A study of institutional trust in public security agents in Zanjan

Institutional trust in public security agents has always been one of the sources of soft power and regulatory “social capital” in the Islamic Republic of Iran which includes a set of positive attitudes towards its policies, functions, and agents. People’s trust in public security agents is closely related to most political and social variables so that its positive developments can improve the relationship between public security agents and people in maintaining order and security. Therefore, the present study aims to improve the relationship between public security agents and people by drawing a picture of trust in public security agents. Accordingly, the research examines the institutional trust of Zanjan people in public security agents and explores what factors affect the trust of Zanjan people in public security agents. This research has been carried out through a descriptive-analytical approach using the survey method and the data were collected from the questionnaires filled out by 455 citizens of Zanjan. The research findings were analyzed by SPSS software and analysis of variance and mean difference, correlation, and regression tests. The findings show that the average trust of Zanjan people in public security agents is 75%. Institutional trust in public security agents varied depending on the contextual factors. Women and married people have higher trust in public security agents than men and singles. Also, people in the age group of “46 and older” and people with lower levels of education have higher trust in public security agents. Among the factors affecting the dependent variable, two factors, i.e. sense of security and performance of departments and institutions, had 0.44% and 0.6% direct correlation with institutional trust in public security agents, respectively, and totally explain about 50% of its variations.