Procedural and distributive justice: Effects on attitudes toward body-worn cameras

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it examined how procedural and distributive justice influence college students’ perceptions of adoption of body-worn cameras by the police. Second, it explored how procedural and distributive justice influence college students’ perceptions of the ability of body-worn cameras to improve community relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase police officer respect, increase citizen respect, and improve training. Those who perceived distributive injustice were more likely to agree that the police should adopt body-worn cameras. Perceived distributive injustice was also a consistent predictor regarding the varying abilities of body-worn cameras.

Keywords

Body-worn cameras police accountability policing perceptions of accountability BWCs

Introduction

Public perception of any law enforcement agency is paramount to the success of that organization. To improve accountability and maintain favorable perceptions, police agencies can adopt a number of internal accountability mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is body-worn cameras (BWCs). BWCs are becoming standard pieces of technology in many police departments around the around the globe. They have been adopted for many reasons, but pressure put on the police to become more accountable and transparent remains an important reason for acquisition. Specifically important is the perception that fair and equal treatment by the police is eroded by instances of deadly force and police misconduct. In the United States, one of the many events that pressured police departments to adopt BWCs was the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson (MO) police officer in 2014 (White and Malm, 2020). This prompted the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing to recommend and assist with the adoption of BWCs as a tool to improve accountability. More recently, the call for greater accountability from citizen groups such as Black Lives Matter has been placed on police after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The most recent data suggests that nearly one-half of agencies in 2016 had acquired BWCs (Hyland, 2018).

Even in 2021, the police in America find themselves in the midst of a widespread crisis in which legitimacy of the police profession may be questioned in similar ways to past crises. In addition to legitimacy, many have highlighted the inequities in policing related to procedural and distributive justice. A growing body of literature is building around citizen perceptions of BWCs but more knowledge is needed in this area, especially linking procedural and distributive justice with attitudes toward BWCs. Drawing on a survey administered to college students in a rural area, this study explores the factors that influence not only support for the adoption of BWCs, but also the perceptions regarding BWCs to improve community relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase respect of police officers and citizens, and improve training. More specifically, this study pays particular attention to the role of procedural and distributive justice influencing perceptions of BWCs while controlling for confidence in police, accountability, citizens’ comfort working with police, satisfaction with police services, personal safety, and vicarious experiences. The goal of this study is to add to the existing knowledge on perceptions of BWCs while providing a nuanced examination of this topic.

Literature review

Body-worn cameras overview

BWCs have become one important component of police accountability and transparency. Similar to closed circuit television (CCTV), mobile phones, and social-media, BWCs have contributed to the increased visibility of the police. Goldsmith (2010: 919) highlights the growing ability of the public to surveil the police, and explains that “policing’s visibility, while always contingent in some measure, is now much more contestable…”. This increased visibility can give the public a deeper perspective into the work of the police and even increase accountability. However, the proliferation of ways to keep the police visible and the nature of how information is distributed have the potential to further strain the relationship between the police and public. Goldsmith’s (2010) discussion on surveillance was extended to the topic of BWCs by Ariel and colleagues (2017:307) who point out that BWCs can elicit a form of “contagious accountability” where, “officers learned, by their repeated exposure to the surveillance effect of the cameras, what normative or appropriate reactions are, even when they were no longer under surveillance”.

Rooted in the ideas of surveillance of police behavior and ethical policing (Wood, 2020), BWC technology is hyped as a remedy for problems related to use of force and police misconduct. Their utility goes beyond strictly accountability as many departments have found uses in protecting liability and assisting investigations with video evidence taken by BWCs. Lum et al. (2019) provided a narrative review of the research on BWCs. In it, they highlight a growing literature that demonstrates robust police and citizen support for the use of BWCs by police. They also highlight a growing number of studies providing support that BWCs can assist police departments in reducing use of force and citizen complaints (Ariel et al., 2015; Braga et al., 2018; Ellis et al., 2015; Goodall, 2007; Goodison et al., 2017; Grossmith et al., 2015; Jennings et al., 2015; White et al., 2018). Evidence also suggests that BWCs can improve prosecution of cases (Morrow et al., 2016) and reduce citizen fear (White et al., 2017).

