Social Media and Public Perception of Ghana Police Service

Abstract

Citizens interact with the police either directly (i.e., face-to-face) or indirectly regularly (Mazerolle and Terrill, 2018). However, each citizen perceives these interactions differently. Whereas some may perceive the police as trustworthy and competent to protect them (Simpson, 2017), others view the police with scepticism about the officers’ motives and/or abilities to realize their duties in either a legal or a publicly acceptable manner (Bankoson, Chaiyoopatham and Ayudhya, 2018). Securing public confidence in the police is an important challenge for Police management (Albrecht, 2019). Not only is public support fundamental to the legitimacy of the police, but it is also important for enlisting the public in efforts to reduce crime (Hamm, Trinkner, and Carr, 2017). Negative perception could engender a lack of trust which can have dire consequences such as citizens not reporting crimes or asking the police for help (Tyler and Wakslak, 2004). This is important because citizens failing to seek assistance from the police prevents the police from successfully executing their mandate which includes: solving and preventing crime as well as maintaining law and order in communities (Kappeler and Schaefer, 2018).