The purpose of this study is to assess whether police fairness, effectiveness, assistance and fear of crime variables help explain trust in the police among university students. Five hundred questionnaires were distributed to all students in randomly selected summer courses offered by the university in 2012; 414 questionnaires were filled and returned, yielding a response rate of about 83%. Ordinary least square regression was used to estimate the effects of our independent variables on college students’ trust in the police. The results show that police fairness and police assistance were significantly related to trust in the police after accounting for respondents’ demographic characteristics. However, fear of crime and police effectiveness did not predict students’ trust in the police.
This study was carried out on a sample of college students in one Carnegie 1 institution, thus findings have limited generalisability and need to be interpreted with caution. Our research and findings add another small piece to the theoretical confusion, and inconsistent findings, on the topics of factors supporting trust in the police which now characterises the literature, but do not undermine the basic policy value of procedural justice. This study can provide useful references for policing scholars, policy makers and police practitioners.
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