'Reflecting all shades of opinion' - Public attitudinal surveys and the construction of police legitimacy in Northern Ireland

This article examines the role of attitudinal survey data in constructing l egitimacy for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Northern Ireland. A ar gues that such surveys have been adopted as an important and influential in strument in the manufacture of consent in a society where the relationship between the RUC and the nationalist/Catholic community has historically bee n problematic. The article highlights a number of fundamental problems-both of methodology and interpretation-in the use of such surveys. Utilizing un ique primary data it will be demonstrated that traditional attitudinal surv eys have consistently over-represented nationalist/Catholic support for the RUC and drawn rather tendentious correlations between quality of service' delivery and issues of legitimation and public acceptability.