시민의 법률준수 및 경찰협력에의 영향요인: 경찰 정당성 이론을 중심으로

The purpose of this study is to test the police legitimacy theory in policing context of South Korea, which has been studied in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In particular, this study empirically analyzes the causal relationship between police legitimacy, police effectiveness, and public compliance with law and public cooperation with police. The study also analyzes whether police legitimacy has a mediating effect between police effectiveness and public compliance with law and public cooperation with police and suggests policy implications to improve public perceptions of police legitimacy. The data for this study were collected from 505 people aged 19 to under 80 living in eight metropolitan cities in South Korea through an online survey company during December, 2018. The multiple regression analyses showed that the perception of police legitimacy had a statistically significant and positive effects on public compliance with law and public cooperation with police. In particular, the perception of police legitimacy had the effect of mediating the relationship between police effectiveness and public compliance with law and public cooperation with police. Therefore, if police institutions want the public to comply with law and cooperate with the police actively, they first need to make the efforts to develop the perception of police legitimacy through effective police practices and policies in South Korea.