International Policing Conference 2014

The James Smart Memorial Lecture

The Impact of Technology on Modern Policing

Professor Cynthia Lum CEBP, George Mason University

The Impact of Technology on Modern Policing

Cynthia Lum, PhDDirector and Associate ProfessorCenter for Evidence-Based Crime PolicyDepartment of Criminology, Law and SocietyGeorge Mason University

The impact of Technology on Modern policing

1. Expectations and suspicions

2. Knowledge from research

3. The filtering of technology through organizational tendencies

4. An alternative framework for acquisition and use

Expectations of Technology

▪ Improve efficiency

▪ More/quicker/better access to information

▪ Increase detections

▪ Control crime

▪ Increase officer safety

▪ Facilitate exchange

▪ Increase accountability

Does technology fulfill these expectations?

Suspicions about technology

What do we know about the impact of technology on

policing?

Technology impacts:

▪ Agency culture

▪ Organizational structure and relationships

▪ Management and accountability systems

▪ Discretion and decision making in daily routines

▪ Everyday operations and efficiencies

▪ Effectiveness for crime prevention/deterrence

▪ Community relations and police legitimacy

▪ Job satisfaction

Key Technologies Examined

Study Methods

▪ 1700 surveys of all sworn personnel across 4 agencies

▪ Hundreds of interviews and focus groups of personnel, observations across 4 agencies

▪ Field evaluations and data analysis of the impacts of technology in agencies 1 and 2

1. Technology’s impact and interaction with agency culture

Receptivity to Technology

% patrol officers that agreed or strongly agreed

2. Impact on accountability and

management

3. Impact on organizational units, hierarchy and

organizational structure

4. Police-citizen communication and legitimacy

5. Impact of technology on discretion and decision making

Experimental evaluation of mobile computer technology

6. The impact of technology on efficiency

7. Impact of technology on crime control effectiveness

Effectiveness viewed through the lens of what officers believe is “good policing”

Experimental Evaluation of Mobile Computer Technology

Model Impact Estimate

High Dosage / Low Technology Use versus Matching Controls

-45%

High Dosage / High Technology Use versus Matching Controls

-14%

8. Technology increases job satisfaction when it:

▪ Helps to “catch bad guys”

▪ Increases efficiency

▪ Advances the officer (protection against complaints, learning, promotion, etc.)

▪ Improves officer safety

▪ When connected with their perceived function and purpose.

Expectations and Contradictions

How technology is used and received in a police agency

depends heavily on that agency’s tendencies and

interpretation of what policing is about.

Crime Analysis

“Is Crime Analysis Evidence-Based?” (Lum, 2013)Translational Criminology Issue 5 - http://cebcp.org/tcmagazine/

Technology, policing, and evidence

▪ THE POINT: The way technology is used and how it is viewed by police agencies often reveals a reactive, arrest-oriented, procedures-based, individual-oriented mandate and nature of policing.

▪ THE PROBLEM: This nature has been long-challenged by research evidence and practice, which shows that proactive, preventative, place-based and problem-oriented approaches are more effective.

Strategizing for technology acquisition and optimization

1. Build and adjust organizational norms and mandates first, then adopt technology to those norms

2. Approach technology with an evidence-based mindset.

3. Implement/train new technologies for use within evidence-based approaches

4. Include personnel at all ranks in the process of acquisition, within the reform vision

The bottom line

The most important consideration when thinking about acquiring new technology is not the technology at

all – it is the nature of the organization, which will ultimately

determine the output of technology.

Thank you

Cynthia Lum clum@gmu.edu

International Policing Conference 2014

22nd October 2014

University of Edinburgh