Policing: An International Journal, Volume 40, Issue 3, Page 587-600, August 2017.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to validate an instrument, based on previous research, for measuring procedurally just and unjust police behavior during interactions with citizens. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from September 2015 to January 2016 using systematic social observations in two local police forces in Belgium. A total of 284 full police-citizen interactions were observed. The authors describe and explain how the procedurally (un)just police behavior is measured and discuss existing research on the subject. The authors also test the validity of the instrument and stress the importance of making a distinction between procedurally just and unjust behavior, which has often been overlooked in previous research. Findings The measurement instrument passed the validity test, except for the procedurally just neutrality sub-index. The findings also confirm that both procedurally just and procedurally unjust police behavior can occur in the same interaction. Moreover, except for the trustworthy sub-indexes, the authors found a stronger negative correlation of procedurally unjust behavior with the citizen’s behavior compared to the strength of the positive correlations of the procedural justice indexes. Research limitations/implications The findings confirm a usable measurement instrument for research about procedural justice using systematic social observations. Important improvements were made to instruments that have been utilized in previous research. One of the most important recommendations for future research is to make a distinction between procedurally just and unjust police behavior. Originality/value This study is the first in which all four elements of police procedurally just behavior as well as their four procedurally unjust variants were measured using systematic social observations.