Testing and Evaluating Body Worn Video Technology in the Los Angeles Police Department, California, 2012-2018 (ICPSR 37467)
Version Date: Apr 28, 2021 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Craig D. Uchida, Justice & Security Strategies, Inc.
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37467.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This research sought to evaluate the implementation of body worn cameras (BWCs) in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Researchers employed three strategies to evaluate the impact of BWCs in the department: 1) two-wave officer surveys about BWCs, 2) two-wave Systematic Social Observations (SSOs) of citizen interactions from officer ride-alongs, and 3) a time series analysis of existing LAPD data of use of force and complaint data.
The officer surveys were conducted in the Mission and Newton divisions of the LAPD before and after BWCs were implemented. The survey instrument was designed to measure perceptions of BWCs across a variety of domains and took approximately 20 minutes to complete. Researchers attended roll calls for all shifts and units to request officer participation and administered the surveys on tablets using the Qualtrics software. The pre-deployment survey was administered in both divisions August and September 2015. The post-deployment surveys were conducted with a subset of officers who participated in the pre-deployment surveys during a two-week period in the summer of 2016, approximately nine months following the initial rollout of BWCs.
The SSO data was collected in the Mission and Newton divisions prior to and following BWC implementation. The pre-administration SSOs were conducted in August and September 2015 and the post-administration SSOs were conducted in June and August, 2016. Trained observers spent 725 hours riding with and collecting observational data on the encounters between officers and citizens using tablets to perform field coding using Qualtrics software. A total of 124 rides (71 from Wave I and 53 from Wave II) were completed between both Newton and Mission Divisions. These observations included 514 encounters and involved coding the interactions of 1,022 citizens, 555 of which were deemed to be citizens who had full contact, which was defined as a minute or more of face-time or at least three verbal exchanges.
Patrol officers (including special units) for ride-alongs were selected from a master list of officers scheduled to work each day and shift throughout the observation period. Up to five officers within each shift were randomly identified as potential participants for observation from this master list and observers would select the first available officer from this list. For each six-hour observation period, or approximately one-half of a shift, the research staff observed the interactions between the assigned officer, his or her partner, and any citizens he or she encountered. In Wave 2, SSOs were conducted with the same officers from Wave 1.
The time series data were obtained from the LAPD use of force and complaint databases for each of the 21 separate patrol divisions, a metropolitan patrol division, and four traffic divisions of the LAPD. These data cover the time period where BWC were implemented throughout the LAPD on a staggered basis by division from 2015 to 2018. The LAPD operates using four-week deployment periods (DPs), and there are approximately 13 deployment periods per year. These data span the period of the beginning of 2012 through the 2017 DP 12. These data were aggregated to counts by deployment period based on the date of the originating incident. The LAPD collects detailed information about each application of force by an officer within an encounter. For this reason, separate use of force counts are based on incidents, officers, and use of force applications. Similarly, the LAPD also collects information on each allegation for each officer within a complaint and public complaint counts are based on incidents, officers, and allegations.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
Police precinct
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
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Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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Data Limitations
These three datasets cannot be combined.
Because complaints are often completed a considerable time after the originating incident, the counts of complaints for Deployment Periods (DPs) near the point of data collection were set to missing to avoid misleading analysis.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
Modern police agencies invest in video technology to protect officers and the public, improve situational awareness, enhance public trust, and increase the quality and quantity of evidence. Closed-circuit television (CCTV), in-car video (ICV) and now body worn camera technology (BWC) are in use by law enforcement agencies throughout the world. Recently, courts, city councils, police commissions, activists, and others have urged the use of BWC to address issues regarding citizen complaints, use of force, and the stop-and-frisk practice.
There are several factors underlying the push for this new technology. A number of high-profile police-citizen interactions have garnered national media attention. Many of these incidents that involve fatal use of force were caught on video by a bystander and shared across social media prompting national discussion over police use of force. Outfitting police officers with BWCs has been recognized as one potential way to ease this mounting public concern.
