Neuroscience

Perception

Criminology

Politics

Criminal justice

Economic Justice

Political science

Psychology

Theory of criminal justice

Community policing

Procedural justice

Public relations

Criminal justice ethics

Legitimacy

Police science

International Journal of Police Science & Management

This paper explores the influence of people's general attitudes and experiences from contact with police (both citizen-initiated and police-initiated) on public satisfaction with police in Australia. Findings support research from US-based studies about the relationship between dissatisfaction with police encounters and lower public satisfaction with police. Satisfaction from citizen-initiated contact with police was found to explain the largest amount of public satisfaction with police. Three factors were, however, more influential than police contact in shaping public satisfaction with police: people's views of police performance, police legitimacy and police use of procedural justice. Implications for policing policy are discussed.

Public Satisfaction with Police: The Influence of General Attitudes and Police-Citizen Encounters