Drivers of police agencies’ resistance to body-worn camera adoption
| Author | Viviana Andreescu,David Kim |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14613557221126492 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Original Research Articles |
Drivers of police agencies’resistance to
body-worn camera adoption
Viviana Andreescu
Department of Criminal Justice, University of Louisville, USA
David Kim
Department of Criminal Justice, Indiana University East, USA
Abstract
Although the use of video-recording technology in policing is on the rise in the United States, not all police agencies in the
country are following this trend. Using Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Body-Worn Camera
Supplement survey data collected in 2016 from a nationally representative sample of general-purpose law enforcement
agencies, the present analysis identified some of the factors more likely to predict interagency differences in the intention
to adopt body-worn cameras (BWCs). Findings show that resistance to the adoption of BWCs is reported by law
enforcement agencies that do not think the new technology is needed, report a lack of support for BWC adoption
from the agency’s leadership and from patrol officers, and have privacy and cost-related concerns. Although the perceived
lack of public support for the adoption of BWCs does not differentiate agencies that intend to acquire BWCs from agen-
cies that do not, police departments that registered a higher percentage of complaints for excessive use of physical force
are significantly more likely to oppose the adoption of BWCs. Support for BWC adoption is significantly higher in police
departments that have acquired other types of recording equipment in the past. Even though recent state-level legislative
changes related to BWCs do not have a significant impact on BWC adoption decisions at the organization level, results
indicate that law enforcement agencies located in US states with strong police unions are more likely to show resistance
to the adoption of BWCs in the near future.
Keywords
Policing, body-worn cameras, video-recording technology adoption, police agencies
Submitted 22 Nov 2020, Revise received 3 Aug 2022, accepted 21 Aug 2022
Law enforcement agencies in the United States started to
adopt body-worn cameras (BWCs) less than a decade ago
and the number of police agencies that acquired this
video-recording device increased from 32% in 2013
(Reaves, 2015) to 47% in 2016 (Hyland, 2018).
Following the ascending trend in BWC adoption and use,
the number of publications on BWCs increased noticeably
as well. White (2019) recently noted that from 2013 to
2018, the number of empirical studies discussing various
issues related to BWCs increased from 5 (White, 2014) to
70 (Lum et al., 2019). Moreover, by late December 2019,
there were 119 studies that examined the outcomes of
BWC adoption, including reports of police agencies’eva-
luations of BWC trials or pilot tests (Gaub and White,
2020).
The body of research on BWCs includes studies that
examined the effects of BWCs on police officers’reactive
Corresponding author:
Viviana Andreescu, Department of Criminal Justice, University of
Louisville, 2301 S. 3rd Street, Louisville, KY 40208, USA.
Email: viviana.andreescu@louisville.edu.
Original Research Article
International Journal of
Police Science & Management
2022, Vol. 24(4) 437–452
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/14613557221126492
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and proactive behavior, such as use of force and unconsti-
tutional actions, or problem-solving and community
policing; citizens’and police officers’attitudes about
BWCs; the impact of BWCs on citizens’behavior, compli-
ance, and satisfaction with the police; the impact of BWCs
on criminal investigations; and/or the impact of BWCs on
police organizations, related to training, disciplinary proce-
dures, accountability structures, and supervisory practices
(Cubitt et al., 2016; Gaub and White, 2020; Lum et al.,
2019; Malm, 2019; Maskaly et al., 2017). In sum, although
research findings regarding the benefits of BWC adoption
and use are mixed, it is clear that “researchers have
worked hard to keep up with the diffusion of BWCs”
(White, 2019: 90).
Despite the multitude of themes addressed by research-
ers focusing on BWCs, only a small number of studies
(Hendrix et al., 2019; Lawshe et al., 2022; Mrozla and
Hellwege, 2020; Nix et al., 2020; Nowacki and Willits,
2018; Pyo, 2022; Smith, 2019) focused on the front end
and sought to identify the factors that predict BWC adop-
tion. Considering the fact that recent official data indicate
that many US police departments continue to show no inter-
est in adopting this relatively recent technological innov-
ation (Escamilla and Reichert, 2019), it is important to
understand not only why police departments adopted or
plan to adopt and use the new technology (Smith, 2019),
but also why some police departments are reluctant to do
so. In this study we intend to determine why this might
be the case.
Specifically, using the Law Enforcement Management and
Administrative Statistics Body-Worn Camera Supplement
(LEMAS–BWCS), we are interested in identifying the
characteristics of police organizations and of the environ-
ment in which a police agency operates (i.e. police union
strength at the state level and BWC-related legislation)
that are more likely to predict different levels of resistance
to BWC adoption. Although researchers have used LEMAS
data in the past to determine what motivated police agencies
to adopt BWCs, these research studies focused on police
agencies that had already acquired BWCs or explored
potential differences between agencies that adopted
BWCs and those that did not (Coleman, 2020; Lawshe
et al., 2022; Mrozla and Hellwege, 2020; Nowacki and
Willits, 2018; Pyo, 2022). To the authors’knowledge, no
study focused exclusively on police agencies that did not
have BWCs to determine what factors differentiate police
agencies that plan to adopt BWCs in the future from agen-
cies that do not intend to acquire BWCs or have ambivalent
adoption intentions. Although Hyland’s (2018) report based
on LEMAS–BWCS data lists the obstacles to innovation
adoption expressed by police agencies that did not have
BWCs, the correlates of variations in BWC adoption
intent were not examined. Yet policymakers, legislators,
and others interested in persuading police agencies to
adopt BWCs might benefit from knowing what charac-
terizes police agencies that do not plan or hesitate to
acquire BWCs. Nonetheless, this information, especially
information about police agencies with ambivalent BWC
adoption intentions, is currently missing from the literature.
By focusing on the drivers of resistance to innovation adop-
tion, this study extends the research base related to innov-
ation decision models in police organizations.
Theoretical framework and review of the
literature
Our analysis is informed by Mohr’s (1969) theory of organ-
izational innovation. Mohr (1969) stated that “innovation is
directly related to the motivation to innovate, inversely
related to the strength of obstacles to innovation, and dir-
ectly related to the availability of resources for overcoming
such obstacles”(p. 114). The author noted that environmen-
tal changes and demands are important sources of motiv-
ation, whereas worker resistance to change, mechanistic
decision structures, costs associated with adoption and
implementation, and lack of community support are obsta-
cles to innovation. Conversely, competence and wealth, as
well as stakeholders’and influential individuals’support
are resources for innovation (Mohr, 1969).
Motivation to adopt BWCs
Karch (2006) contended that the motivation to innovate
increases when problematic social conditions are identified.
When discussing the impact of external factors that precipi-
tated the adoption of BWCs in the United States, several
scholars (Braga et al., 2018; Lum et al., 2019; White
et al., 2017) providedsupport for Karch’s (2006) contention.
Specifically, environmental factors such as high-profile
deadly force incidents involving the police contributed to
changes in national-level politics, which in turn influenced
greatly the adoption of BWCs by police agencies in the
United States (Crow and Smykla, 2019).
The call for transformative police practices was officially
made on 18 December 2014, when President Barack
Obama signed an executive order establishing the Task
Force on 21st Century Policing. The main objective of
the Task Force was to identify the best practices and formu-
late recommendations that would reduce crime, improve
police–community relations, and enhance police legitim-
acy. Among several issues addressed in its final report,
the Task Force argued that by implementing new technolo-
gies police departments would have the opportunity to respond
to public expectations for transparency, accountability, and
438 International Journal of Police Science & Management 24(4)
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