Recent years have not always been kind to the police, with the likes of Black Lives Matter shining a light on abuses of power by police forces around the world. Similar concerns have arisen in Europe around the relationship between the police and ethnic minorities.
One might assume, therefore, that immigrants would be less trusting of the police than the native population, but research from Goethe University Frankfurt suggests that isn’t the case, at least not when they first arrive in a country.
Trusting relationships
The researchers gathered data from the Europan Social Survey on around 20,000 immigrants from 22 European countries between 2006 and 2019. The data shows that trust in the police appears to be higher among immigrants than among natives, but that this trust seems to dwindle the longer they live in the host country.
The authors believe this phenomenon has a couple of factors behind it. Firstly, when people first move they still have strong memories of their homeland and the situation there, but over time this fades, thus making the contrast between their homeland and their destination a changing one. This can be especially powerful if they are leaving their homeland in part due to low levels of rule of law.
The second possible factor is that ethnic minorities can experience discrimination in their new home, and so have to rely on the police to support them. The longer someone is in the host country, the more likely they will have experienced some form of discrimination.
Interestingly, across Europe, trust appears to be lower in countries where the police are more numerous, such as in countries like Greece and Croatia. As a result, the authors believe that the size of the police force is not enough to boost trust in the police, and instead, efforts to reduce discrimination should be targeted.
Such efforts would not only help to sustain the high levels of trust immigrants have in the police after they first arrive, but also help to restore the trust among those who have lived in the country for a longer period.
