The effects of police performance on agency trustworthiness and citizen participation

We examine the effect of performance information on citizens' willingness to engage with government. We hypothesize that when performance information is positive, citizens perceive government as trustworthy, which increases proclivity for participation. To validate this framework, we conduct an experiment that tests the effect of police performance on citizens' perceptions of police trustworthiness and intentions to participate in a neighbourhood watch programme. We find that information about police performance strongly affects perceptions of police trustworthiness. Yet, citizen decisions to participate in the community watch programme are more complex and can be triggered by either positive or negative police performance.