Police self-legitimacy and online presence through short-form media representations

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.