Police Legitimacy Among Immigrants in Europe

Abstract

In this paper data from the European Social Survey are used to explore the association between immigration and police legitimacy. Starting from the assumption that police legitimacy will vary between immigrant and non-immigrant populations, we consider three distinct sets of variable that might explain such variation: contact with the police, group position, and the change in frames of reference associated with the act of migration. Findings suggest, first, that variables from all three groups predict legitimacy, with police contact emerging as the most important. Second, conditional on these factors some groups of immigrants, particularly those who migrated as children, tend to grant the police less legitimacy than either other immigrants or the ‘native born’.

Keywords: Police legitimacy, Immigration, European Social Survey