ABSTRACT
Public trust in the police is influenced by various factors, including environmental, social, and demographic factors, but procedural justice is perhaps the most important. The foundation for these appraisals of trust and legitimacy have thus been drastically altered by the pandemic, both by directly impacting the situations of members of the public who form these opinions as well as indirectly through changes to policing itself, as the institution was forced to respond and alter its operations as a consequence of this public health crisis. Utilizing a sample of 360 respondents in the United States, we cross sectionally investigate whether fears experienced during the pandemic and a host of demographic and procedural justice factors influenced the public’s trust in the police. We utilize Stoutland’s (AQ AQ: Abstract should stand alone. Hence, the complete reference has been added in the abstract. Please confirm if this is fine2001, The multiple dimensions of trust in resident/police relations in Boston. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 38(3), 226–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427801038003002" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427801038003002) four elements of trust. While race, sex, and some aspects of procedural justice were associated with levels of trust, our analysis did not find that fears during the pandemic predicted trust in the police.
