Community perceptions: procedural justice, legitimacy and body-worn cameras

• Date: 18 April 2020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-10-2019-0161
• Pages: 495-509
• Published date: 18 April 2020
• Author: Paige S. Thompson,Bryce E. Peterson,Daniel S. Lawrence
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice,Juvenile/youth crime,Police studies,Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Criminology & criminal justice

Community perceptions:

procedural justice, legitimacy and

body-worn cameras

Paige S. Thompson, Bryce E. Peterson and Daniel S. Lawrence

Justice Policy Center, Urban Institute, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Abstract

Purpose –This paper explores community members’perceptions of the Milwaukee Police Department

(MPD)’s body-worn camera (BWC) program, examining knowledge and support of the program and its impact

on views of procedural justice and legitimacy.

Design/methodology/approach –A two-wave, online survey was administered to Milwaukee-area

residents in the fall of 2017 and summer of 2018, yielding 1,527 respondents. Multivariate regression analyses

focus on overall relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, community member knowledge of

the program, procedural justice and legitimacy and support for BWCs.

Findings –Community members are supportive of BWCs and view officers as procedurally just and

legitimate; however, perceptions were significantly lower among Black respondents. Respondents with

knowledge of the BWC program were more likely to view officers as procedurally just, but program knowledge

did not increase support for it.

Research limitations/implications –Police agencies may benefit from improving community awareness

of their BWC program as knowledge of the program is positively linked to the views of departmental

procedural justice and legitimacy. However, education efforts alone are not sufficient in improving police–

community relations. Future research should examine how policing stakeholders can engage the community to

build views of legitimacy associated with BWC policies.

Originality/value –Findings provide insight into community member perceptions of a large BWC program

in a major US city. Results demonstrate the relationship between knowledge of a department’s BWC program

and views of procedural justice and legitimacy and support for BWCs.

Keywords Body-worn cameras, Community survey, Legitimacy, Procedural justice, Police

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) have received increasing empirical attention as more police

agencies rapidly deploy this new technology among officers. Recent research estimates that

around half (47.4%) of all agencies and a large majority of those with 500 or more officers

(79.6%) have established an operational BWC program (Hyland, 2018). BWCs can improve

police operations by providing objective, recorded accounts of police-community interactions

that can provide valuable evidence in investigations. However, for many agencies the

impetus for establishing BWC programs is to increase transparency, accountability and

legitimacy to improve community trust in police (BJA, 2018). This goal is particularly

germane after a series of high-profile cases in the United States involving controversial

interactions between police and community members. These highly publicized events shed

Community

members’

perceptions of

BWC program

495

This project was supported by Grant No. 2015-WY-BX-0006 awarded by the Bureau of Justice

Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of

Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice,

the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the

SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not

necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. We would like to

thank staff from the Milwaukee Police Department, especially Sgt. Doug Wiorek, who played a

significant role in working with the researchers for this study and article.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/1363-951X.htm

Received 4 October 2019

Revised 6 February 2020

20 February 2020

Accepted 4 March 2020

Policing: An International Journal

Vol. 43 No. 3, 2020

pp. 495-509

© Emerald Publishing Limited

1363-951X

DOI 10.1108/PIJPSM-10-2019-0161