Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Recently, several Dutch and Belgian police forces started media content channels focused on short-form videos. In Anglo-Saxon countries, the portrayal of police work and informing citizens through these channels is associated with increased police self-legitimacy, community-building, and crime prevention (Ralph, 2021). However, the same online spaces also host citizen-generated videos depicting police transgressions, through sousveillance and cop-baiting, which contributes to stress, professional fatigue, and negatively impacts (self)-legitimacy (Huey & Ferguson, 2024). Self-legitimacy relates to the extent to which police officers believe in their professional identity and in the objectives and identity of the police organization. This research investigates how police self-legitimacy is constructed in relation to police online presence. The research contributes to existing literature on self-legitimacy by including the emergence of police online presence and exploring the understudied phenomenon of cop-baiting.
Author: De Vocht, Ludovic
Institution: Ghent University
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7105753653
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