Locality of residence and willingness to cooperate with the police: the case of Arab society in Israel

Purpose To examine the association between the type of locality members of ethnonational minority reside in and their willingness to cooperate with police, as measured by the extent of their readiness to report victimization and witnessed crime to this institution. The social capital perspective served as the study's theoretical framework. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from the Personal and Community Security Index Survey conducted among the Arab citizens of Israel in 2020 (N = 1,004). The data were analysed using linear regression models. Findings Residents of ethnically mixed localities exhibited greater willingness to report victimization as compared to residents of ethnically homogeneous localities. In contrast, residents of ethnically mixed localities exhibited lower willingness to report witnessed crime as compared to residents of ethnically homogeneous localities. Research limitations/implications The results are in line with the social capital perspective. They suggest that residing in localities of different ethnic composition corresponds to varying levels of social cohesion and mobilization of various social capital types to preserve social order, resulting in a varying extent of willingness to cooperate with the police. Originality/value This is one of the first studies attempting to link between ethnic composition of residential localities and the willingness to cooperate with police.