Why do people cooperate with police in multi-ethnic societies? For scholars of comparative politics and international relations, examining the effects of ethnicity on patterns of conflict, cooperation, and state repression remains a foundational endeavor. Studies show individuals who share ethnicity are more likely to cooperate to provide public goods. Yet we do not know whether co-ethnic cooperation extends to the provision of law and order and, if so, why people might cooperate more with co-ethnic police officers. In the context of policing, I theorize co-ethnic bias affects interactions between people and the police because individuals prefer officers who share their ethnicity and fear repression more when encountering non-co-ethnic officers. Using a conjoint experiment in Uganda, I demonstrate that individuals prefer reporting crimes to co-ethnic officers, even after controlling for potential confounders. Broadly, this result is strongest among individuals with no trust in the police, the courts, or the political authorities. These findings have important implications for the politics of policing, conflict, and social order.

为什么人们在多民族社会中与警察合作？对于比较政治和国际关系的学者来说，研究种族对冲突、合作和国家镇压模式的影响仍然是一项基础性工作。研究表明，具有相同种族的个人更有可能合作提供公共产品。然而，我们不知道同族合作是否延伸到提供法律和秩序，如果是的话，为什么人们可能会更多地与同族警察合作。在警务背景下，我认为同族偏见会影响人们与警察之间的互动，因为个人更喜欢与他们有共同种族的警官，并且在遇到非同族警官时更害怕受到压制。在乌干达使用联合实验，我证明，即使在控制了潜在的混杂因素之后，个人也更愿意向同族警官报告罪行。从广义上讲，这种结果在不信任警察、法院或政治当局的个人中最为明显。这些发现对治安、冲突和社会秩序的政治具有重要意义。