This study examines possible ways the use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) may influence the legitimacy of police officers in the Netherlands, particularly in the context of community policing. For the...Show moreThis study examines possible ways the use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) may influence the legitimacy of police officers in the Netherlands, particularly in the context of community policing. For the analysis, a document study was conducted on six relevant reports published by (researchers by instruction of) the Dutch police force. Additionally, a semistructured interview was conducted with an area-bound police officer. The analysis process consisted of coding both the reports and the interview in Atlas.ti. Codes were derived from four identified dimensions of police legitimacy: police lawfulness, police distributive fairness, police procedural fairness and police effectiveness. The main conclusions that were drawn from this research are that: BWCs may either negatively or positively impact police lawfulness in general policing and may negatively impact police lawfulness specific to community policing. BWCs may either negatively or positively impact police distributive fairness in the case of both general and community policing. BWCs may positively impact police procedural fairness in the case of general policing and either positively or negatively in the case of community policing. BWCs may positively impact the police effectiveness in the case of general policing and either positively or negatively in the case of community policing. The key difference identified for this difference is community police officers making less use of their BWC with the goal of officer-community relations in mind. The main limitations of this research are in its limited timeframe and selection of empirical material.Show less
Chile's main police force, the Carabineros de Chile, is publicly perceived as the most legitimate institution of the country with even higher levels of confidence than the one of the government or...Show moreChile's main police force, the Carabineros de Chile, is publicly perceived as the most legitimate institution of the country with even higher levels of confidence than the one of the government or the Catholic Church. This is surprising and exceptional in the Latin American context, since the Carabineros have been actively involved on the side of the military regime during the dictatorship. Moreover, crime rates have kept rising since the return to democracy in 1990. This thesis seeks to investigate how the Chilean police has been able to construct such high levels of police legitimacy from 1990 to 2015. Furthermore, it explores the role of the media and the perception of insecurity in constructing police legitimacy.Show less