Lum and colleagues (2020) conducted a Campbell systematic review in which the research on the impact of BWCs on citizen and officer behavior was examined. Thirty studies including 12 outcome measures and 116 effect sizes were investigated. BWCs were not a consistent statistically significant predictor of officer use of force, proactive activity, or arrest activities (Lum et al., 2020). Gaub and White (2020) provided commentary on the impact of BWCs on various outcomes but also gave special attention to the main differences observed across BWC evaluation. Namely, that BWC evaluations differ greatly in statistical rigor, randomization and contamination, and consistently defining outcomes. Their contribution is a call for research to improve in those areas. Overall, more assessment is needed to investigate BWCs’ abilities to influence officer and citizen behavior in interactions with one another. Further, it is also necessary to investigate why research finds inconsistent effects on outcome variables across studies. Research on attitudes toward BWCs is a plausible starting point.

Attitudes toward body-worn cameras

Research has separately examined perceptions on BWCs from the police and citizen perspective. There exists a hearty amount of literature from the police officer perspective compared with the citizen perspective because police are the ones wearing the camera. Jennings et al. (2014) examined this question by surveying Orlando Police officers involved in a randomized experiment. They found general support for BWCs in areas related to comfort wearing them, benefits in improving their own conduct, and improving citizen behavior. Todak and Gaub (2019) examined officer-level characteristics and BWC acceptance. Using 119 surveys completed by officers from one police agency, it was demonstrated that overall, respondents had neutral feelings about BWC acceptance. Pilot officers and supervisors had higher levels of acceptance of BWCs than their counterparts (Todak and Gaub, 2019). Officers who thought their supervisors were critical had improved perceptions of BWCs. Kyle and White (2017) found that officer perceptions of organizational justice had a significant impact on attitudes regarding BWCs. In addition, female officers and officers whose agencies had implemented BWCs held more positive attitudes regarding them.

A small body of research has explored citizen perceptions of BWCs. Similar to police officers, research typically shows that citizens are generally supportive of BWCs for police officers based on the general perception of benefits associated with them and the ubiquitous nature of video surveillance in everyday life (Crow et al., 2017; Culhane et al., 2016; Sousa et al., 2018; White et al., 2018). However, research reveals variation in the reasons people support BWCs. Respondents in Crow and colleagues (2017) stated that BWCs would improve views of police legitimacy and assist the police in collecting evidence while expressing little concern with an invasion of privacy.

Conversely, Sousa et al. (2018) found that respondents believed BWCs increased transparency and reduced excessive use of force. On the other hand, there was less agreement that BWCs improved trust, police–community relationships, or relieved tensions between the police and racial minorities. Adding to the equivocal findings on citizen’s perceptions on body cameras, White et al. (2017) surveyed citizens that actually had contact with an officer with a BWC about their specific perceptions of BWCs. They found enhanced perceptions of procedural justice of those who were aware that the officer was wearing a body camera. Similarly, Demir and Kule (2020) examined citizen satisfaction related to BWCs using a quasi-randomized controlled trial in which some drivers encountered a traffic officer wearing a body camera while others did not. Citizens experiencing a traffic stop with an officer equipped with a BWC were satisfied with the encounter and had better overall perceptions of BWCs. Another recent examination of citizen perceptions of BWCs was conducted by Wright and Headley (2021) who held 40 interviews with citizens. The researchers found that respondents believed they would be more comfortable approaching an officer wearing a body camera due to improved transparency. Relatedly, respondents stated BWCs were a tool that increased accountability and altered officer behavior in a positive manner. Importantly, this study found that interviewees did not view BWCs as a trust-building tool between minority citizens and the police.

