Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of police legitimacy on public cooperation with the police. This study consists of obligation to obey, moral alignment, and legality of police actions as factors of police legitimacy. This research employs a survey questionnaire to evaluate the police legitimacy and public cooperation with the police. The number of subject of the study is 354 citizens residing in Daegu metropolitan city and some cities of Gyeongsangbuk-do province. The study employs a multi-regression analysis to investigate the effect of the three factors of police legitimacy on public cooperation with the police. The effects of the three key factors of police legitimacy- obligation to obey, moral alignment, and legality of police actions-on public cooperation with the police are significant; specifically, legality of police actions is shown to be more effective for nurturing public cooperation than the rest of these factors. The findings also have some implications for how Korean police can foster better relationships with citizens in the communities.