Reassessing the process-based model: Do procedural justice and police legitimacy lead to reporting neighborhood problems to the police over time?

The process-based model, which emphasizes enhancing procedural justice and police legitimacy, is regarded as a key approach to fostering community members' cooperation with police. Despite its prominence, research on how these perceptions influence actual cooperative behaviors remains scarce, particularly in the context of longitudinal data. This study aims to address these gaps. Multilevel logistic regression modeling was applied to three waves of survey data, primarily collected from crime hot spots in Baltimore City, Maryland, to examine the longitudinal impacts of procedural justice and police legitimacy on the likelihood of reporting neighborhood problems to the police. KHB mediation analysis was used to assess the indirect effect of procedural justice on reporting behavior through legitimacy. The findings provide limited support for the process-based model, revealing that while police legitimacy significantly influenced reporting behavior, there was no evidence of either a direct or indirect effect of procedural justice on reporting neighborhood problems to the police. These results question the widely held belief that improvements in procedural justice will lead to public cooperation with law enforcement. Thus, if the goal is to foster long-term cooperation from community members, police strategies may need to extend beyond simply integrating procedural justice principles. • This longitudinal study examines how procedural justice and police legitimacy affect actual cooperation with the police. • Police legitimacy significantly increases reporting neighborhood problems to the police. • Direct and indirect effects (via legitimacy) of procedural justice on reporting behavior are negligible and not significant. • The findings challenge the belief that improving procedural justice leads to increased public cooperation with the police.