Although previous research has examined individual-level characteristics of citizens and how they relate to perceptions of BWCs, little is known regarding the effect of procedural and distributive justice on these attitudes. Past research has examined organizational justice (Todak and Gaub, 2019), or the perceptions that outcomes are distributed fairly across employees, but this same perspective has seldom been applied to citizens’ perceptions of BWCs. It is important to examine whether citizens’ views of police treatment of citizens influences thoughts on BWCs because research has reminded us that policing is not always experienced uniformly across race and socio-economic status (Archbold et al., 2013; Brunson, 2007; Nix et al., 2016).

Procedural and distributive justice are firmly rooted in the literature surrounding police legitimacy. Legitimacy is the view that the police have authority to conduct the responsibilities they have such as public safety and maintaining order (Tyler, 2004). Tom Tyler, in the Foreword to Hough (2020: ix) asserted that “in the 21st century, good policing has increasingly come to mean policing that leads to popular legitimacy within policed communities”. This legitimacy is granted by the public depending on how they view the police. In addition to deferring to the police, another end result of legitimacy is the moral obligation to obey the law (Sunshine and Tyler, 2003).

Among the varying antecedents to legitimacy are procedural and distributive justice. Thibaut and Walker (1975) referred to procedural justice as a mechanism for making decisions about the allocation of outcomes. Their hypothesis was a person’s willingness to accept outcomes was linked to whether they were fairly decided on. The procedural justice perspective contends that the public’s view of the police is shaped by the way police and other legal authorities interact with them (Sunshine and Tyler, 2003; Tyler and Huo, 2002). It is possible confidence is lost when citizens perceive that the police do not accord to them fair and neutral treatment. Several experiments exploring procedural justice found that citizens who experienced fair treatment were more likely to view the police as legitimate compared with a control group of citizens (Wolfe et al., 2016). Hough (2020) provided a summary of the international literature which supports the assertion that procedural justice and legitimacy are paramount to effective policing. Hough highlights how the European Social Survey as well as the International Self Report Delinquency Study have been used to explore this relationship. More specifically, although regional differences exist in the level of perceived respect by police, trust in procedural fairness was found to be a statistically significant predictor of police legitimacy (Hough, 2020). The procedural justice research shows promise that trust-building activities of the police can lead to greater legitimacy.

On the other hand, distributive justice links citizens’ assessments of equal allocation of police services to police legitimacy (Tyler, 1990). Sunshine and Tyler (2003) compared both procedural justice and distributive justice with two samples of adults. They found that in addition to procedural justice being the primary driver of legitimacy, distributive justice was also important, albeit in a weaker relationship. Wolfe and colleagues’ (2016) assessment of police legitimacy found distributive justice was not associated with legitimacy but was related to trust in the police. Hough (2020) also found a weak relationship between distributive fairness when examining regional differences with the English Social Survey. Sarat (1977) explained that citizens rate equal treatment by the police as important but also that equal treatment is often eroded by the police and legal system. Equal allocation of services and treatment by police is still a contemporary issue in society (Brunson, 2007; McLean, 2019). This study is interested in examining the link between procedural and distributive justice and attitudes toward BWCs. The following research questions are set forth:

How do procedural and distributive justice influence college students’ perceptions of adoption of body-worn cameras by the police?

How do procedural and distributive justice influence college students’ perceptions of the ability of body-worn cameras to improve community relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase police officer respect, increase citizen respect, and improve training?

Methods

Data from this study came from a survey examining college student perceptions of police in a midwestern university town. The university enrollment at the time of the survey was approximately 10,000 and according to the 2010 census, the population of the city was also 10,000. The character of the town can be described as both rural and academic due to the presence of the university. The population receiving the online survey (via SurveyMonkey) included all students with at least one face-to-face class on the main university campus. The sample consisted of 6,968 students receiving an invitation to take the survey. Potential respondents were offered to enter a drawing to win one of 10 $50 Amazon gift cards. The 6,968 invitations sent resulted in a response rate of 12.7%. Of the 4,247 individuals who at least opened the survey invitation, the response rate was 20.8%. This response rate is similar to previous research related to perceptions of the police (see Tomsich et al., 2011). Fosnacht and colleagues (2017) examined the relationship between low response rates and the reliability of higher education surveys. They found that greater survey participation may result in a minimal influence on the survey findings.

