The Loss of Familiarity in Policing

<jats:p>The familiarity principle, or mere exposure effect, refers to the psychological phenomenon in which individuals develop preferences for stimuli simply through repeated exposure (Zajonc, 2001). This paper extends the principle to policing, suggesting that consistent exposure to the same officers within a community may build trust and improve public perceptions of policing. Conversely, frequent changes in personnel – driven by centralised policing structures or high staff attrition – may erode these benefits and weaken confidence. This is significant because policing scholarship has yet to connect explicitly the mere exposure effect to trust-building, leaving an important theoretical and practical gap to address.</jats:p>