Trust and Confidence in the Police

Public trust and confidence in the police is crucial for a multitude of reasons - and will be increasingly so in the future. It is the most important strategic issue on which police leaders should focus. It facilitates the public perception that policing is effective, empathetic and just. Trust and confidence legitimizes police authority. Community cooperation and support for policing efforts is predicated on the level of trust and confidence people have in the police to prevent or solve crimes, respond to community concerns, be honest and sincere about police performance and be good stewards of the taxpayer investment in policing.

Trust and confidence also reduce tensions between officers and the public, it improves officer safety and wellness by fostering a healthier and more supportive work environment, it garners public support for initiatives and funding and upholds a sense of justice by counteracting perceptions of injustice that threaten democratic governance systems. Ultimately, trust and confidence in the police is crucial for creating a sense of “rightful policing” and maintaining justice and fairness within society. It is the bedrock of community sentiment of whether the police are effective, empathetic and just or simply arbitrary, biased enforcers of the law.

In this section we explore how trust and confidence in the police develops, how it can be enhanced, and how it is lost. We also examine how the police can regain – or gain for the first time - the community’s trust. Finally, we also identify those factors we believe will be increasingly more influencial in the community calculus used in determining if the police are trustworthy.