Measuring trust in the police by contextual and individual factors

This study investigate if procedural justice and police competence affects trust in the police independent on the level of perception of corruption, and whether the impact of procedural justice and police competence varies due to perception of corruption. The data used is European Social Survey round 5 (2010), containing 24 countries. To separate individual effects from aggregate effects we used multilevel analyses. The results show that procedural justice and police efficiency are of importance for trust in the police independent of the perception of corruption. But the results also show that the impact of both procedural justice and police competence varies due to the level of perception of corruption. The conclusion is therefore that the fight against corruption must be prioritized to increase trust in the police.