READING AND EVALUATING PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL LITERATURE
Professor Presley
Liberty University
Evaluation Form
NAME: Date:
Reference
Ariel, B., Farrar, W., & Sutherland, A. (2014). The effect of police body-worn cameras on use of
force and citizens’ complaints against the police: A randomized controlled trial. Journal
of Quantitative Criminology, 31(3), 509–535. doi 10.1007/s10940-014-9236-3
1.
A.
B.
1. OUTLINE: Use the exact titles
and subtitles in the article
Use alphanumeric style
I. (APA level 1)
A. (APA level 2)
1. (APA level 3)
a. (APA level 4)
(1) (APA level 5)
II. And so on
I. Introduction
II. Literature review
A. Police use-of-force
B. Explaining use-of-force
C. Measuring use-of force
D. Citizens’ complaints against the police
E. Cameras as a deterrence stimulus to manage
police use-of-force
III. Hypothesis
IV. Methods
A. Research settings
B. “Police Shift” as the unit of analysis
C. Procedure, random allocation and statistical power
D. Apparatus
E. Measures
1. Use-of-force
2. Citizen’s complaints
3. Contact with the public
4. Baseline data
5. Statistical procedure
V. Results
A. Use-of-force
B. Citizens’ complaints
VI. Discussion
A. Just another Hawthorne effect?
B. Estimating the costs and benefits of body-worn-
cameras
C. Research limitations
VII. Conclusion
2. PURPOSE: (State, as
accurately as possible, the author’s
“The question we try to answer is: do body-worn-
cameras reduce the prevalence of use-of-force and/or
READING AND EVALUATING PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL LITERATURE
Professor Presley
Liberty University
C.
D.
E.
F.
purpose for writing the article.
What was the author trying to
accomplish? What portion of the
article leads you to identify the
author’s purpose?)
[Abstract, summary, conclusion]
citizens’ complaints against the police?” p. 509
“In this paper we report on the first randomized
controlled trial using body-worn-cameras, which tested
the effect of body-worn-cameras in Rialto across 12
months.” p. 510
3. KEY QUESTION: (Your goal
is to figure out the key question
that was in the author’s mind when
he or she wrote the article. In other
words, what key question is
addressed?)
[the key issue is…., the main
point is…]
The key question addressed is:
“…do body-worn cameras reduce the prevalence of use-
of-force and/or citizens’ complaints against the police?”
p.509
4. LITERATURE REVIEW Psychological theories of use-of-force suggest that police
officers with certain psychological traits are more likely
to use excessive use-of-force or use force more broadly.
For instance, the ability to ‘‘endure’’ some stressful
situations was found to be associated with personality
types, while some police officers tend to accept some
forms of disrespect but not others (Engel et al.2000).
More broadly, Fabricatore et al. (1978) have shown
that certain personality factors, as measured by the
Sixteen Personality Factor (16PF) Questionnaire,
revealed that ‘‘aggressive’’ and ‘‘tough-minded’’
characteristics were consistent predictors of use-of-
force. Burke and Mikkelsen (2005) as well as Phillips
and Sobol (2011) subsequently found that cynical
officers held more favorable attitudes towards the use-
of-force, while officers reporting higher levels of
professional efficacy held more favorable attitudes
towards the use of social skills to solve problems. (p.
513)
5. MOST IMPORTANT
INFORMATION: Key
information, suppositions, facts,
data
[the main point is…, the
most important point…]
Transition signals
1. Addition-also, another,
next, first, other
2. Cause and effect-because,
since, therefore, as a
result
3. Comparison-like, equally,
“We found that the likelihood of force being used in
control conditions were roughly twice those in
experimental conditions. Similarly, a pre/post analysis of
use-of-force and complaints data also support this result:
the number of complaints filed against officers dropped
from 0.7 complaints per 1,000 contacts to 0.07 per 1,000
contacts.” p. 510
“In recent years the use of police body-worn-cameras by
police has received extensive media attention.” p. 510
“In a similar vein across the Atlantic, the College of
READING AND EVALUATING PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL LITERATURE
Professor Presley
Liberty University
just as
4. Contrast-but, yet, on
the contrary, however
5. Emphasis-most, above
all, key factor, especially
6. Illustration-for example,
for instance
7. Conclusion – finally,
in sum, in conclusion
Policing in England and Wales identified body-worn-
cameras as the mechanism through which ‘‘dented
public confidence’’ could be restored (BBC,
10/24/2013).” p.
510
“Despite great promises, there is no research evidence on
the benefits of body-worn-cameras.” p. 510
“In fact, a defining characteristic of the policing
profession is that it requires potentially using
‘‘reasonable’’ and ‘‘necessary’’ force, including deadly
force, in a variety of chaotic situations that may be both
(un)desired and (un)expected by members of the public.”
p. 511
“The police are, therefore, entrusted with the legal and
moral responsibility to maintain societal order and these
imperatives are implemented through their legitimized
use-of-force.” p. 512
“Finally, police subculture in relation to use-of-force
seems to play a role in accepting or allowing for
‘‘more force’’ to be applied in certain circumstances”
p. 513
“However, there is room for interpretation. In fact, some
would consider the mere presence of a police officer and
the concomitant physical representation of authority as
‘‘some’’ force.” p. 513
“Even more difficult to define is at what point the use-of-
force is either ‘‘unnecessary’’ or ‘‘excessive’’ (see
Atherley and Hickman 2014; Alpert and Smith 1994).” p.
