The authors first review the literature on the confidence in the police in the United States to establish a baseline for comparison for representative data from the 17 most industrialized nations in the world. Public confidence toward the police in Japan and in the United States are then compared for their uniqueness. The study of cross-national public opinions toward the police is advised by the authors to be important for at least three reasons. First, comparative public opinions may serve as a barometer of a culture's contemporary sentiment and reflect the universality or differentiation of the behavior of the public regarding the police as an institution and the differential responses of various segments of a society. Second, the expressed attitude may foreshadow any popular changes within a society toward the police over time. Moreover, comparative public opinions in various societies may reveal certain persistent cultural variations. Third, comprehension of cross-national public opinions may help in developing an appreciation for the legal culture and legal practice of different societies and further enlighten interested persons about the status and explanations for crime and its control in a given society. Based on the findings of the current study, the U.S. public apparently has a higher confidence in the police than their continental European counterparts, but a confidence lower than that of other members of the common law family. In addition, although qualitative research indicates that the Japanese public has a higher confidence in their police than U.S. citizens, Cao and colleagues' (1998) compatible data show that the American public actually has a higher confidence in their police than the Japanese. Both studies show that political conservatism is one of the underlying causes of public confidence in the police. 1 table and 53 references