Dependent variables

Several dependent variables derived from previous research on perceptions of police BWCs were included in this study. The first dependent variable assessed respondents’ attitudes toward the adoption of BWCs. The item was measured by asking, “Police departments should adopt body worn cameras for all police officers”. This dependent variable was coded as an ordinal item with four categories ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 4=strongly agree. The second part of the study explored specific issues around body cameras including the ability of BWCs to improve community relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase respect of police, increase respect by citizens, and improve training. These dependent variables were also recorded at the ordinal level with four categories ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 4=strongly agree.

Independent variables

Gender was examined as an independent variable with male students coded “0” and female students coded “1”. At the time of the survey, 61.5% females and 38.5% males were enrolled. Of the population surveyed, 68% were female and 32% were male. Procedural justice was created by combining four questions: “Police treat everyone with dignity and respect”, “take the time to listen to people”, “accurately understand and apply the law”, and “make their decisions based upon facts, not their personal biases or opinions”. Response categories for each question ranged from 1=strongly disagree to 4=strongly agree. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient registered at .899 for these combined items.

Confidence was measured by asking, “I have confidence in the police”. Accountability was assessed by asking one item, “The police are accountable to the people they serve”. Whether citizens are comfortable with the police was measured by asking “Citizens are not comfortable working closely with the police”. Satisfaction was measured by asking “I am satisfied with the services provided by the police”. Confidence, accountability, comfort level, and satisfaction were all measured at the ordinal level (1=strongly disagree to 4=strongly agree).

Distributive justice was measured by combining two items. These questions were “The police give minorities less help because of their race” and “The police provide better services to wealthy citizens”. The combined questions had a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .852. Social control was measured by asking, “How likely would it be that people in your community could be counted on to intervene if teenagers were skipping school and hanging out on a street corner, teenagers were spray-painting graffiti on a local building, teenagers were showing disrespect to an adult, and a fight broke out near your home?”. These four items were combined and yielded a Cronbach’s alpha of .756.

The level of concern for one’s personal safety has not been studied as a predictor of perceptions of BWCs. On a scale of 1=very unsafe to 4=very safe, respondents were asked the following questions: “How safe do you feel walking on campus during the evening?”, “How safe do you feel walking off campus during the evening?”, “How safe do you feel inside campus parking lots?”, and “How safe do you feel from crime and violence in your community?”. Responses ranged from 1=very unsafe to 4=very safe. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for these items was .901.

Vicarious perceptions of police have been found to be meaningful predictors of general perceptions toward the police. It is worth exploring if they are salient in perceptions of BWCs. Positive vicarious experiences were assessed by asking, “Have you ever seen or heard of someone having a good experience with the police?”. Negative vicarious experiences were measured by asking, “Have you ever seen or heard of someone having a bad experience with the police?”. Both of these questions had responses of 0=no and 1=yes.

Analytic strategies

Multivariate analyses were used to examine the relationship among independent variables and perceptions of the adoption of BWCs by police as well as perceptions of outcomes related to BWCs. A series of statistical models were analyzed using ordinal regression (see Tables 2 and 3). This analytic technique was used due to the ordered nature of the dependent variables. Diagnostic tests were performed to identify any multicollinearity problems and revealed no issues of multicollinearity.

Results

As shown in Table 1, the distribution of responses in support for BWCs demonstrated a general level of support of BWC adoption, whereas the perceptions of specific issues varied. Among the other various attitudes toward BWCs, respondents were more favorable regarding BWCs improving officer respect (mean=3.17) as opposed to citizen respect (mean=2.66). The descriptive statistics show positive perceptions of procedural justice and neutral feelings about distributive justice.

Table 1.

Descriptive statistics.

