Calibrating Public Accountability

Bromberg, Daniel E.; Charbonneau, Étienne

doi:10.1017/9781108966658

Cited by 15 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…We highlight the above phenomenon by demonstrating that BWCs do not lead to a decrease in DCAs among Blacks or Whites, nor does it lead to a decrease in police homicides of Blacks or Whites. This finding supports the results of prior studies, which demonstrate that the use and consequent effects of technology are filtered through the valued occupational assumptions and practices held by bureaucrats (Baekgaard & Serritzlew, 2016;Bromberg & Charbonneau, 2021;Kerpershoek et al, 2016;Manning, 2008;Sabbe et al, 2021). Of course, merely implementing a new technological fix does not mean that the above assumptions and practices will necessarily change.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…These included databases to run number plates, driving licenses, outstanding warrants, criminal records, or other field stops. Similarly, Meehan (1998) found that technologies that increased monitoring and surveillance of officers (e.g., dashcams, transponders, and GPS devices used to track movements of units) tended to be resisted, turned off, damaged, or sabotaged (also see Bromberg & Charbonneau, 2021). These practices-acts of omission and commission-are meaningful because they allow officers to enhance their sense of self-efficacy and avoid accountability.…”

Section: Negotiation Of Practices In the Police Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather, we are interested in discussing the typical assumptions and practices among patrol officers which lead to the patterns of motivated interpretation of BWC evidence that we highlight. Readers interested in more detailed discussions of the occupational assumptions of police officers may refer to ethnographic studies of police (e.g., Bittner, 1970;Bromberg & Charbonneau, 2021;Chan et al, 2003;Manning, 2008;Moskos, 2008;van Maanen, 1974;Young, 1991). 2.…”

Section: Declaration Of Conflicting Interestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Use of Performance Information and External Accountability: The Role of Citizen Oversight in Mitigating the Motivated Evaluation of Body-Worn Camera Evidence

Ali,

Wright

2024

The American Review of Public Administration

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Despite being touted as a game-changing technology, studies on the influence of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on policing outcomes have produced mixed results, with the underlying reasons for such findings unclear. Drawing on the sociology of culture and organizational theory, we argue that BWCs often have mixed impacts due to deeply ingrained, valued occupational assumptions and practices shaped by the structural and organizational context. These assumptions and practices, collectively known as the police métier, are not politically neutral and can lead to motivated decisions rather than accurate ones. We suggest that such motivated reasoning can be mitigated by changing the structural or organizational context, such as establishing a citizen oversight agency (COA), which could decrease racial disparities in policing outcomes. To test these arguments, we examined the impact of BWCs on racial disparities in two types of policing outcomes: police homicides of citizens and disorderly conduct arrests (DCAs). Our findings indicate that while the adoption of BWCs does not impact racial disparities in DCAs or police homicides of citizens, there is a significant decrease in racial disparity in DCAs when BWCs and COAs are used in conjunction. Additionally, while the racial disparity in police homicides of Blacks and Whites does not decrease when BWCs and COAs are used together, there is an overall decrease in police homicides across both racial groups. Overall, our study demonstrates that technology's impact on bureaucratic performance is influenced by occupational assumptions and practices, which can be altered by external accountability mechanisms such as COAs.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Negotiation Of Practices In the Police Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Declaration Of Conflicting Interestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Use of Performance Information and External Accountability: The Role of Citizen Oversight in Mitigating the Motivated Evaluation of Body-Worn Camera Evidence

Ali,

Wright

2024

The American Review of Public Administration

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Police reform from the top down: Experimental evidence on police executive support for civilian oversight

Adams,

McCrain,

Schiff

et al. 2024

J Policy Anal Manage

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The accountability of police to the public is imperative for a functioning democracy. The opinions of police executives—pivotal actors for implementing oversight policies—are an understudied, critical component of successful reform efforts. We use a pre‐registered survey experiment administered to all U.S. municipal police chiefs and county sheriffs to assess whether police executives’ attitudes towards civilian oversight are responsive to 1) state‐level public opinion (drawing on an original n = 16,840 survey) and 2) prior adoption of civilian review boards in large agencies. Results from over 1,300 police executives reveal that law enforcement leaders are responsive to elite peer adoption but much less to public opinion, despite overwhelming public support. Compared to appointed municipal police chiefs, elected sheriffs are less likely to support any civilian oversight. Our findings hold implications for reformers: we find that existing civilian oversight regimes are largely popular, and that it is possible to move police executive opinion towards support for civilian oversight.

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Critical Race Theory

Riccucci¹

2022

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This Element explores Critical Race Theory (CRT) and its potential application to the field of public administration. It proposes specific areas within the field where a CRT framework would help to uncover and rectify structural and institutional racism. This is paramount given the high priority that the field places on social equity, the third pillar of public administration. If there is a desire to achieve social equity and justice, systematic, structural racism needs to be addressed and confronted directly. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is one example of the urgency and significance of applying theories from a variety of disciplines to the study of racism in public administration.

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Calibrating Public Accountability

Cited by 15 publications

References 80 publications

Use of Performance Information and External Accountability: The Role of Citizen Oversight in Mitigating the Motivated Evaluation of Body-Worn Camera Evidence

Use of Performance Information and External Accountability: The Role of Citizen Oversight in Mitigating the Motivated Evaluation of Body-Worn Camera Evidence

Police reform from the top down: Experimental evidence on police executive support for civilian oversight

Critical Race Theory

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