ABSTRACT
Since the 1980s, with the advent of community-oriented policing (COP), many studies have been conducted to clarify what are the core determinants of the public perception of the police. Few studies, however, have been conducted to reveal the relationship between the public perception of the police and the crime rates, a key concern of the role of the police in society. Moreover, there exists little research designed to analyze this relationship
Introduction 569 e Emergence of “Public Perception of Police” 570 e Concept of “Public Perception of Police Effectiveness” 571 Previous Research571
Methodology573 Research Samples573 e Dependent Variable574 e Independent Variable575 Research Analysis577 Research Findings579
Discussion580 Crime Rate and Public Perception of Police Effectiveness581 Fear of Crime and Public Perception of Police Effectiveness581
Conclusion582 References582
from an international viewpoint. is is most likely because (1) it is very difficult to exclude other variables that affect the public perception of the police in each country, (2) there are so many differences in the way of calculating the crime rate from country to country, and (3) it is not easy to obtain standardized data due to different languages and cultures. However, in spite of these difficulties, the study of this relationship from an international viewpoint has a merit of its own. e cross-national studies of crime and criminal justice issues play an important role in building theory and guiding public policy (Bennett and Lynch, 1990) and, therefore, they can help in focusing the effort of the police in increasing the confidence level that the public have in them. One of the primary goals of this study is to examine the long-lasting assumption in the field of criminal justice that the police can increase the confidence level that the public have in them by focusing on a reduction of the recorded crime rate.