Variable	N	Mean	SD	Range
Independent variables
Sex		0.68	0.47	0–1
0=Male	285
1=Female	597
Procedural justice (4 items)		11.73	2.59	4–16
Confidence (3 items)		9.14	2.12	3–12
Police accountable to citizens		3.03	0.68	1–4
Citizens comfortable with police		2.39	0.79	1–4
Satisfied with police services		2.99	0.70	1–4
Distributive justice (2 items)		4.30	1.59	2–8
Social control (4 items)		10.41	2.36	4–16
Personal safety (4 items)		12.84	2.18	4–16
Vicarious good		0.77	0.44	0–1
0=No	200
1=Yes	682
Vicarious bad		0.74	0.45	0–1
0=No	223
1=Yes	658
Dependent variables
Police should adopt BWCs		3.24	0.76	1–4
BWCs improve community relations		3.00	0.75	1–4
BWCs decrease citizen complaints		2.80	0.79	1–4
BWCs increase officer respect		3.17	0.69	1–4
BWCs increase citizen respect		2.66	0.81	1–4
BWCs improve training		3.03	0.71	1–4

The first research question asked how do procedural and distributive justice influence college students’ perceptions of adoption of BWCs by the police? This question is examined in Table 2. The parallel lines test was conducted and the assumption of proportionality was upheld. Males were more likely to agree police should adopt BWCs compared with those that identified as being female (p<.001). Distributive justice was also an important predictor of BWC adoption. Those who agreed more that the police give minorities less help because of their race and provide better services to wealthy citizens were also more likely to agree that the police should acquire BWCs (p<.001). At the p=.10 significance level, those who reported having a positive vicarious experience were less likely to agree that police should adopt BWCs. The independent variables explained 8.2% of the variation in the perception of police adopting BWCs.

Table 2.

Perceptions of adopting body worn cameras-ordinal regression.

Variable	Estimate (SE)	Wald
Male	.619*** (.160)	14.899
Procedural justice	−.009 (.044)	.044
Confidence	.092 (0.059)	2.412
Accountability	.051 (0.129)	.159
Citizens comfortable	−.020 (0.094)	.046
Satisfaction	−.060 (0.151)	.161
Distributive justice	.327*** (0.051)	41.359
Social control	−.008 (0.028)	.077
Personal safety	.003 (0.034)	.010
Vicarious good	−.283^† (0.170)	2.765
Vicarious bad	0.001 (0.162)	.000
Chi²	64.377
Prob Chi²	.000

^† p<.10; ***p<.001.

The second research question asked how do procedural and distributive justice influence college students’ perceptions of the ability of BWCs to improve community relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase police officer respect, increase citizen respect, and improve training? The parallel lines test was conducted and the assumption of proportionality was upheld for all models. This question is explored in more depth in Table 3.

Table 3.

Perceptions acquiring body cams, estimate (Wald).

	Community relations	Decrease complaints	Respect by police	Respect by citizens	Improve training
Male	.615** (14.703)	.249 (2.564)	.278^† (2.925)	.258 (2.819)	.147 (0.822)
Procedural justice	−.014 (0.044)	−.013 (0.089)	−.066 (2.096)	.022 (.259)	0.003 (0.006)
Confidence	.046 (0.601)	.117 (4.070)	.064 (1.137)	.090 (2.461)	.038 (0.390)
Accountability	.148 (1.375)	.275 (4.849)	.150 (1.331)	.174 (1.981)	.248* (3.648)
Citizens not comfortable	0.032 (0.113)	−.046 (0.244)	.077 (.644)	.205 (5.019)	.187* (3.781)
Satisfaction	.295 (3.816)	.263^† (3.166)	.147 (0.899)	.110 (.564)	.361** (5.456)
Distributive justice	.317*** (39.902)	.266*** (29.703)	.251*** (24.323)	.181 (14.422)	.264** (27.067)
Social control	−.003 (0.010)	.021 (0.556)	.015 (0.264)	.046 (.248)	.009 (0.103)
Personal safety	−.017 (0.268)	−.022* (0.456)	.058^† (2.847)	.023 (.478)	.068 (3.833)
Vicarious good	−.280 (2.683)	−.185 (1.236)	−.115 (0.433)	−.105 (.402)	−.216 (1.543)
Vicarious bad	.246* (2.26)	.052 (0.105)	−.028 (0.029)	−.031 (.039)	−.146 (0.766)
Nagelkerke R-squared	.075	.072	.054	.044	.074
Obs.	850	850	850	850	849
p Chi2	0.000	0.000	0.001	.000	0.013