514
“In many ways this is because rules and laws relating to
police use-of-force are simply ‘‘too vague to be regarded
as a comprehensive set of operational guidelines’’ (Fyfe
1988: 180; see also Henderson and Wilson 2008).” p.
514
“…for example, have shown that the rate of use-of-force
is about 5–10 % of police contacts with suspects.” p. 514
“…but such activities represent a small proportion of
police work.” p. 514
READING AND EVALUATING PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL LITERATURE
Professor Presley
Liberty University
“…however the police are dramatically more likely to
contact non-criminal-suspects in their daily routines—
suggesting that the rate of use-of-force is very low as
well.” p. 514
“For example, placing one’s hand on another’s shoulder
in an authoritative way or using aggressive language may
be considered use-of-force in some instances and for
some individuals, whereas for others they may not.” p.
514
“Likewise, any approach should still allow for legitimate
use-of-force to be used in cases when it is required to
protect the public, but for all other circumstances, a
reductionist approach should aim to dramatically ‘cool
down’ encounters.” p. 515
“…—even though the rate of complaints is usually very
low, compared to the number of interactions between
the police and members of the public.” p. 515
“Still, the number of complaints can be used as a measure
for how people the police encounter evaluate their
performance…” p. 515
“Furthermore, complaints are a source of public
dissatisfaction…” p. 515
“Theoretically, cameras are likely to deter people from
noncompliance with rules of conduct." p. 516
“However, how body-worn-cameras may be used to
affect behavior and—specifically—that of police
officers, is as yet unknown.” p. 517
"Thus, cameras are hypothesized to reduce the number of
incidents of use-of-force, as well as the number of
citizens’ complaints lodged against officers.” p. 518
“Instead, the unit of interest in this experiment is the
patrol shift.” p. 519
“In total, we assigned 988 shifts over 12 months into 489
treatment and 499 control conditions.” p. 520
READING AND EVALUATING PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL LITERATURE
Professor Presley
Liberty University
G.
“Specifically in our study, our dependent variable only
indicates whether or not force was used, but it does not
say ‘‘how much’’ force was used.” p. 522
“Nevertheless, analysis of departmental and citizens’
complaints against police officers was shown to provide
somewhat reliable estimates of use-of-force (McCluskey
and Terrill 2005: 513).” p. 522
“…but we believe that, on average, the benefits of using
body-worn-cameras may outweigh the costs.” p. 525
“Therefore, using shifts allows researchers to increase
power without prolonging the study period or increasing
the number of cases.” p. 526
“In short, whether they affected officers, citizens, or
both, body-worn-cameras resulted in less force.” p. 530
6. METHODOLOGY(Key
methods used)
[Methods: What model is used,
what is the experimental design,
our data was from, Are there any
stated hypothesis? If so what are
the independent of dependent
variables? What are the units of
analysis (sample)? Were there
any instruments used? Was this
a cross sectional or longitudinal
design or other design like
experiment, survey, or
observation? What are the
sample characteristics-selection,
participation rate?]
Starting on February 13th, 2012 and running for 12
months, the experiment consisted of randomly assigning
all police shifts to either experimental or control
conditions. ‘‘Experimental-shifts’’ consisted of shifts in
which officers were assigned to wear high definition
(HD) audio-visual recording apparatus (see below).
‘‘Control-shifts’’ consisted of shifts in which officers
were instructed not to wear the HD cameras. Integrity of
assignment was measured by both measuring the
number of ‘‘footage-hours’’ against the assigned shifts as
well as dip-sampling dates of footage and monitoring
that the officers wore the cameras as assigned. (p. 520).
1. This experiment used controlled methods to test
body- worn-cameras effectiveness.
“We empirically tested the use of body-worn-cameras
by measuring the effect of videotaping police–public
encounters on incidents of police use-of-force and
complaints, in randomized-controlled settings.” p. 509
2. Before this experiment, no research that shows
positive benefits of body-worn-cameras.
“Despite great promises, there is no research evidence on
the benefits of body-worn-cameras.” p. 510
3. This experiment finds that body-worn-cameras aid in
READING AND EVALUATING PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL LITERATURE
Professor Presley
Liberty University
H.
reducing use-of-force, and citizen complaints.
“Based on evidence collected in this randomized
controlled field trial, our findings suggest that police
body-worn-cameras reduce the prevalence of use-of-
force by the police as well as the incidence of citizens’
complaints against the police.” p. 531
8. LIMITATIONS/DISCUSSION
(Limitations of the study)
[Limitations, Discussion: One
limitation of our study is, other
limitations, Other studies
show…]
“However, this is but one experiment and before this
policy is considered more widely, police forces,
governments and researchers should invest further time
and effort in replicating these findings.” p. 531
9. CONCLUSION
(The main conclusion(s) of the
author(s))
[Conclusion: In summary,
Finally, In conclusion,
Future studies?]
“These devices are commonly believed to achieve several
aims, including: reducing police use-of-force and
complaints against officers, enhancing police legitimacy
and transparency, increasing prosecution rates and
improving evidence capture by the police.” p. 510
“We found that the likelihood of force being used in
control conditions were roughly twice those in
experimental conditions. Similarly, a pre/post analysis
of use-of-force and complaints data also support this
result: the number of complaints filed against officers
dropped from 0.7 complaints per 1,000 contacts to 0.07
per 1,000
contacts.” p. 510
“…our findings suggest that police body-worn-cameras
reduce the prevalence of use-of-force by the police as
well as the incidence of citizens’ complaints against the
police.” p. 531
10. YOUR OPINION OF THE
PAPER
This was a very good paper. The experimental data
mimicked actual situations and would apply to the real
like situations.
