Trust of the Police in South Africa: A Research Note

Lincoln Fry

Office of the State Attorney, Florida 15th Judicial Circuit, USA (retired)

Abstract:

This paper examines the issue of public trust of the South African Police, and attempts to identify the factors that predict the public's trust in the South African police. Utilizing a national probability sample collected by the Afrobarometer Project in 2008, the study uses logistical regression analysis to look at the effects of selected independent variables on trust of the police, which range from demographic indicators like race, rural-urban, gender, age and education. Others were derived from responses to a series of questions which ask about fear of crime and criminal victimization. Scales are also developed which measure poverty, interpersonal trust and perceived corruption. To preview the findings, the logistical regression revealed four significant predictors of mistrust of the police: interpersonal trust, perception of corruption, race and the poverty measure. Based on the literature review there were some surprising findings, including the fact that fear of crime and victimization as well as what may be defined as police visibility were not found to be significant predictors of trust of the police, nor were demographic measures like education, gender or age. The paper concludes with some thoughts on future research directions.

Keyword:

South African Police, Trust, Afrobarometer, Poverty, Perceived Corruption.