Technology innovations in policing: a framework

Abstract

Police agencies in the United States increasingly face a number of challenges that they must contend with. Since the beginning of the 21 st century American law enforcement has been tasked with reducing crime, responding to terrorist threats, improving their relationships with the communities they serve, which in many areas has been severely damaged. In addition to these demands, law enforcement agencies also struggle with organizational constraints. These include a lack of funding, difficulty in hiring new officers, and an inability to properly train officers to perform their jobs effectively. Technological innovations, when implemented successfully, have the potential to help provide solutions for many of the issues in modern American policing. Despite this, there has been little research conducted that seeks to explain the factors that influence whether or not police agencies implement technological innovations, as well as which kinds of innovations. This dissertation proposes a framework for understanding technological innovations in policing based on a number of organizational factors. This dissertation includes three separate studies: the first provides a review of the history of technological innovations in policing and outlines the framework I have developed; the second tests the framework, as well as other models derived from factor analyses, by using regression analyses to predict measures of police organization, structure, context, and culture on police technology adoption; and the third study analyzes technology adoption among American police departments over a span of thirty years, tracing the adoption rate of various technologies used in law enforcement over time.Overall, results from the dissertation suggest the framework is useful understanding differences in the adoption rates of innovations among law enforcement agencies in the United States. years. Glenn, I am so thankful for everything you have done for me: whether it be your ideas, wisdom, your patience, your belief in me, and more, I can truly say that I never would have made it through grad school if I had anyone else as my advisor. Special thanks to the other two members on my committee, Jake and Rob. Jake, I loved taking your classes and think I took more with you than any other professor in grad school. I learned so much from you, especially about methods and stats, and hope to be as good of a teacher as you one day. I will always remember our talks about Philly and San Diego sports (Go Chargers). Rob, you are the reason I even started a PhD program in the first place. You were the one who inspired me to become a criminologist way back in my undergrad days and it has been so cool to come full circle with you helping me out on my dissertation. I can never express how thankful I am for all of the amazing opportunities you have given me and look forward to our continued work together in the years to come. Shout out to everyone else who really made my time at Northeastern special. Greg, Natasha, and Amy, I appreciate your availability to tal...