Abstract

Cawthray and Bull in their study titled, “The Spatial Dimension of Police Legitimacy: An Exploration of Two Pacific Island States”, map the significance of spatial relationships – defined in terms of physical or geographical distance and social distance – in their analysis of police legitimacy in rural and remote contexts. They demonstrate the importance of connecting spatial relationships with police legitimacy by analysing empirical data from two Pacific island case studies. Their conclusion suggest that the relationship should be tested across a broader range of cases that include Global North, urban and virtual settings. This article takes up this challenge by focusing on the spatial relations of police legitimacy in urban settings embedded in a digitally mediated world. Our secondary analysis of ethnographic observational and interview data collected in neighbourhood policing settings in Belgium demonstrates how the proximity or distance between police officers in their interactions with both officers and citizens, whether constituted in neighbourhood settings or digital domains, can be linked to conceptualizations of police legitimacy. We argue that contextually defined elements of spatiality (physical, social or virtual) should be considered in assessments of how perceptions of police legitimacy shape interactions between police officers and citizens.