Een (opsporings)zaak van vertrouwen?

In this study we explore police perspectives of the legitimacy of digital citizen investigators. Increasingly, citizens take the initiative to investigate crimes online, which presents both opportunities and challenges for law enforcement. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with Dutch police officers, we examine how digital citizen investigations relate to four dimensions of legitimacy: effectiveness, legality, procedural justice and distributive justice. Our findings show that digital citizen-led investigations are seen as legitimate by the police when they are managed transparently and competently, for example through providing a clear methodology for the digital investigation and when citizen investigators are perceived to have relevant digital expertise. However, police employees also identify tensions around inequality, norm violations and loss of control. How police officers navigate these perceived deficits in legitimacy in practice and decide whether to engage with or reject digital citizen efforts is discussed. Importantly, the results emphasise the need for clear communication between police officers and digital citizen investigators and technical expertise within the police organisation. The study adds to discussions of legitimacy and highlights the need for the police to maintain a careful balance between steering, responding to and respecting the role and knowledge of digital citizen investigators.