Organizational Dynamics and Individual Discretion: A Top-Down Assessment of Police Practice and Perception (Sponsored by Division of Policing)

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Like other public institutions, the legitimacy of policing depends on the trust it has with the public that it serves. However, unique to policing is its historically wide latitude of discretion among line-level officers and a recent surge in technological supervision of these officers. The convergence of these factors can seemingly be at odds with one another. Their ramifications for modern policing are explored in this thematic panel, which features a survey of timely research answering key questions surrounding officers’ discretionary behavior and the use of technology to potentially control that behavior. The first two papers advance our theoretical understanding as to how officers’ discretionary behavior manifests and clarify how this behavior changes across situational contexts. The latter two papers shed key insights into how police body-worn cameras and artificial intelligence can both impact officers’ behavior and, importantly, how line-level officers perceive the use of this new technology and its significance for police accountability, training, and legitimacy.

Sub Unit

• Area VI. The Criminal Justice System / 41. Police Strategies, Interventions, and Evaluations

Individual Presentations

• Driving While Broke: Class Signals and Discretion in Police Searches - Jed Knode, Michigan State University; Travis Carter, University of South Florida; Scott Wolfe, Michigan State University

• A Few Bad Apples: An Empirical Assessment of Racial Disparities in Policing - Travis Carter, University of South Florida

• The Effects of Body-Worn Cameras on Citizen Complaints: An Organizational-Level Analysis - Bradley O'Guinn, University of Cincinnati; Clay Driscoll, University of Cincinnati

• How Do Sergeants and Officers Perceive AI-based BWC Review Technology? Evidence from 6 Months of Survey Data - Seth Watts, Arizona State University

Chair

• Travis Carter, University of South Florida

Discussant

• Ian T. Adams, University of South Carolina

Organized by a Division or external group?

This thematic panel is sponsored by the Division of Policing.