^† p<.10; *p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001.

Gender was significant for two categories. As opposed to females, males were more likely to agree that BWCs had the ability to improve community relations (p<.01). In addition, males were more likely to increase agreement that BWCs would improve respect by the police (p<.10). Respondents who were more likely to agree that citizens are not comfortable working with the police increase agreement that BWCs would improve training (p<.05). As satisfaction with the police increased so did agreement that BWCs would improve training (p<.01).

Distributive justice exerted the most consistent effect across dependent variables. As students’ agreement increased regarding the police giving minorities less help because of their race and providing better services to wealthy citizens they were also more likely to agree that BWCs would improve community relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase respect by police, and improve training (p<.001). As personal safety increased, agreement that BWCs were more likely to decrease citizen complaints decreased (p<.05). Those who had a negative vicarious experience were more likely to agree that BWCs would improve community relations (p<.05).

Discussion

Although the variables in this study explained little variance in the perceptions of BWCs among college students, there were a few notable statistically significant relationships. First, males were more likely to agree police should adopt BWCs and that body cameras would improve police–community relations. Although past research has hypothesized males would perceive greater benefits of BWCs, that has not been the case (Crow et al., 2017). This finding adds to the equivocal body of literature on gender in policing, but males in this context may be more likely to come into contact with police in adversarial ways, increasing their wishes for body cameras and views that the technology will improve relations. This may also be evidenced by the other, albeit statistically less significant finding, that BWCs would improve respect by the police.

Consistent with past research, this study found that vicarious experience with police, specifically negative, matters for how the police are perceived. Here, those that experienced a negative vicarious interaction were more likely to agree BWCs could improve police–community relations. Related, agreement that citizens are not comfortable with the police increased agreement BWCs improve police training. One recent randomized controlled trial of a social interaction training program used videos of actual officer–citizen interactions derived from body camera footage with decision and discussion points built into training. The experiment found a treatment effect for officers receiving social interaction training; however, results varied by treatment dosage (McLean et al., 2020). The high-dose group experienced the effect of de-prioritizing physical control, whereas the low-dose experienced treatment effects for procedural justice communication and maintaining self-control. This research provides support for the idea that BWCs can be used in training to achieve better policing and may make citizens more comfortable working with the police. Future research should assess this relationship further with an eye toward distributive justice.

This study found as students’ agreement increased regarding police giving minorities less help because of their race and providing better services to wealthy citizens (distributive injustice) they were also more likely to agree that agencies should adopt BWCs and that they would improve community relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase respect by police, and improve training. This ties into the research done on police legitimacy and distributive justice. Again, legitimacy is the view that the police have authority to conduct the responsibilities they have as public safety employees such as maintaining order (Tyler, 2004) and distributive justice links citizens’ assessments of equal allocation of police services to police legitimacy (Tyler, 1990). Past research has compared both procedural justice and distributive justice and found that distributive justice is still important for legitimacy (Sunshine and Tyler, 2003; Wolfe et al., 2016).

Distributive justice is clearly a salient predictor of attitudes toward BWCs for college students. Interestingly, past research on police legitimacy identified procedural justice as being paramount to legitimacy. The discrepancy between this study and past research on the topic is related to the demand for equal treatment, as a core theme, regarding public evaluations of the police in terms of relations, complaints, respect, and training. BWCs are a layer of accountability the public can depend on to improve these areas. Sarat (1977) explained that distributive justice is often eroded by the police and legal system.

