# 1 What’s fair for me may not seem fair to you – perception in policing

Questions of fairness and equity are crucial to modern policing. The Cambridge Dictionary defines fairness as:

> the quality of treating people equally or in a way that is right or reasonable

(Cambridge Dictionary, 2020)

To have legitimacy, policing organisations must not only act with fairness and, indeed, impartiality, but just as importantly they need to be seen to be acting in this way. This underlines the importance of perception, but where do perceptions come from? As has been noted, when it comes to policing, ‘Perceptions of fairness are not only driven by outcomes. They may also be influenced by the fairness and consistency of the process used to reach those outcomes’ (Center for Public Safety and Justice, 2013).

OpenLearn - Justice, fairness and mediation
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