The purpose of this research study was to assess the level of trust given by the community to the private security and police personnel for public safety in the Municipality of San Nicolas. The theoretical framework of this research was anchored on social trust theory and institutional trust theory. Social trust theory indicates that social support is an important concept in this theory. When individuals perceive a high level of social support, they hold a high level of trust in society, which motivates them toward positive behavior. While the institutional trust, citizens expect institutions to perform efficiently, effectively, fairly and ethically in accordance with the roles assigned to them by law or with social norms in the eyes of citizens. The study employed a mixed methods research design and descriptive type data analysis used to describe the level of trust and factors affecting the trust of the community towards private security and police personnel for public safety. Data were collected from 25 respondents, selected randomly from the Municipality of San Nicolas. Moreover, structured survey questionnaire and an open-ended interview was also used to enrich the information in respondents’ own words on the factors affecting their trust to the private security and police personnel. As a result, the level of trust of the community towards private security for public safety is, majority appeared to be Strongly Agree. The respondents stated that, they are satisfied that the private security is doing their job well and they are willing to cooperate with them if necessary. Further, respondent also agreed that they felt secured with the presence of private security. However, in an open-ended interview, respondents were asked about their experience and how did it affect their trust towards the private security and police personnel. Respondents were able to mention their concerns specifically on the unfair treatment; sense of responsibility; communication and their expectation to public safety. Hence, the researcher suggested that performance evaluation is imperative to provide guidance on measuring trust within community level to set a room for personnel’s attitude and work reliability improvement. Because it is believed that, a police force that fails to secure public trust and establish its legitimacy simply does not function effectively (Hough & Roberts, 2004).

Keywords : Level of trust; performance evaluation; public trust; private security; police personnel.