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The use of paramilitary methods in civil policing tasks has become common in Western police agencies. Despite propositions that such methods should undermine the relationship between the police and the public, the effect of paramilitary policing on public trust in the police has not been empirically tested. In the present study, we examine this question in the context of protest policing, which has become a major concern for Western police agencies. Using a survey of 470 protesters who participated in "Occupy" protest events in Israel in 2012, we find that the perceived use of paramilitary methods has an independent and negative effect on trust, stronger than that of police effectiveness and the "neutrality" component of procedural justice. In-depth interviews suggest that the significance of paramilitarism may be the result of a sense of alienation and criminalization it elicits among protesters who generally perceive themselves as law-abiding citizens.

Paramilitary policing is defined as the use of military methods by civil police agencies for civil policing tasks, and may include using paramilitary policing units (PPUs), or providing officers with military training, equipment, weaponry, and uniform (Kraska 2007). It is frequently argued that this policing style has become common in Western police agencies (Balko 2006; Kraska and Cubellis 1997; Kraska and Kappeler 1997; McCulloch 2001; Rantatalo 2012; Vitale 2005). While the police in Western democracies have emphasized community-oriented policing since at least the early 1990s (Willis 2014), paramilitary methods, which in many ways appear to conflict with community policing, are often perceived as the efficient answer to problems such as organized crime, terrorism, and social protests (Kraska and Kappeler 1997; Murray 2005).

The growing prevalence of paramilitary policing has stimulated a large body of literature in political science, sociology, criminal justice, and criminology, which mostly addresses its definitions, origins, and expressions in the field (e.g., Den Heyer 2014; Hills 2009; Perito 2004; Rantatalo 2012; Salter 2014). As for the effects of this policing style on police-community relationships, scholars have argued that it alienates police officers from the citizens they serve and undermines procedurally-just treatment, including transparency and accountability (Hill and Beger 2009; Kraska and Cubellis 1997; Pino and Wiatrowski 2006). At the same time, the effects of paramilitary policing on public views of the police, and specifically on...

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