Program Profile: Procedurally-Just Policing during Traffic Stops (Turkey)

The program involved incorporating elements of procedural justice into traffic stops in Adana, Turkey, to test whether procedural justice improves citizens’ perceptions of the police and the law. The program is rated Ineffective. No statistically significant differences were found between the treatment and control groups on general perceptions of the police, but the study did find statistically significant differences between the treatment and control groups in encounter-specific perceptions.

An Ineffective rating implies that implementing the program is unlikely to result in the intended outcome(s).

This program's rating is based on evidence that includes at least one high-quality randomized controlled trial.

An Ineffective rating implies that implementing the program is unlikely to result in the intended outcome(s).

This program's rating is based on evidence that includes at least one high-quality randomized controlled trial.

Program Goals

The goals of the Procedurally-Just Policing Experiment were to test the effects of procedural justice on two aspects of citizens’ perceptions: their general perceptions of police and the law, and their perceptions of specific encounters with police during traffic stops.

Target Site

Police speed-patrol operations took place within the highly populated city limits of Adana, Turkey, located in the southern part of the country. The Adana Police Department (APD) is part of the Turkish National Police (TNP) and has around 350 traffic officers and 2 non-sworn officers in the traffic division, in which road-speed-control operations take place. Approximately 3,800 speeding tickets were issued per month in Adana during 2012.

Program Components

The Procedurally-Just Policing Experiment involved the delivery of four elements of procedural justice during traffic stops for speeding: neutrality, trust, participation, and dignity/respect.

During a traffic stop for speeding, a traffic control officer would give the driver information about the number of speed-related deaths and injuries in Adana, and in Turkey in general, and explain that the speed-control operations were being conducted to save peoples’ lives. Then the driver would be given an opportunity to explain his/her driving behaviors, share thoughts regarding speed controls, and ask questions. After hearing the driver’s concerns and answering questions, the officer would state the driver’s specific violations and issue a speeding ticket (following receipt of the driver’s license and vehicle registration).Traffic control officers behaved respectfully toward the drivers and a gave them a chance to speak before issuing a speeding ticket.

Program Theory

A process-based model of police legitimacy suggests there is direct relationship between police treatment of citizens and citizens’ feelings about police and the law (Tyler 2003). Citizens who feel they are treated respectfully by police and that police make fair decisions are theorized to view police as legitimate authorities. Consequently, citizens are expected to cooperate with police and comply with the law.

Study

Sahin and colleagues (2016) conducted a randomized controlled experiment in the city of Adana, Turkey, in which drivers exceeding the established speed limits were waved off the road and randomly assigned, by a senior officer on the scene, to be approached by either treatment or control officers. If multiple cars were pulled off the road at the same time, treatment and control cars were separated by 30 feet to ensure that drivers were unable to tell that they were being treated differently; control officers were instructed not to interact with treatment drivers and vice versa. Randomization was predetermined on pads of report forms provided by researchers to the officers. Researchers were on the scene to observe all speed-control operations, ensure that control officers did not take on any treatment behaviors, and review all paperwork after the traffic stops to ensure that randomization occurred correctly.

Treatment officers provided drivers with information about local speed-related injuries and deaths, gave drivers an opportunity to explain their driving behaviors and ask questions, and issued a speeding ticket in a polite and respectful manner. Control officers behaved as they normally would in traffic stop situations, which typically involved stopping the car, approaching and informing the driver that the speed limit had been exceeded, asking for license and registration, writing a ticket, and handing it to the driver.

The initial sample of 500 police–citizen traffic encounters included 254 respondents in the treatment group and 246 in the control group. The full working sample included 458 police–citizen traffic encounters after 42 respondents were dropped from the initial sample due to interview non-response. The sample of drivers was on average 37.2 years of age, 88.4 percent male, and 41.9 percent college-educated. Because the treatment group members were significantly more likely to be college- educated and have a family member or acquaintance who was a member of the Turkish National Police, those variables were controlled statistically in the analyses.

All participating drivers in the study were interviewed by the researcher immediately after the speeding ticket was issued by the officers, using an instrument that measured agreement or disagreement with nine statements related to police legitimacy and procedural justice concepts, as well as demographic information on age, gender, education, district of residency, occupation, and income. All interviews were conducted in Turkish and took between 2 and 4 minutes to complete. Data were analyzed using estimate bivariate-normal regression models with control variables. No subgroup analyses were conducted.

Officers were provided with a scripted message to deliver during traffic stops. The full text of the scripted message was printed on a postcard-sized card, with key points highlighted:

Good morning/afternoon sir/madam. My name is Officer_________. Do you know how we conduct our speed control operations? Let me provide you some brief information about speed controls. It is one of the most well-enforced traffic controls in Turkey. The radar equipment in our patrol car accurately records the car’s speed. We give tickets to all drivers who pass the speed limit we stop for speeding, regardless of their socioeconomic and occupational position. Our aim is to reduce traffic accidents. Do you know that approximately 30 percent of traffic accidents in Turkey are related to speeding? In Adana alone, there were 55 deaths and 5371 injuries in 2011 related to traffic accidents.

Guess how difficult it is for us to tell a person that his/her loved one has died or has been seriously injured? You can help us reduce these accidents by continually driving carefully and responsibly. Do you think we should continue conducting speed controls?

Today, you have been stopped because our radar-equipped patrol car detected that your speed was ___________. This speed is clearly above the stated limit of 70 km/h. Now, may I have your documents please?

Thank you. I wish you a safe trip. Please be careful next time. Thank you for your cooperation.

Officers read or recited from memory the scripted message in a polite and respectful manner and gave the drivers an opportunity to speak before issuing a ticket (Sahin et al. 2016).

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Sahin, Nusret Mesut. 2014. “Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and Police-Citizen Encounters: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Impact of Procedural Justice on Citizen Perceptions of the Police during Traffic Stops in Turkey.” PhD diss., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Tyler, Tom. 2003. “Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and the Effective Rule of Law.” Crime and Justice 30: 283–357.