Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Zoann Snyder, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Barry Goetz, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

David Hartmann, Ph.D.

Keywords

Police encounters, police legitimacy, policing, procedural justice, public perception, satisfaction with policing

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

This study examines how interaction-level characteristics in police-public interactions shape perceptions of trust and legitimacy. Using the Police Public Contact Survey (PPCS), interaction characteristics were investigated to see if they shaped perceptions of legitimacy and trust that the public has toward policing. Logistic Regression was used to see if factors such as contact duration, contact type, and time of day were associated with perceptions of police behavior, satisfaction, bias, future willingness to contact the police, and adequacy of the time spent. Drawing on legitimacy as the guiding framework, the PPCS years 2018, 2020, and 2022 (United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2021, 2022, 2024) were used to analyze this data on a multiyear basis. The findings showed that contact duration and contact type were the most consistent predictors across the pooled models as well as the time-specific models. Longer interactions are associated with more negative perceptions, including higher bias perceptions and lower odds of reporting that the police behaved properly, and lower odds of reporting that the time spent was adequate. Time of day showed inconsistent and largely limited results, suggesting that the time of day that an interaction occurs may not be as central as some other interaction characteristics. These findings highlight the importance of everyday interactions that happen between the police and the public.

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