Is There a Civilizing Effect on Citizens? Testing the Pre-Conditions for Body Worn Camera-Induced Behavior Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 109861112199671
Author(s):  
Quin Patterson ◽  
Michael D. White
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Change ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Systematic Social Observation ◽  
Social Observation ◽  
Gap Data

The cause(s) of reduced use of force and complaints following police body-worn camera (BWC) deployment remain unclear, though some argue that BWCs generate a civilizing effect on citizen behavior. This potential effect rests on four pre-conditions: (1) BWC presence and citizen awareness; (2) BWC activation; (3) Escalated citizen behavior or the potential for escalation; (4) Citizen mental capacity for BWC awareness. Prior research has not established the civilizing effect’s existence, or how often these pre-conditions are met; this study aims to fill that gap. Data was collected during systematic social observation (SSO) of 166 encounters between citizens and officers in the Tempe, Arizona Police Department. The results tell a simple story. Two pre-conditions (activation, citizen mental capacity) are consistently met; awareness and escalated behavior are not. Overall, 1.2% of encounters saw all pre-conditions met. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for research on BWCs.

scholarly journals Measuring Procedural Justice Policy Adherence During Use of Force Events: The Body-Worn Camera as a Performance Monitoring Tool

2021 ◽  
pp. 088740342110218
Author(s):  
Victoria A. Sytsma ◽  
Eric L. Piza ◽  
Vijay F. Chillar ◽  
Leigh S. Grossman
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The Body ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Consent Decree ◽  
Monitoring Tool ◽  
Monitoring Tools ◽  
Systematic Social Observation ◽  
Social Observation

This study capitalizes on a successful researcher–practitioner partnership to conduct a systematic social observation (SSO) of police body-worn camera (BWC) footage in Newark, NJ. To demonstrate the utility of BWCs as performance monitoring tools, we measure officer adherence to procedural justice standards throughout use of force events as mandated in the Newark Police Division’s updated policies pursuant to an ongoing federal consent decree. Overall, a slim majority of use of force events are procedurally just. However, results indicate several instances of policy noncompliance. Results are discussed, and policy recommendations related to procedural justice policy violations and BWCs for performance monitoring are provided.

Challenging the Ordinality of Police Use-of-Force Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 088740342110383
Author(s):  
Scott M. Mourtgos ◽  
Ian T. Adams ◽  
Samuel R. Baty
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physical Force ◽  
Police Use Of Force ◽  
Lethal Force ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Municipal Police ◽  
Force Data

Most use-of-force policies utilized by U.S. police agencies make fundamental ordinal assumptions about officers’ force responses to subject resistance. These policies consist of varying levels of force and resistance along an ordinally ranked continuum of severity. We empirically tested the ordinal assumptions that are ubiquitous to police use-of-force continua within the United States using 1 year’s use-of-force data from a municipal police department. Applying a quantitative technique known as categorical regression with optimal scaling, we found the assumptions of ordinality within the studied department’s use-of-force continuum (which is similar to many police use-of-force continua within the United States) are not met. Specifying physical force as a “lower” force option than less-lethal tools is associated with increased officer injury and decreased subject injury. Our findings call into question use-of-force continua featuring ordinal rankings for varying categories of less-lethal force.

Systematic Social Observation

2014 ◽  
pp. 5124-5133
Author(s):  
John D. McCluskey ◽  
Roger B. Parks ◽  
Stephen D. Mastrofski
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Social Observation ◽  
Social Observation

scholarly journals Revised findings for "Procedural justice training reduces police use of force and complaints against officers"

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Wood ◽  
Tom Tyler ◽  
Andrew V Papachristos ◽  
Jonathan Roth ◽  
Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Statistical Problem ◽  
Police Use Of Force ◽  
Chicago Police Department ◽  
Point Estimates ◽  
Chicago Police

Wood et al. (2020) studied the rollout of a procedural justice training program in the Chicago Police Department and found large and statistically significant impacts on complaints and sustained complaints against police officers and police use of force. This document describes a subtle statistical problem that led the magnitude of those estimates to be inflated. We then re-analyze the data using a methodology that corrects for this problem. The re-analysis provides less strong conclusions about the effectiveness of the training than the original study: although the point estimates for most outcomes and specifications are negative and of a meaningful magnitude, the confidence intervals typically include zero or very small effects. On the whole, we interpret the data as providing suggestive evidence that procedural justice training reduced the use of force, but no statistically significant evidence for a reduction in complaints or sustained complaints.