Modern technology can be a useful way to improve the police profession. Research supports the assertion that police services are not distributed equally across race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status. This unequal distribution is directly linked to police accountability through attitudes toward BWCs. For example, Brunson (2007) highlighted instances of unwelcome police contact that has the potential to lead minorities to perceive that the police are out to harass them. Weitzer and Tuch (2002: 445) identified, “net of other factors, race and personal experience with racial profiling are among the strongest and most consistent predictors of attitudes toward the police”. This is encompassed by the larger picture of the literature that the impression that racial/ethnic lower socio-economic status minority groups are consistently overrepresented when it comes to official actions by the police when compared with higher socio-economic status White individuals.

Smith and Alpert (2007) assert that police officers develop implicit bias toward minorities through social conditioning over time. Nix and colleagues (2017) examined implicit bias by studying 990 fatal shootings. They used threat perception failure to understand whether the civilian was attacking the officer(s) or other civilians before being fatally shot and whether the civilian was unarmed when fatally shot. Their study found that citizens in the “other” racial/ethnic group were significantly more likely than White citizens to have not been attacking the officer(s) or other civilians before being killed by the police. Black citizens were more likely than White citizens to have been unarmed when they were shot and killed by police.

These and similar issues such as the heavily racialized stop, question, and frisk practices confirm the view that policing is not experienced the same by all (Anderson, 1999; Miller, 2008). BWCs, a touted piece of police accountability becomes an important tool to improve community relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase respect by police, and improve training. For example, Walker (1997) uncovered widespread cynicism about police complaint processes. Focus groups emphasized the belief that police departments cover up misconduct by their officers and the belief that police departments will take care of their own. In addition, another interviewee said they would not file a complaint after the scenario because there were no witnesses and it would be the citizen’s word against the police officer’s. Overall, only a few participants in Walker’s (1997) study believed that a complaint would produce any worthwhile results in the end. BWCs are a legitimate answer to this problem because they provide an additional account of interactions between police officers and citizens. If police are wearing BWCs and they are activated it is yet another layer of police accountability that has the potential to help ensure the allocation of police services evenly across people.

Police departments should not only acquire BWCs for their officers, but states should require that police agencies adopt BWCs as part of a larger framework of accountability and offer incentives for their adoption. No one piece of technology will address the problem of inequities of police services, rather, BWCs along with a variety of other mechanisms and legislation will make meaningful progress at reform. The benefits of BWCs, policies with teeth, early intervention systems, citizen complaints, and risk management have never been clearer (Walker and Archbold, 2018). As police crises are renewed by high-profile cases of deadly force or misconduct, there are 18,000+ police departments in the United States that can improve citizens’ perceptions through the adoption of BWCs.

Does context matter?

This study was conducted with a sample of university students in a rural area. Weisheit and Wells (1996) conceptualized rurality as geographic areas with low population density while Little and colleagues (2005) highlighted the “idyllic” nature of rurality, or the assumption that rural life consists of friendly and genuine people which fosters a strong emotional attachment to the community. The tightknit nature of rural life helps people feel secure and safe from social problems like crime (Murdoch and Pratt, 1994). Based on these assumptions, it may not be expected that distributive justice or procedural justice be salient predictors of feelings toward BWC adoption. However, the population of university students may hold an expanded worldview that goes beyond idyllic feelings of rurality. Indeed, several studies have contradicted the idea of rural idyll (Lytle et al., 2020; Pleggenkuhle and Schafer, 2018; Somerville et al., 2015).

