A large body of survey research demonstrates that when people have contact with the police, the fairness with which police are perceived to act affects citizens’ trust and confidence in the police and their sense that the police deserve to be obeyed—that is, procedural justice by police shapes police legitimacy and obligation. Procedural justice is a matter of treating people with dignity and respect, giving them an opportunity to explain their situations and listening to what they have to say, and explaining what police have done or will do, so that it is clear that officers are taking account of people’s needs and concerns and basing police decisions on facts. It is about not whether but how police exercise their authority. From this body of evidence, it would appear that police can “create” legitimacy by acting with procedural justice in their everyday encounters with citizens. As intuitive as this might seem, previous research and the authors’ own study casts doubt on it. However, it was also found that citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice are substantially affected by whether or not they are searched without their consent, and that finding may have implications for how police can nurture legitimacy.¹