Purpose

The range of tactical force options available to police is increasing, while public debate about police use of force is never far from the headlines. This paper aims to examine what factors shape how people accept police use of force.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use two online experiments to test whether different force options affected judgments about the acceptability of police action and to explore the role of trust and legitimacy in people's judgments.

Findings

The authors found across both studies that respondents judged scenarios involving a weapon (baton, CS spray, Taser) as less acceptable compared to scenarios that did not (talking down, handcuffs), but they did not draw much distinction between the specific weapon used. In study 1, exposure to different police tactics had no effect on trust and legitimacy. In study 2, prior perceptions of trust were strong predictors of acceptability judgments.

Originality/value

There is a comparative paucity of British-based empirical research examining public attitudes toward different use of force resolutions by police. In this paper, the authors explore how use of force affects people's views of police at a time in which the nature and scope of force applications, how these are understood and indeed the basic enterprise of policing itself is being reconsidered and renegotiated.

中文翻译：

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警察对使用武力的看法：信任的重要性

目的

警察可使用的战术武力选择范围不断扩大，而公众对警察使用武力的辩论从来都不是头条新闻。本文旨在研究哪些因素影响着人们如何接受警察使用武力。

设计/方法/方法

作者使用两个在线实验来测试不同的武力选择是否会影响有关警察行动可接受性的判断，并探讨信任和合法性在人们的判断中的作用。

发现

作者在两项研究中均发现，与没有（说话，戴手铐）的场景相比，受访者认为涉及武器（警棍，CS喷雾剂，Taser）的场景较不可接受，但他们并未对所使用的特定武器做出太大区分。在研究1中，接触不同的警察策略对信任和合法性没有影响。在研究2中，先验的信任感是接受性判断的有力预测指标。

创意/价值

基于英国的实证研究相对较少，研究了公众对警察不同使用武力决议的态度。在本文中，作者探讨了在使用武力的性质和范围，如何理解武力的情况下，以及在重新考虑和重新协商维持治安本身的基本方法时，使用武力如何影响人们对警察的看法。