A Comparative Study of Public Support for the Police

I use the data from the International Crime Victimization Survey and the World Values Survey to study the determinants of public support for the police in 28 countries. I find that the respondents' views of the police, both general confidence and specific ability to control crime, are affected by who the respondents are (gender, age) and by the quality of governance in the country in which they live. Their general views of the police also are related very strongly to what they think about other parts of the government (the armed forces, parliament, and the legal system). Their evaluations of the police ability to control crime are strongly colored by their individual experiences and contacts with the police (crime victimization, fear of crime, being asked to pay a bribe, frequency of seeing police patrols). In addition, police-related characteristics (police size, percentage of women as a measure of heterogeneity of the police, police structure) shape their opinions as well.