In a divided society, who trusts the police?

What defines my national identity and in which state institutions do I trust? These are questions that are interconnected and are something many people ask themselves. The police are one of the most powerful agencies and symbolises the state. In a divided society, people may start to wonder on which side the police are. In Wales, people sometimes differ in their views of state agencies based on their interpretation of “Welshness” and “Englishness”. The status of the Welsh language is key in these conflicts. In North Wales, the police service is bilingual for good reason.  

Criminology professor Stefan Machura from SHiPSS and his MA students Salim Almjnoni, Boris Vavrik and Einir Williams have conducted an empirical study on Bangor University student’s trust in the police. They now published their research results in the International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society. The text, titled ‘Welsh Nationalism, Language and Students’ Trust in the UK Police’ is available open access (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-020-09379-z). Students of Bangor University who preferred to communicate in Welsh in their daily interactions, tended to have less trust in UK police.  

This finding can be read in connection with Professor Machura’s study of trust in the regional police service, the North Wales Police. (Machura, Stefan, et al. (2019). National Identity and Distrust in the Police: The Case of North West Wales. In: European Journal of Criminology.) Here, the respondents were a cross-section of the population, not only students. It turned out that locals identifying strongly as English nationalists tended to trust North Wales Police less.  

Citizens valuing the police based on differences in national identity poses a real problem to a police force. But both studies by Professor Machura and his students show how police authorities themselves can improve relations to people in all political camps: by the quality of their service, especially the fair treatment of individuals. Furthermore, positive portrayals of the police in the media also lead to more trust in police as institution. 

Publication date: 23 September 2020