Police indicate that BWCs have the potential to change both police officer and citizen behavior. Furthering knowledge of officer perceptions in this area is critical because it serves to assist police departments in identifying and implementing best practices at the outset. This is especially important for departments deploying cameras gradually by station or division across time (such as with the LAPD in this study) because officers who have early experience with BWCs may either accelerate or impede BWC integration depending on whether they have favorable or unfavorable perceptions of the cameras.
Based on prior research and the notion that body-worn cameras can affect police behavior, this research sought to answer these basic questions:
- How are BWCs used in the field and what are officers' perceptions about them?
- What are officers attitudes toward the use of BWCs before and after implementation?
- What is the impact of BWCs on police/citizen behavior? Are there fewer use of force and civilian complaints because of the cameras?
- Do BWCs affect procedural justice?
In an effort to answer these questions, data was collected and compiled into three (3) datasets:
- Officer Survey Data
- Systematic Social Observation Data (SSO)
- Time Series Data
Study Design View help for Study Design
Officer Survey Data
Officer surveys were administered to police officers of varying ranks in LAPD's Mission and Newton divisions at two time points, pre-BWC deployment (August and September 2015; Wave I) and post-deployment (summer of 2016; Wave II). This panel survey contained 52 questions designed to measure officer perceptions of BWCs across a variety of domains: (1) individual and general views; (2) familiarity, ease of use, and comfort; (3) use of footage; (4) police officer behavior; (5) citizen reactions; (6) concerns for video recording; (7) overall thoughts and conclusions; and (8) general police work. Questions were tailored to provide consistency across sites for comparison with other studies, took approximately 20 minutes to complete, and were administered on digital tablets using the online survey software, Qualtrics.
Systematic Social Observation Data
Eight observers were trained in a classroom setting on the SSO instruments, including discussions of coding protocols, group viewing of vignettes, and a series of field training rides. After finalizing all procedures and instruments, observers conducted the initial SSOs (Wave I) in August (Mission Division) and early September (Newton Division) of 2015, prior to the deployment of cameras. After the completion of Wave I data collection, observers returned approximately one year after implementation to conduct Wave II of SSOs in the same divisions and, when possible, with the same officers.
During the SSOs, observers followed a detailed protocol governing data entry for all information collected. They used mobile hotspots and tablets to perform field coding via Qualtrics, an online survey software, for each encounter. Designed to capture individual citizen, event, and ride characteristics, surveys were completed both during and after each field observation. Additionally, when feasible, observers composed detailed narratives describing each encounter that took place during the observations.
A total of 124 rides (71 from Wave I and 53 from Wave II) were completed between both Newton and Mission Divisions. These observations included 514 encounters and involved coding the interactions of 1,022 citizens, 555 of which were deemed to be citizens who had full contact, which was defined as a minute or more of face-time or at least three verbal exchanges.
Time Series Data
An Interrupted Time Series (ITS) research design was employed to determine the effects of BWCs on use of force and civilian complaints. The ITS design is a "quasi-experimental" method that is much stronger than many cross-sectional designs. This method compares preexisting trends over a baseline period to post-intervention trends to determine whether the intervention had an impact. Key to this design is the existence of several pre-intervention and post-intervention data points. Further, the exact time of the intervention must be identified. All of these criteria are met within the data extracted from the LAPD. Importantly, the ITS analysis concerns trends and changes at the division level of analysis rather than the individual officer level of analysis. Thus, the ITS design can capture the net impact of BWCs across the experimental divisions.
Sample View help for Sample
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is the third largest police agency in the nation. It employs nearly 10,000 sworn officers and 3,500 civilian staff. The city of Los Angeles spans 468 square miles and has a population of approximately 4 million. The LAPD is comprised of four bureaus with 21 patrol divisions and four traffic divisions.
As the first two divisions to deploy BWCs, the Mission and Newton divisions of the LAPD are the focus of the Officer Survey Data and the Systematic Social Observation Data. Mission and Newton Divisions were specifically selected because of their locations and because of the differences in call types and activities.
