Building trust in the police: Evidence from a multi-site experiment in Colombia

We study how improving police-citizen interactions increases public trust by experimentally evaluating a police training program in Colombia. The National Police retrained officers in procedural justice principles—such as fairness and respect—while instructing them to intensify citizen interactions. The intervention improved policing frequency, perceptions of fair treatment, and public trust. Our analysis points to strong complementarities between more and better policing: more interactions that lack good behavior or good behavior without increased interactions do not improve trust. We find no impacts on officers’ trust in citizens or beliefs about public trust, implying that institutional change may require more profound efforts.