Watching the Watchmen: The Effects of Viewing Video Recordings of Police Interactions

• In Event: Technology and Policing

Abstract

Recently, there has been an upsurge in highly publicized lethal police-citizen encounters, contributing to the current police legitimacy crisis. These encounters, mostly filmed and disseminated by citizens, provide a new type of vicarious experience through which the viewer can assess police-citizen interactions. These recordings have sparked national conversations and protests regarding police behavior and treatment of minority citizens, in particular. An area that has received less attention, however, is what effect viewing video recordings of less contentious police-citizen interactions has on public perceptions of police. To that end, this study seeks to address the knowledge gap through experimental methodology. Using actual footage of a variety of police-citizen encounters, this study examines the impact of viewing videos of police encounters on individuals’ perceptions of procedural justice, estimates of police misconduct, and their willingness to cooperate with police. The findings indicate the impact of viewing police-citizen encounters on individual perceptions are primarily linked to the content of the video. Implications for both research and policy will be presented.

Author

• Megan M. Parry, Arizona State University