4th International Evidence Based Policing Conference

Legitimacy and Police Traffic Stop Training

Chief Superintendent Tony Robinson

1. Police behaviour affects legitimacy

2. Citizens want fair treatment

3. Unfair treatment can lead to defiance (Sherman,1993)

Legitimacy Defined

Legitimacy is the recognition of the moral rightness of the police’s claim to

exercise power

(Tankebe, 2011)

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Legitimacy

• Legitimacy is built by police behaviour - earned

• Earn legitimacy and keep it• Not either-or but requires continuous

work to build and maintain

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Benefits of Legitimacy to Police

• Legitimacy motivates voluntary acceptance of police authority

• Legitimacy can lead to deference to police officers and cooperation

(Tyler 2006)

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Building legitimacy

• Effectiveness• Distributive Justice• Procedural Justice

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Building Legitimacy

• Procedural Justice – how police treat citizens

• The procedures by which the police exercise authority are central to public reactions to the police– Quality of treatment– Quality of decision making

(Tyler 2006)

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Legitimacy in Police Traffic Stop Training

• Cambridge Master’s Thesis – examined legitimacy in training of officers in traffic

stops– Data – content analysis

• Identify trainers’ instructions to recruits• SOPs for traffic training

• Ascertain areas of convergence or divergence with the academic evidence on legitimacy

• Recommendation to re-think training of officers 8

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Met Police Instructions

• Where officers need to transport detainees... they should not to be complacent about safety.

• Stopping of vehicles can be dangerous... do not stop in a dangerous position e.g. brow of a hill.

• Discussion will concentrate on... principles for safe searching of vehicles.

• Vehicle stops are the third most likely cause of assaults on police... look for suspects and weapons

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Trainers quotes• Why are we doing this? To keep us safe... Do

police still die at the roads? Yes.• When stopping a car you must be visible, wear

your hi vis jacket... bear in mind the stopping distance required by other drivers.

• Don’t talk to people in the middle of the road always stand on the pavement not in the road.

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Findings • Minimal emphasis on Procedural Justice in: – Policy or practice documents– Trainers’ words– Traffic stop training notes

• Emphasis on officer safety– Reflecting Met Police priority

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The Future• Police training

– Change to increase focus upon how people are treated. Putting people at ease, creating legitimacy, should be a goal of policing.

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Why Legitimacy Research ?

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Conclusion

• People are overwhelmed by their experience ... with individual police officers (Darley 2000)

– The way police exercise their authority affects citizens’ perceptions of fairness.

– Police behaviour can build or degrade police legitimacy.

• People react to the police in terms of quality of

treatment. (Tyler 2006)

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