Decision to adopt body-worn cameras in small and rural Pennsylvania police departments
Policing: An International Journal
ISSN: 1363-951X
Article publication date: 20 November 2023
Issue publication date: 31 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Internationally publicized cases of police violence against unarmed black men have led to calls for accountability in policing. Increased footage of police–public interactions, specifically through the form of police body-worn cameras (BWCs), is encouraged and considered an innovation that can improve the policing profession. However, BWC adoption is likely more feasible in big city departments than in small and rural departments, who respond to many of the same issues as their larger counterparts. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of BWC among leaders of small and rural police departments.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a mixed methods approach, the authors surveyed 349 chiefs of small and rural Pennsylvania police departments and conducted qualitative follow-up interviews with 53 chiefs.
Findings
The results indicate that both adopters and non-adopters esteem BWC in a positive light, particularly toward the ability to improve professionalism and police–community relations. Other findings and implications of these results will be discussed.
Originality/value
This study focuses on small and rural police departments, which make up the majority of police departments but are often understudied.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Stephanie Wehnau, Tim Servinksy, Nicole Sturges, Jessica See and Neil Shook at the Penn State Harrisburg Center for Survey Research for their help with data collection; Sue Copella at the Pennsylvania State Data Center for help gathering population data; Steve Shelow and Mike Ecker of the Penn State Justice and Safety Institute; Chief Scott Bohn at the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association; and Baha Bachnak, Matthew Fry, Alexander Groff, Samantha Kravits, Katherine Lenart, John Joseph Lewandowski, Jennie Perrone, Jocelyn Zamora, Adam Foltz and Cathy Gibbs for their research assistance. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
Funding: This project was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a legislative agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Conflict of interest: Daniel B. Yanich declares that he has no conflict of interest; Jennifer Gibbs declares that she has no conflict of interest; Jennifer L. Schally declares that she has no conflict of interest; Kaylie Derrickson declares that she has no conflict of interest; Daniel Howard declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Data availability statement: Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data are not available.
Ethical approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Citation
Yanich, D.B., Gibbs, J.C., Schally, J.L., Derrickson, K. and Howard, D. (2024), "Decision to adopt body-worn cameras in small and rural Pennsylvania police departments", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 16-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-06-2023-0082
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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