Paradoxical effects of self-awareness of being observed: testing the effect of police body-worn cameras on assaults and aggression against officers

Abstract

Objectives Recently, scholars have applied self-awareness theory to explain why bodyworn cameras (BWCs) affect encounters between the public and police, with its most immediate manifestation being a reduction in the use of force by and complaints against police. In this study, we report on the paradoxical effects of BWCs in the context of assaults on officers. Methods A multisite randomized controlled trial in ten departments, with officers wearing (or not wearing) BWCs based on random assignment of shifts. Odds ratios are used to estimate the treatment effect on assaults, along with Bone study removedŝ ensitivity analyses. Further subgroup analyses are performed in terms of varying degrees of officers' discretion, to enhance the practical applications of this multisite experiment. Finally, before-analyses are applied as well, control shifts (M = 28.38; SD = 15.99), which translate into 37% higher odds of assault in treatment shifts than in control conditions. The perverse direction and relative magnitude in each experimental site in eight out of ten sites were consistent. The backfiring treatment effect was substantially more pronounced in low discretion sites, i.e., where officers strongly followed the experimental protocol (OR = 2.565; 95% CI 1.792, 3.672). At the same time, before-after analyses show that assaults were overall reduced by 61% in the participating police departments, thus suggesting paradoxical effects.Conclusions We explain these findings using self-awareness theory. Once self-aware that their performance is being observed by BWCs, officers become at risk of being assaulted. Results suggest that under some circumstances, self-awareness can lead to excessive self-inspection that strips power-holders of their ability to function under extreme situations. This mechanism is potentially a function of Bover-deterrence^. The study further demonstrates the benefits of applying psychosocial theories to the study of social control and deterrence theories more broadly, with a robust and falsifiable mechanism that explains the conditions under which being observed stimulates either appropriate or perverse consequences.

Preventing treatment spillover contamination in criminological field experiments: the case of body-worn police cameras

“…Let us return to the notion of "analyze as you randomize" (see Senn 2004;Demir et al 2018 ;Ariel et al 2018;Maskaly et al 2017). Analyzing at the officer-level following shift-level randomization (i.e., ignoring the fact that officers are clustered by shift) would undermine the experimental design, becoming the exercise in self-deception against which Cornfield (1976) warns.…”

Police Body-Worn Cameras: Effects on Officers’ Burnout and Perceived Organizational Support

“…The U.S. Office of Technology Assessment defines EPM as "the continuous collection and analysis of management information about work performance and equipment use" (United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment, 1987, p. 1). Employee perceptions Ariel et al (2015) Decrease Decrease --- Jennings, Fridell, and Lynch (2015) Decrease Decrease --- Ariel et al (2016a) No effect -Increase --Ariel et al 2016bIncrease ---- Ariel (2016) No effect Mixed -Decrease -Sutherland, Ariel, Farrar, and De Anda (2017) Decrease Decrease -Increase - White, Gaub, and Todak (2017) Mixed Decrease Mixed -- Ariel, Sutherland, Henstock, Young, Drover, et al (2018) No Effect -Increase -- Yokum, Ravishankar, and Coppock (2017) No of the purpose of performance monitoring affects their attitudes and responses to monitoring (Wells, Moorman, & Werner, 2007) and supervisor support moderates perceived monitoring intensity on employee well-being (Holman et al, 2002). This article's insights spring from understanding BWCs as a type of EPM.…”

Live Facial Recognition: Trust and Legitimacy as Predictors of Public Support for Police Use of New Technology

“…Police and other security providers in countries across the world are increasingly turning to new technologies in an effort to undertake core functions more safely and efficiently and to address a rapidly changing landscape of threats, harms and challenges. Physical technologies like body-worn video (BWV), drones, GPS and enhanced scanning equipment are being used more and more alongside—and in conjunction with—softwares such as ‘predictive policing’ algorithms and ‘big data’ in ways that seem to herald a radical shift in the way policing is done (see among many others Ariel et al 2018 ; St Louis et al 2019 ; Meijer and Wessels 2019 ; Ridgeway 2018 ). The use of these technologies may shape the relationship between police and public in a variety of different ways, yet in many cases these developments have occurred without significant public discord or even debate.…”