Modelling Public Confidence of the Police in Abu Dhabi - Case Study Example

The paper "Modelling Public Confidence of the Police in Abu Dhabi" is a great example of a politics case study. This article investigates the factors that affect public confidence in policing services in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In this survey study of 703 residents of Abu Dhabi; Al Ain, Abu Dhabi region and Abu Dhabi city, the findings showed that perceptions of people in their local areas explain the differences in the overall framework of public confidence. The study found that there are variations in perceptions from the residents of Abu Dhabi based on regions or locations. From the survey and resultant index measure, there is a high level of public confidence in police in Abu Dhabi. Based on the results of CFA (Confirmatory Factor Analysis) and EFA (Exploratory Factor Analysis) analyzed in the SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) model, results show that there are differences in the perceptions of the local area and not the perceptions of the police. Specifically, Perception of Confidence In Police has a weak relationship with Fear Of Crime indicating that some regions in Abu Dhabi have people who have low confidence in the police owing to fear of crime. Overall, the public confidence in the police is high. This article suggests that policy decisions and operational activities on policing should be region-specific in order to increase social cohesion and local area safety.

Keywords: Public confidence, Structural Equation Modeling, Abu Dhabi Police, Policy decisions.

Introduction

The performance of public policing services largely shapes the perception of the public towards the police. Key issues that affect police-public relations revolve around public confidence instilled by the police while interacting with individuals (Bradford, 2011). Fitzgerald (2010) recognises in the literature that the police are generally less effective in controlling crimes and dealing with problems without public assistance in effectuating police duties. Personal contact and police visibility are highly important factors which may influence public confidence and police legitimacy (Bradford, Jackson, and Stanko, 2009). In reality, public confidence in policing services may be influenced by both the authority commanded by the police, as well as the force that they can deploy. In the fifth strategic objective, the public sense of security and safety among Abu Dhabi nationals is quite high. As opposed to Western nations, the United Arab Emirates policing system is exemplary and worth emulating. According to Jackson and Bradford (2010), public confidence in policing services reported showed poor levels of public confidence in a number of Western countries. Nonetheless, there are factors that may themselves be influenced by a range of different underlying policing methods and practices employed. This study underscores the need for in-depth research into public confidence and attitudes towards policing services that have come to be regarded as a highly complex and multifaceted.

While many questions have emerged regarding how issues such as confidence can be defined and measured, there are limited substantial studies that have investigated factors that influence public confidence towards Abu Dhabi police. Public opinion surrounding the police, at least implicitly, is important for increased compliance with the law, deference and higher levels of trust (Tyler & Huo, 2002; Hough, et al., 2010; Bradford, 2011). However, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a high number of foreigners than the native population which poses a challenge in maintaining balance and order (Alaajel, 2005). While Alaajel (2005) agrees that historical forms and organizational functions of the police are well documented in the UAE, there is little research on the perceptions of the public towards police. This indicates that there is need to explore factors that influence the growth of future policing requirements that is neither functionalist nor teleological, but takes into accounts the variability and unevenness, in keeping the crime rates low (Aldarmaki, 2013) and maintaining the levels of public confidence (Johnston, 2000).