Why Do People Trust the Police? A Case Study of Thailand

Abstract

Trust in the police is considered vitally important in ensuring that citizens obey the law and cooperate with police officers. However, in recent times, the Royal Thai Police has been facing difficulties with the image of the organization, including lack of public trust resulting from the actions of some police officers. Therefore, this study investigated the level of trust in the police, as well as the factors that cause the public to trust the police. The samples used in this study were 971 residents in eastern Thailand. A questionnaire was used as a tool to collect data that were subjected to ordinary multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses. The findings showed police effectiveness and fairness had a positive relationship with trust in the police. Age, corruption, and fear of crime had negative relationships with trust in the police. However, victimization had no association with trust in the police. Hence, the Royal Thai Police should place great importance on increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of police officers and treating people equally and fairly. In addition, corruption issues and the solving of crimes should be addressed to provide people with peace of mind and greater trust in the police.