A little money goes a long way: Examining the influence of corruption on trust in police in Russia

Abstract

Corruption is one of many factors influencing citizens’ trust in the police force. Monthly household income and perceived police competence in controlling crime were identified as possible moderating factors on the relationship between perceived corruption and trust in the police. Using interview data from the 5th wave of the European Social Survey (N = 1620), multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyse these possible moderators in Russia. Perceived corruption has significant negative correlations with police trust, and this negative effect was found to be reduced for those of high-income. However, higher perceived police competence was not found to increase tolerance to corruption when examining impact in trust levels. Instead, those Russians that viewed the police as competent were slightly more impacted in their trust levels by perceived corruption. The findings were fairly consistent with existing research. Further research is required to distinguish between corruption perceived and corruption experienced, and if they have differing impacts on trust.