Cynicism Towards Change: The Case of Body-Worn Cameras Among Police Officers
Open accessAbstract
Police use of body-worn cameras (BWCs), proponents believe, will bring transparency and accountability to police work, and ultimately enhance police legitimacy. As with previous major organizational changes in policing, BWCs may be greeted with cynicism. Such cynicism by officers can obstruct the expected benefits of BWCs to policing. Yet, evidence on the receptivity of officers to BWCs is sparse. We seek to investigate the nature and sources of officers’ cynicism about BWCs. Our data came from a survey of 550 police officers from seven forces in England and Northern Ireland. Results show that cynicism towards BWCs is multi-dimensional, with levels of cynicism varying across these dimensions. Officers were more cynical about public receptivity and the impact on crime prevention, but least cynical about the likely impact on police integrity. Further analysis found that cynicism hinges, largely, on organizational commitment.
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Officers tend to react similarly to given situations because of organizational operating procedures, incentives, and top-down managerial and bottom-up behavioral models.
“This means that officers tend to react similarly to given situations because of organizational operating procedures, incentives, and top-down managerial and bottom-up behavioral models (Sherman 1980; Wilson 1968, Tankebe 2016).”
From Paradoxical effects of self-awareness of being observed: testing the effect of police body-worn cameras on assaults and aggression against officers (2018) · cites this paper as Tankebe 2016
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- Authors
- Tankebe, J., & Ariel, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Tankebe, Justice
- Venue
- SSRN Electronic Journal
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016
- ISSN
- 1556-5068 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2551895452
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
- Social Sciences › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Deception detection and forensic psychology
- Keywords
- body-worn cameras, police officers, cynicism, organizational change, police accountability, police legitimacy, organizational commitment, crime prevention, police integrity
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