1932

Abstract

The often-clandestine inner workings of the policing profession have been of considerable interest to scholars, policy makers, social justice activists, and everyday citizens. Technological innovations such as body-worn cameras, smartphones, and social media have allowed for increased public scrutiny of how officers carry out their duties. Recently, there has been intensified interest in the role of police and their suitability for addressing a wide range of important social issues. As various stakeholders consider impassioned calls for police reform, a comprehensive understanding of officer behavior is especially critical. Police observational research has historically used innovative methods to observe, document, and analyze police officer conduct. Herein, we investigate the evolution of police observational research and its many contributions and underscore the potential for future research.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030421-034101
2023-01-27
2024-12-13
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/criminol/6/1/annurev-criminol-030421-034101.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030421-034101&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Alpert GP, Dunham RG, Smith MR. 2007. Investigating racial profiling by the Miami-Dade police department: a multimethod approach. Criminol. Public Policy 6:125–55
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Ariel B, Farrar WA, Sutherland A. 2015. The effect of police body-worn cameras on use of force and citizens’ complaints against the police: a randomized controlled trial. J. Quant. Criminol. 31:3509–35
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bacon M, Loftus B, Rowe M 2020. Ethnography and the evocative world of policing (Part I). Polic. Soc. 30:11–10
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Barker RG, Wright HF. 1955. Midwest and Its Children: The Psychological Ecology of an American Town Toledo, OH: Row, Peterson
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Berger R. 2015. Now I see it, now I don't: researcher's position and reflexivity in qualitative research. Qual. Res. 15:2219–34
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bittner E. 1967. The police on skid-row: a study of peace keeping. Am. Sociol. Rev. 32:5699–715
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Black DJ, Reiss AJ. 1970. Police control of juveniles. Am. Sociol. Rev. 35:163–77
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Boehme HM, Cann D, Isom DA. 2022. Citizens’ perceptions of over- and under-policing: a look at race, ethnicity, and community characteristics. Crime Delinquency 68:1123–54
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Braga A, Coldren JR, Sousa W, Rodriguez D, Alper O. 2017. The benefits of body-worn cameras: new findings from a randomized controlled trial at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Rep., CNA Anal. Solut. Arlington, VA: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/251416.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Brunson RK. 2021.. Who got the camera?” Bringing race and police killings into focus. Rep., Harry Frank Guggenheim Found. New York: https://www.hfg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/WhoGottheCamera.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Brunson RK, Miller J. 2006. Young black men and urban policing in the United States. Br. J. Criminol. 46:4613–40
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Deuchar R, Crichlow VJ, Fallik SW 2020. Cops in crisis?: ethnographic insights on a new era of politicization, activism, accountability, and change in transatlantic policing. Polic. Soc. 30:147–64
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Dixon TL, Schell TL, Giles H, Drogos KL. 2008. The influence of race in police-civilian interactions: a content analysis of videotaped interactions taken during Cincinnati police traffic stops. J. Commun. 58:3530–49
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Dodgson JE. 2019. Reflexivity in qualitative research. J. Hum. Lact. 35:2220–22
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Engel RS, Sobol JJ, Worden RE. 2000. Further exploration of the demeanor hypothesis: the interaction effects of suspects’ characteristics and demeanor on police behavior. Justice Q. 17:2235–58
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Fagan J, Braga AA, Brunson RK, Pattavina A. 2016. Stops and stares: street stops, surveillance, and race in the new policing. Fordham Urban Law J. 43:539–614
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Farmer AK, Sun IY 2016. Citizen journalism and police legitimacy: Does recording the police make a difference?. The Politics of Policing: Between Force and Legitimacy, Vol. 21 M Deflem 239–56 Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publ.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Hyland SS. 2018. Body-worn cameras in law enforcement agencies, 2016 Bur. Justice Stat. Rep. NCJ 251775, US Dep. Justice Washington, DC: https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/bwclea16.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Hyland SS, Davis E 2019. Local police departments, 2016: personnel Bur. Justice Stat. Rep. NCJ 252835, US Dep. Justice Washington, DC: https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/lpd16p.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Jardine M. 2020. A southern policing perspective and appreciative inquiry: an ethnography of policing in Vietnam. Polic. Soc. 30:2186–205
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Kelling G, Wilson JQ. 1982. Broken windows: the police and neighbourhood safety. Atlantic Monthly 249:129–38
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Liederbach J. 2007. Controlling suburban and small-town hoods: an examination of police encounters with juveniles. Youth Violence Juv. Justice 5:2107–24
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Lum C, Koper CS, Wilson DB, Stoltz M, Goodier M et al. 2020. Body-worn cameras’ effects on police officers and citizen behaviour: a systematic review. Campbell Syst. Rev. 16:3e1112
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Lundman RJ, Sykes RE, Clark JP. 1978. Police control of juveniles: a replication. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 15:174–91
