Trust in Police: A Comparative Study of Belgium and The Netherlands

Abstract

The goal of this study is to present how trust in police follows similar patterns in similar countries: Belgium and The Netherlands, having almost same level of democracy and transparency but different structure of laws enforcements, by examining the impact of effectiveness of the police on public trust in police. The data was drawn from the country files of the European Social Survey (ESS) conducted in 2010. OLS regression was used to analyze the dataset. The results indicated that while Belgium and The Netherlands have different modes of law enforcement; the link between the effectiveness of the police and the publics' trust in police was similar in both countries. The study highlights the importance of examining cultural values such as democracy and transparency in future studies that aim to uncover significant factors influencing public trust in police.