ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Numerous studies have explored the relationship between citizen interactions with the police and the subsequent erosion of trust in the institution. However, while some findings suggest that the perceived quality of treatment during these encounters plays a pivotal role, other studies have argued that the effectiveness of the interaction—whether the reported issue was resolved or not—is the predominant factor influencing trust. This article seeks to unravel this puzzle by examining the impact of citizen-initiated police contacts on trust in the institution.
Materials and methods:
We assessed citizen satisfaction with police interactions across five key dimensions: treatment received, service speed, attention to citizen-provided information, explanation of subsequent procedures, and case resolution satisfaction. Our study examined two hypotheses: 1) Improvements in the evaluation of these interactions correlate with increased trust, and 2) Trust is more significantly influenced by satisfaction with the treatment received compared to other interaction dimensions. To test these hypotheses, we analyzed panel data from the USP Center for the Study of Violence (NEV-USP), which provides representative data on the city of São Paulo collected in 2015, 2017, and 2018. We used mixed-effects models to derive our findings. Additionally, our use of panel data on this topic represents a pioneering effort within the Brazilian context.
Findings:
Our findings revealed that trust in the police is positively correlated with good evaluations of police-citizen interactions, with particular significance attributed to satisfaction with the treatment received. Other dimensions of these interactions did not show significant associations with trust in the police.
Discussion:
These findings suggest that, in the city of São Paulo, the procedural perspective, which emphasizes the quality of police-citizen interactions through the treatment provided by police officers, holds greater significance over the perspective of effectiveness, adding fresh insights to the ongoing debate on the determinants of trust in the police. From a public policy standpoint, our findings signal that Brazilian law enforcement agencies should prioritize procedural training in their interactions with citizens to prevent erosion of public trust.
Keywords
citizen-police interaction; procedural justice; police effectiveness; trust in the police; public security
