Enhancing Public Trust in the Australian and Indonesia Police (AFP and Polri) through Procedural Justice and Reconciliation Models

Abstract

Public trust in law enforcement is crucial to the establishment and maintenance of police institutional legitimacy. In turn, police legitimacy is fundamental to community cooperation and compliance with laws. However, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Indonesian National Police (Polri) have experienced significant declines in public trust due to allegations of misconduct, inefficiencies, and violations of laws. This research investigates the potential and challenges of enhancing procedural justice and reconciliation models to enhance public trust. Using comparative analysis, this research explores how procedural justice, the fair and respectful treatment of citizens, can build and maintain trust in law enforcement alongside the adoption of reconciliation strategies that exercise sincere public apologies in its practice. Through the social-ecological model (SEM), there are five key actors identified in these efforts, including police officers, the police force, the police ombudsman and commissioners, the criminal justice system institutions, and the media. While procedural justice has shown promise in some legal jurisdictions in improving police-community relations, the paper argues that combining it with culturally tailored reconciliation practices could offer a more holistic solution to restoring public confidence. Limitations of the study include reliance on secondary data and a lack of insight into the perspectives of police officers themselves, which may introduce bias. The findings underscore the necessity of combining a reconciliation approach to procedural justice practice in policing, especially when public trust in police erodes. Show more