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Makin DA, Willits DW, Brooks R. 2021. Systematic social event modeling: a methodology for analyzing body-worn camera footage. Int. J. Soc. Res. Methodol. 24:2163–76
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Marks M. 2003. Policing ethnography. Soc. Transit. 34:138–69
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Mastrofski SD, Parks RB, McCluskey JD 2010. Systematic social observation in criminology. Handbook of Quantitative Criminology AR Piquero, D Weisburd 225–47 New York: Springer
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Mastrofski SD, Parks RB, Reiss AJ, Worden RE. 1998a. Policing neighborhoods: a report from Indianapolis Res. Rep. Preview, Natl. Inst. Justice Washington, DC: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles/fs000223.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Mastrofski SD, Parks RB, Reiss AJ, Worden RE, DeJong C et al. 1998b. Systematic observation of public police: applying field research methods to policy issues Res. Rep. NCJ 172859, Natl. Inst. Justice Washington, DC: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles/172859.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  30. McCluskey JD, Reisig M. 2017. Explaining procedural justice during police-suspect encounters: a systematic social observation study. Polic. Int. J. 39:574–86
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Olson WC. 1929. The Measurement of Nervous Habits in Normal Children Minneapolis, MN: Univ. Minn. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Paoline EA, Terrill W. 2004. Women police officers and the use of coercion. Women Crim. Justice 15:3–497–119
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Parten MB. 1932. Social participation among pre-school children. J. Abnorm. Soc. Psychol. 27:3243–69
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Pew Res. Cent 2021. Mobile fact sheet. Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Pres. Task Force 21st Century Polic 2015. Final Report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing Washington, DC: Off. Commun. Oriented Polic. Serv.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Reiner R 2000. Police research. Doing Research on Crime and Justice R King, E Wincup 205–35 New York: Oxford Univ. Press. , 1st ed..
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Reisig MD, McCluskey JD, Mastrofski SD, Terrill W. 2004. Suspect disrespect toward the police.. Justice Q. 21:2241–68
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Reiss AJ. 1968. Stuff and nonsense about social surveys and observation. Institutions and the Person: Festschrift in Honor of Everett C. Hughes HS Becker, B Geer, D Riesman, RS Weiss 351–67 New York: Routledge
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Reiss AJ. 1971a. Systematic observation of natural social phenomena. Sociol. Methodol. 3:333
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Reiss AJ. 1971b. The Police and the Public New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Rios VM. 2011. Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys New York: NYU Press
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Rosenshine B, Furst N. 1973. The use of direct observation to study teaching. Second Handbook of Research on Teaching RMW Travers 122–83 Chicago: Rand McNally
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Sahin NM, Cubukcu S. 2021. In-car cameras and police accountability in use of force incidents. J. Police Crim. Psychol. 37:51225
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Schafer JA, Mastrofski SD. 2005. Police leniency in traffic enforcement encounters: exploratory findings from observations and interviews. J. Crim. Justice 33:3225–38
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Schulenberg JL. 2014. Systematic social observation of police decision-making: the process, logistics, and challenges in a Canadian context. Qual. Quant. 48:1297–315
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Skolnick J. 1966. Justice Without Trial New York: John Wiley
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Sun IY, Payne BK, Wu Y. 2008. The impact of situational factors, officer characteristics, and neighborhood context on police behavior: a multilevel analysis. J. Crim. Justice 36:122–32
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Sytsma VA, Chillar VF, Piza EL. 2021. Scripting police escalation of use of force through conjunctive analysis of body-worn camera footage: a systematic social observational pilot study. J. Crim. Justice 74:101776
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Terrill W, Paoline EA, Manning PK. 2003. Police culture and coercion. Criminology 41:41003–34
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Terrill W, Reisig MD. 2003. Neighborhood context and police use of force. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 40:3291–321
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Terrill W, Zimmerman L. 2021. Police use of force escalation and de-escalation: the use of systematic social observation with video footage. Police Q. 25:2155–77
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Todak N, James L 2018. A systematic social observation study of police de-escalation tactics. Police Q. 21:4509–43
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Westley WA. 1970. Violence and the Police Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Whitehead TN. 1935. Social relationships in the factory: a study of an industrial group. Hum. Factors 9:381–82
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Willits DW, Makin DA. 2018. Show me what happened: analyzing use of force through analysis of body-worn camera footage. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 55:151–77
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Wilson JQ. 1968. Varieties of Police Behavior Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Wood JD, Watson AC, Fulambarker AJ. 2017. The “gray zone” of police work during mental health encounters: findings from an observational study in Chicago. Police Q. 20:181–105
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Worden RE, McLean SJ. 2014. Assessing police performance in citizen encounters: police legitimacy and management accountability Natl Inst. Justice Rep., John F. Finn Inst. Public Saf. Albany, NY:
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030421-034101
Loading
  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error