scholarly journals Built and Social Environment by Systematic Social Observation and Leisure-Time Physical Activity Report among Brazilian Adults: a Population-Based Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (5) ◽  
pp. 682-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Cristina de Souza Andrade ◽  
Sueli Aparecida Mingoti ◽  
Dário Alves da Silva Costa ◽  
César Coelho Xavier ◽  
Fernando Augusto Proietti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Leisure Time ◽  
Leisure Time Physical Activity ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Population Based Study ◽  
Systematic Social Observation ◽  
Social Observation ◽  
Activity Report

Measuring the impact of police representativeness on communities

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maren B. Trochmann ◽  
Angela Gover
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Community Conflict ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the representativeness of police departments, i.e. the extent to which the demographics of sworn police officers mirror their local constituency’s demographic makeup, has an effect on communities. The study seeks to explain whether community complaints about police use of force are related to the representativeness of the police department. Design/methodology/approach The study examines the relationships between use of force complaints lodged against a police department and the representativeness of the police vis-à-vis their community using ordinary least squares regression and city fixed-effects models. The stratified sample of 100 large US cities uses data from the US Census Equal Employment Opportunity Survey and the Bureau of Justice Statistics Law Enforcement Management and Administration Statistics Survey from several points-in-time. Findings The analysis suggests that racial makeup and, to a lesser extent, local residency of police departments might matter in reducing community conflict with police, as represented by use of force complaints. However, the fixed-effects model suggests that unobserved community-level characteristics and context matter more than police departments’ representativeness. Originality/value This study seeks to provide a unique perspective and empirical evidence on community conflict with police by integrating the public administration theory of representative bureaucracy with criminal justice theories of policing legitimacy. The findings have implications for urban policing as well as law enforcement human capital and public management practices, which is essential to understand current crises in police-citizen relations in the US, especially in minority communities.

Classifying “Micro” Routine Activities of Street-level Drug Transactions

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajima Olaghere ◽  
Cynthia Lum
Keyword(s):  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Routine Activities ◽  
Routine Activities Theory ◽  
Baltimore City ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Drug Crime ◽  
Social Observation ◽  
Crime Scripts ◽  
Crime Event

Objectives: Routine activities theory attempts to link the intersection of individuals’ everyday routine activities to crime events at particular places. This study examines crime events not just as the product of intersecting macroroutine activities but also microroutines (similar to crime “scripts”) that occur immediately before, during, and after a crime event occurs. Method: Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage was accessed through Baltimore City Police Department from 2010 to 2011. Ethnographic techniques and systematic social observation of CCTV footage were used to categorize the microroutines of 74 street-level illicit drug transactions. Results: The findings illuminate eight microroutines of drug crime events that classify behaviors associated with illicit drug activity. Conclusions: This study advances our understanding of the link between routine activities and drug crime by examining how illicit transactions unfold from microroutines using a rarely employed, but fruitful source of data (CCTV footage).

Exploring Bias in Police Shooting Decisions With Real Shoot/Don’t Shoot Cases

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 1171-1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Worrall ◽  
Stephen A. Bishopp ◽  
Scott C. Zinser ◽  
Andrew P. Wheeler ◽  
Scott W. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
The Other ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Police Shootings ◽  
Municipal Police ◽  
Shooting Decisions ◽  
Published Research ◽  
Relevant Factors

The controversy surrounding recent high-profile police shootings (e.g., Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Laquan McDonald in Chicago) has prompted inquiry into the possible existence of bias in officers’ use-of-force decisions. Using a balanced mix of shoot/don’t shoot cases from a large municipal police department in the Southwestern United States, this study analyzed the effect of suspect race on officers’ decisions to shoot—while accounting for other theoretically relevant factors. Findings suggest that Black suspects were not disproportionately the target of police shootings; Black suspects were approximately one third as likely to be shot as other suspects. This finding challenges the current bias narrative and is consistent with the other race-related findings in recently published research.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document