Tyler’s procedural justice theory assumes that trust in procedural justice and in the effectiveness of
the police is important for building their legitimacy. And the perception of legitimacy of the police,
as a result of public trust, is necessary for the recognition of the police as an authority. When citizens
recognize the police’s right to determine authority, they will cooperate and feel the obligation to obey
the police and comply with the law. This theory is mainly tested in Anglo-Saxon countries. Hence,
the aim of this contribution is to test the key assumptions of the theory in Belgian context using the
Belgian data of the European Social Survey (ESS). Only few evidence was found for the procedural
justice theory in Belgian context.