Abstract
Contentious debate is currently taking place regarding the extent to which public scrutiny of the police post-Ferguson has led to depolicing or to a decrease in proactive police work. Advocates of the “Ferguson effect” claim the decline in proactive policing increased violent crime and assaults on the police. Although police body-worn cameras (BWCs) are touted as a police reform that can generate numerous benefits, they also represent a form of internal and public surveillance on the police. The surveillance aspect of BWCs suggests that BWCs may generate depolicing through camera-induced passivity. We test this question with data from a randomized controlled trial of BWCs in Spokane (WA) by assessing the impact of BWCs on four measures: officer-initiated calls, arrests, response time, and time on scene. We employ hierarchical linear and cross-classified models to test for between- and within-group differences in outcomes before and after the randomized BWC rollout. Our results demonstrate no evidence of statistically significant camera-induced passivity across any of the four outcomes. In fact, self-initiated calls increased for officers assigned to treatment during the RCT. We discuss the theoretical and policy implications of the findings for the ongoing dialogue in policing.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 481-509 |
Number of pages | 29 |
Journal | Criminology |
Volume | 56 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2018 |
Keywords
- Ferguson effect
- body-worn cameras
- camera-induced passivity
- depolicing
- employee motivation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pathology and Forensic Medicine
- Law