Trust understandably plays a major role in our adherence to many of those in authority, so it’s perhaps no surprise that new research from UCL and the London School of Economics finds that public trust in the police is crucial to their acceptance of any extension in police powers.

The researchers examined the controversial introduction of live facial recognition technology, and what factors contribute to public trust in the technology and its deployment.

Over 1,000 Londoners were surveyed, and it emerged that they were broadly supportive of LFR, with around 60% believing it to be acceptable.  The key factor in this acceptance appeared to be the way privacy was managed.  If people thought that the police could be trusted, and the use of LFR was legitimate, then acceptance was significantly higher.

Exposure to policing

The data also revealed that personal exposure to policing was also a factor, both in a positive and negative sense.  This was especially prominent on the negative end of the spectrum, however, as negative encounters with individual officers was strongly linked with undermined trust and legitimacy, with the negative impact greater than the positive impact during a pleasing encounter.

During the pandemic, the police have been given powers to enforce various social distancing measures, with many governments empowering police forces to produce on-the-spot fines to enforce the new rules.  This involvement is likely to endure for the duration of the pandemic, so maintaining trust is likely to be crucial.

“This study underlines the fact that support for increased police powers depends on public trust,” the researchers say. “Without such trust, use of the new police powers granted to the police in the current crisis risks damaging police-community relations. If trust is low, and policing by consent undermined, the police may need to turn to ever more intrusive strategies to enforce the lockdown.”