Measuring everyday experiences with the police in the Netherlands: An experience sampling pilot study

Survey research typically measures contact and experiences with police cross-sectionally and retrospectively. These retrospective measures may suffer from recall biases and are relatively limited in capturing the variety of experiences that may occur in daily life. The current study explores the feasibility and application of experience sampling techniques to measure day-to-day experiences with the police and variation in attitudes towards the police. Data for the study were collected over a period of 21 days from a convenience sample of 206 young people (aged 18–30 years) living in the Netherlands. After completing a baseline questionnaire, participants completed daily questionnaires measuring attitudes towards the police and any experiences with the police or other authorities that have occurred. A total of 3042 daily questionnaires were completed out of a possible 4389 (69% response rate). An analysis of participation and attrition suggests that individuals with more positive views of the police are more likely to complete most or all of the daily surveys. The descriptive results show that the number and type of experiences can vary substantially across individuals and time and that overall experiences with the police are prevalent in everyday life. The most prevalent reported experiences were observing the police ‘on the job’ and through the media. In addition, while attitudes towards the police were largely stable across the study period, there was still a non-negligible amount of variation over time. These pilot results raise questions about how we measure experiences with the police, and what role different experiences have in shaping individual attitudes. Experience sampling techniques may help to capture these other forms of exposure and understand how these experiences might influence attitudes towards police.