high crime area residents’ experiences with police and safety during the pandemic.

The current study draws on household surveys of residents across three high crime, disadvantaged neighborhoods in St. Louis County, Missouri. We implemented three methods. First, we synthesized qualitative feedback about the impact on safety and policing. Second, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks tests compared pre-pandemic assessments of policing and safety measures to measures collected during the pandemic. Finally, we employed multinomial regression to examine how perceived changes in policing affected residents’ change in safety during the pandemic.

Residents saw police less and engaged with police less during the pandemic. They reported hearing gunshots more often. Reduced police presence in neighborhoods led to mixed effects on safety, largely decreasing residents’ feelings of safety. However, two factors that consistently improved safety were positive encounters with police and police being less involved with minor offenses.

This is the first study that assesses the pandemic impact on residents’ perceptions of safety and police in disadvantaged, high crime contexts.

This paper examines the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing's recommendation that police promote trust and legitimacy by creating a culture of transparency and accountability.

The study is based on a panel survey of 841 Chicago residents that was interrupted between the waves by a momentous local policing event that proved to be known to virtually every participant. The reinterview period encompassed this event, its political repercussions and subsequent efforts to hold Chicago Police accountable and increase transparency. The authors examine whether these events and reform efforts improved African Americans' assessments of police legitimacy and trust relative to other respondents.

Trust in Chicago Police improved by 21%, and trust in neighborhood police increased 30% among Black residents. In contrast, views of Whites became more negative, declining by 62% in their assessments about Chicago Police and by 39% regarding neighborhood police.

Events occurring between the waves of a panel survey created an opportunity to examine the impact of events on residents of a large and diverse city. The authors discuss why reforms promoting transparency and police accountability can alter levels of trust in the police but in different and politically consequential ways.

Active shooter incidents have risen considerably in recent years, elevating public and law enforcement focus on improving response to these incidents. The contemporary policy for reacting to an active shooter event is for the officers who first arrive on the scene to move quickly to engage and neutralize a shooter, prioritizing victim safety and minimizing loss of life. This study provides a preliminary understanding of the police view regarding their role in active shooter events and their experiences with active shooter training.

We conducted a survey of 413 sworn personnel across three US cities. Analyses examine differences in officers’ training experiences across the agencies and predictors of a sense of duty to prioritize victims’ lives over that of officers.

Officers’ training experiences differed by agency, yet most officers supported a duty to sacrifice their lives to prioritize victims’ safety during active shooter incidents. Officers with more years of experience have lower odds of supporting a duty to sacrifice their lives to save victims during an active shooter situation relative to less experienced officers. Respondents who recall officer safety among the top three most memorable topics from their recent active shooter training also have lower odds of supporting a duty to sacrifice.

The authors add knowledge about police officers’ experiences with active shooter training and officers’ opinions about their role in responding to active shooter incidents. We discuss implications of the findings relative to police culture and training and suggest directions for future research.