Author(s): Özgür SOLAKOĞLU Gültekin TOPAKTAŞ Mustafa KİRİŞCİ M. Burak ZABUN
The aim of this study is to fill an important gap in the comparative literature of criminal justice by comparing the public perception of two law enforcement organizations in Turkey: the Turkish National Gendarmerie and the Turkish National Police. The data were taken from the Turkish Life Satisfaction Survey conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institution in 2008. Binary logistic regression was used to obtain the results. The independent variable of the study was a dummy variable that indicated whether respondents received their law enforcement services from the Gendarmerie or the Turkish National Police. The dependent variables were satisfaction of citizens with the traffic services carried out by the law enforcement system, satisfaction of citizens with the timeliness of the law enforcement system (in intervening with crime) and satisfaction of citizens with the behavior of the law enforcement system. The control variables were fear of crime, individual victimization, age, income, marital status, level of education, satisfaction with the neighborhood, and gender. The results of the study indicate that Turkish citizens, who receive law enforcement services from the Gendarmerie are more likely to be satisfied with traffic services, attitudes towards citizens, and timeliness in intervening a crime compared to those people who receive law enforcement service from police. This study presents the notion of gendarmerie (law enforcement organization with military status) and provides evidence that of Gendarmerie type law enforcement organizations can perform law enforcement duties as effective as traditional police forces based on public satisfaction.
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