Despite claims of the idyllic nature of rural areas, interactions between the police and the public can still be an issue (Wooff, 2015, 2017). Rural areas also have their own unique beliefs about and interactions with the police. Wooff (2015) highlighted how the nuanced environment in rural areas influences relationships with the police and response to situations involving antisocial behavior. For example, how people and police interact with each other is formed by not only by discretion, but also negotiated order maintenance and situated community knowledge unique to the rural environment. This is echoed by research conducted by Liederbach and Frank (2003) which consisted of a systematic social observation of police work routines and police–citizen interactions. It was observed that police officers responded to a wide range of problems outside the realm of law enforcement due to their social bonds with the communities they serve (Liederbach and Frank, 2003). Further, there was a high degree of familiarity between officers and citizens in which almost one-third of encounters were acquainted with one another previously.

Police accountability then, is still a relevant social problem in rural areas and should be considered by research (Weisheit et al., 2006). A police officer’s daily routine in a larger urban police department may be largely shaped by formalized mechanisms. As a result, the urban officer is held accountable largely through policy or superiors. In rural areas, there may be more of an emphasis on the informal parts of police work and consequently a shift to a more informal accountability. Wooff (2017) highlighted “soft policing functions” of rural areas which is less concerned with the traditional model of policing as it relates to coercion in establishing control and more consistent with components of procedural justice and problem-solving. Therefore, in rural areas, accountability may be more informal and a rural police officer may be held accountable by the community (Weisheit et al., 1994). Weisheit et al. (1994) argue that police are held more accountable in rural areas due to the close social ties between the police and community.

Recent statistics indicate that more than 71% of local police departments served populations of fewer than 10,000 residents and over one-third serve communities of 2,500 residents or fewer (Hyland and Davis, 2019). These rural police agencies also have less of a bureaucratized organizational structure compared with larger urban departments. This has the potential to affect supervision levels. Although not directly under the scope of this study, it is important for agencies in rural areas to consider the benefits of BWCs. BWCs may have specific usefulness where police officers may be expected to work alone and often long distances from the guidance and oversight of more experienced supervisors. Although the correlates of attitudes toward BWCs have been somewhat explored, there is limited knowledge regarding these attitudes in rural areas aside from the current study. This current study advances research on police accountability and BWCs by providing findings from a rural context.

One final component of the context that may impact findings is that it involves students at a liberal arts university. This reinforces the idea that a liberal arts education offers the prospect of an expanded worldview on a multitude of topics including the police and social justice issues. Being that the student population lacks diversity, it is possible that respondents are drawing upon information they have acquired while at the university, namely that police resources are not spread evenly throughout society and there needs to be mechanisms in place to improve this problem. Students with strong opinions about the police and personal safety may also have self-selected into completing the survey. Future research should continue to explore different populations and their feelings toward BWCs. Qualitative research in rural areas holds the specific prospect of uncovering the intricacies of feelings toward police accountability.

Limitations

Although this study contributes to the literature on perceptions of BWCs, there are notable limitations of the research. First, this study used a population of college students from one university. This limits the generalizability of findings to the larger student population and other college populations in the United States, especially more diverse populations. Relatedly, there are minor differences regarding how the characteristics of this sample compare with the overall student population in terms of gender. This university also lacks racial and ethnic diversity which limited the personal characteristics used in the analyses. Future research should include additional demographic measures and how they interact with procedural and distributive justice.

Conclusions

This study contributes to the scholarship on police accountability by exploring links between procedural and distributive justice and perceptions of BWCs. Although BWCs alone are not the solution to establishing police legitimacy they are one piece to police reform. This study found that those who agreed more that the police give minorities less help because of their race and provide better services to wealthy citizens were also more likely to agree that the police should acquire BWCs. Building shared trust and legitimacy between police and communities should be a priority for police departments around the globe. BWCs can be an important component for building trust and nurturing legitimacy. The positives of BWCs also go beyond improving community relations. For example, those who agreed with the police giving minorities less help because of their race and providing better services to wealthy citizens were more likely to agree that BWCs would improve community relations, decrease citizen complaints, increase respect by police, and improve training. A careful balance between the adoption of BWCs and ethical issues related to their operation will be beneficial to more equitable experiences with the police.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The author(s) received financial support for the research through the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota.

ORCID iD

Thomas Mrozla

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