Empowering the police to fight terrorism in Israel
| Author | Christi Metcalfe,Olivia Hodge |
| Published date | 01 November 2018 |
| Date | 01 November 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817739664 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817739664
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2018, Vol. 18(5) 585 –603
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895817739664
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Empowering the police to fight
terrorism in Israel
Christi Metcalfe
University of South Carolina, USA
Olivia Hodge
Greenville Technical College, USA
Abstract
Police agencies are often seen as reliant on the public to give them the authority and power necessary
to carry out their responsibilities, including controlling crime. As many police agencies begin to take
on counterterrorism functions, this empowerment of the police is necessary in their fight against
terrorism. To our knowledge, no study to date has focused on the empowerment of the police in
their counterterrorism role and the factors that influence the willingness of the public to afford the
police discretionary authority in terrorism matters. Using a sample of Israeli Jewish adults, we assess
the impact of legitimacy-based evaluations, as well as fear of terrorism and political ideologies, on the
public’s willingness to empower the police to handle homeland security matters. Police legitimacy
and political ideology have a direct impact on police empowerment, while procedural justice, police
performance, distributive fairness, and fear of victimization by terrorism also have indirect effects.
Keywords
Empowerment, homeland security, police legitimacy, procedural justice, terrorism
With the increasing threat of terrorism in western democracies, many police agencies are
acquiring new counterterrorism responsibilities (Metcalfe et al., 2016; Weisburd et al.,
2009). While this transition is more recent in some countries, other countries have exten-
sive experience with policing terrorism. In Israel, for instance, homeland security was
recognized as a legal responsibility of the Israeli National Police (INP) more than 40
Corresponding author:
Christi Metcalfe, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South Carolina, Currell
College, 1305 Greene Street, SC 29208, Columbia, USA.
Email: cmetcalfe@sc.edu
739664CRJ0010.1177/1748895817739664Criminology & Criminal JusticeMetcalfe and Hodge
research-article2017
Article
586 Criminology & Criminal Justice 18(5)
years ago. Scholars acknowledge the potential consequences and costs of policing terror-
ism, including the problems and questions that arise within the community when the
police become more heavily involved in homeland security (Jonathan and Weisburd,
2010; Weisburd et al., 2009). It is widely accepted that terrorism creates new challenges
for police–community relations and can impact citizens’ perceptions of the police (Hasisi
et al., 2009; Jonathan, 2010; Jonathan and Weisburd, 2010; Jonathan-Zamir and
Weisburd, 2013; Metcalfe et al., 2016; Perry and Jonathan-Zamir, 2014).
These perceptions are crucial considering that citizens’ trust and inclination to pro-
vide information to the police can affect law enforcement’s ability to fight crime, and by
consequence, the ability to fight terrorism (Cherney and Murphy, 2013; Hasisi et al.,
2009; Jonathan and Weisburd, 2010; Schulhofer et al., 2011; Weisburd et al., 2009). One
of the best ways for the police to gain intelligence is to develop good relations with the
civilian populations (Cherney and Murphy, 2017; Hasisi et al., 2009; Huq et al., 2011a).
Hasisi et al. (2009: 177) even recognize that not only the police but also citizens are
“stakeholders and major actors in policing terrorism”. In particular, police often rely on
empowerment from the public, which gives them discretionary authority to decide how
to handle their responsibilities (Tyler, 2003). This empowerment legitimizes the activi-
ties of the police (Tyler, 2003), including counterterrorism initiatives.
Police empowerment, though, remains largely understudied and underdeveloped
within the process-based model of policing. While some studies have focused on key
factors that can influence citizen empowerment of the police to fight crime (Factor et al.,
2014; Sunshine and Tyler, 2003), no studies to date have evaluated empowerment of the
police to fight terrorism. In this regard, Israel presents an interesting case study consider-
ing its unique experience with homeland security and the police. Israeli citizens are gen-
erally more supportive of the Israeli Army and its counterterrorism strategies than the
police, although some scholars have argued that the INP has earned a more positive
public perception in recent years (Fishman, 2005; Weisburd et al., 2009). This lack of
trust for the police, as well as the perception that the police are unfair, may have negative
consequences for counterterrorism within Israel, particularly as it relates to the public’s
willingness to empower the police to handle homeland security matters. The level of
trust and empowerment could even vary depending on political leanings (Sunshine and
Tyler, 2003), such that expectations of the police, including their responses to counterter-
rorism, are different across political ideologies. Alternatively, in a society, like Israel,
faced with constant terrorist threats, fear, and concern may create demands on the police
to focus on terrorism (Hasisi et al., 2009), thus elevating the role of the police in home-
land security and leading to greater empowerment, despite the perceived legitimacy of
the police or ideological leanings.
In consideration of these competing forces, and the key role police are continuing to
assume in counterterrorism, the current study focuses on the factors influencing police
empowerment to fight terrorism. Using a survey conducted in Israel in the summer of
2015, we assess: (a) public evaluations of police legitimacy, procedural justice, distributive
justice, and performance; (b) risk of terrorism; and (c) political ideologies to determine the
extent to which these factors influence the public’s willingness to support the police in their
counterterrorism role. While fear and political leanings are identified as potential predic-
tors of police empowerment, especially in relation to terrorism (Hasisi et al., 2009; Sunshine
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