Examining the Attitudes Towards Police Legitimacy Scale in the Canadian Context

We conducted a series of studies to examine the validity of the Attitudes Towards Police Legitimacy Scale in the Canadian context. A confirmatory factor analysis (N = 686) suggested that the single-factor scale fit the data reasonably well, as we observed fit indices similar to those initially reported by Reynolds et al. (2018). The scale also demonstrated strong convergent validity with a feeling thermometer measuring attitudes towards police-indeed, the strength of this correlation suggests that researchers may prefer the more efficient single-item measure. Future research is therefore necessary to fully understand whether the Attitudes Towards Police Legitimacy Scale is a valid, useful measure of police legitimacy in Canada.