Officer Survey Data
The two-wave, fixed sample officer surveys were conducted in the Mission and Newton divisions of the LAPD before and after BWCs were implemented. Officer participation was voluntary and researchers attended roll calls for all shifts and units to request officer participation. Only officers who were surveyed at both time periods were included in the analysis.
Systematic Social Observation Data
To obtain a random sample of officers for participation in the SSOs, a list of all eligible officers within the two divisions was obtained. It was determined that supervisors and those officers who were assigned to desk work would not be observed as their interaction with citizens would be limited. Ultimately, uniformed officers on patrol (including special units) were randomly selected for observation based on their watch assignment.
Time Series Data
The Time Series Data were obtained from the LAPD use of force and complaint databases for each of the 21 separate patrol divisions, a metropolitan patrol division, and four traffic divisions of the LAPD. These data cover the time period where BWC were implemented throughout the LAPD on a staggered basis by division from 2015 to 2018. These data span the period of the beginning of 2012 through the 2017 DP 12. The LAPD operates using four-week deployment periods (DPs), and there are approximately 13 deployment periods per year. These data were aggregated to counts by deployment period based on the date of the originating incident. The LAPD collects detailed information about each application of force by an officer within an encounter. For this reason, separate use of force counts are based on incidents, officers, and use of force applications. Similarly, the LAPD also collects information on each allegation for each officer within a complaint and public complaint counts are based on incidents, officers, and allegations.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Police Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
The Time Series Data were obtained from the LAPD use of force and complaint databases.
Beck, C. (2017). 2016 Use of Force: Year-end Review. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Police Department.
http://lapd-assets.lapdonline.org/assets/pdf/2016-use-of-force-year-end-review-small.pdf
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Officer Survey Data contains the combined responses of the officer surveys from Wave I and Wave II of survey administration, as well as officer demographics.
275 observations
128 variables
Identifiers: ID (unique identifier)
Systematic Social Observation Data contains the combined SSO data from Wave I and Wave II observations. These data also combine information from 4 separate data collection instruments (the Ride Instrument, the Event Instrument, the Encounter Instrument, and the Citizen Instrument).
941 observations
377 variables
Identifiers: ID_NUM (unique identifier), OBSNUM, RIDENUM, EVENTNUM, ENCNTRNUM, CITNUM, O1_ID, O2_ID
Time Series Data contains the counts of use of force and public complaints for each deployment period across the observational period. An additional variable encodes the deployment period where BWCs were implemented in each LAPD division.
2,002 observations
16 variables
Identifiers: DIVISION_NUM, YEAR, DP
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Officer Survey Data
All available, eligible officers were requested to complete the survey(1).
A total of 165 police officers completed both the pre- and post-deployment survey questionnaire. This represented a total of 35.7% and 15.5% of police officers in Mission (n=106) and Newton (n=59) divisions respectively who were eligible to complete the pre-deployment survey.
The cooperation rate for the survey was 90% in Mission and 58% in Newton(2).
Respondents who completed both the pre- and post-deployment surveys were predominately male (87.3%), had a high school/GED education level (60.0%), and 12.6 years of experience (SD=7.3) at the LAPD.
The age of the respondents ranged from 24 to 62, with an average age of 38.6 (SD=8.4).
The race and ethnicity of the respondents were as follows: 49.1% Hispanic, 38.2% white, 6.7% Asian, and 4.8% black.
Police officers completing the survey in Mission were slightly older (39.2 versus 37.6 years of age), had more years of experience with LAPD (12.9 versus 12.1 years of experience), had the same college education (35.8% versus 35.6%), and were male (87.7% versus 86.4%) in comparison to those surveyed in Newton.
As compared to officers in Mission, a slightly higher percent of survey respondents in Newton were Hispanic (55.9% versus 45.3%).
(1) While eligible, some officers were not available to request their participation (e.g., on leave, in training).
(2) Cooperation rate reflects participation among eligible officers who were requested to participate in the survey. The response rate includes all eligible officers, including those who were unable to have their participation requested during the two-week period.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
Several Likert-type scales were used.
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This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.