PSY20016: Social Psychology Report on BWCs, Justice, and Policing

This report, submitted for a Social Psychology course, investigates the effects of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on perceptions of procedural justice and police legitimacy in the context of traffic stops. The study employed a quasi-experimental design, manipulating police behavior (respectful vs. disrespectful) and the presence or absence of a BWC to assess their independent and interactive effects on participants' perceptions. The findings indicate that police behavior significantly impacts perceptions of procedural justice. Furthermore, the presence of a BWC also affects perceptions of procedural justice. The report explores whether the presence of a BWC strengthens or weakens the relationship between perceptions of procedural fairness and police legitimacy. The results suggest the importance of BWCs in shaping public perceptions of law enforcement and the broader implications for police-community relations. The study analyzes how BWCs can enhance transparency and accountability, ultimately fostering more positive interactions between the police and the public, and discusses the limitations of the research.

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 1
PSY20016: Social Psychology
Procedural Justice and Body Worn Cameras (BWCs) in Policing
By
(Name of Student)
(Institutional Affiliation)
(Date of Submission)

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 2
Abstract
The Legitimacy of police is usually regarded as a view among members of any given society that
the department of police plays a vital role towards implementation of rules that governs conduct
of the public. Putting of Body Worn Cameras on police officers have been identified as a
possible vital response to crisis of police legitimacy. In this study we apply severe controlled
quasi experimental examination to tests the influence of body worn cameras on individual
perception of the procedural justice and police legitimacy during traffic stops in the United
States. It was found that motorists stopped by police officers with body worn cameras reported
improvement in perception of procedural justice in the encounter and perceptions of legitimacy
of traffic officers and the police more generally relative to stops by police officers without body
worn cameras.
Introduction
The procedural justice literature investigates how people determine: the fairness of legal and
other decision making procedures (procedural fairness); the fairness of outcomes from those
procedures (outcome fairness); satisfaction with legal and other decision making procedures
(procedural satisfaction); and satisfaction with the outcomes of those procedures (outcome
satisfaction). Initial findings in this area determined that procedural features (such as voice: the
opportunity to express one’s opinions during a decision making process) were very important in
shaping perceptions of fairness and satisfaction (e.g., Thibaut & Walker, 1975, 1978). These
authors surmised that voice (and other procedural features) were important because of their
instrumental value; when the target of a procedure was able to provide information to the

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 3
decision maker, the target would perceive that the decision maker would make a decision that
took that information into account and was thus more favourable to the target.
However, later research did not fit with this instrumental explanation, demonstrating that
voice was important for reasons independent of control over instrumental outcomes (Lind,
Kanfer & Earley, 20100). These findings led procedural justice theorists to develop the group
value model (Lind & Tyler, 2018), which has become one of the most influential theories in
modern social psychology. The group value model posits that voice shapes fairness judgments
because of its relational, rather than instrumental value. In other words, voice provides a signal to
the target of a procedure about his or her value to or standing within the social group. If the
target of a decision making procedure is being asked for his or her opinion or input, this is a sign
that the target is valued and respected by the social group (Lind & Tyler, 2018). Further research
identified several key variables (termed the “relational variables”) that provide such relational
information: voice, neutrality (whether the procedure itself allows all relevant facts to come to
light), trustworthiness (belief that the authority conducting the procedure has one’s best interests
at heart), and respect for rights (Tyler & Lind, 2012). When procedures embody these elements,
they signal to the target that he or she is held in high regard by the social group. The key tenet of
the group value model is that, when legal and other decision making procedures make us feel
valued and highly regarded, we judge those procedures to be fairer. A large body of research
supports these basic tenets of the group value model. (For a review, see MacCoun, 2015.)
Perceptions of procedural fairness have important consequences for the authorities
administering procedures: when a person feels they have been treated fairly by an authority in an
interaction, they perceive the authorities who administered the fair procedure to be more
legitimate, and they are more willing to co-operate with those authorities in future and comply

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 4
with their requests (Sunshine & Tyler, 2013). For these reasons, procedural justice research has
been heavily incorporated in policing practice and policy over the past several years, as police
recognise the importance of procedural justice in building supportive relationships between
police and the communities they serve (Hinds & Murphy, 2017). In other words, a procedurally
fair encounter between a citizen and a single police officer can have a positive impact on the
citizen’s perceptions, not only of the individual officer they encountered, but also of the police
more broadly (Mazerolle, Antrobus, Bennett & Tyler, 2013).
At the same time, the advent of new policing technologies is changing the way police
interact with the public. For example, police body-worn cameras (BWCs) are devices capable of
recording audio and video evidence of interactions between police officers and the communities
they serve (Sousa, Miethe, & Sakiyama, 2015). BWCs have been proposed to improve police
transparency, legitimacy, and accountability, and in turn, police-community relations following
events that have been detrimental to that relationship (e.g., the police involved deaths of Michael
Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City, New York; Braga, Sousa,
Coldren, & Rodriguez, 2018; Sousa, Miethe, & Sakiyama, 2017; White, Todak, & Gaub, 2017).
BWCs have been mentioned in the literature as a tool that can be used to increase perceptions of
procedural justice, and thus, of police legitimacy as well (Ariel, 2016; White et al., 2017).
For instance, White et al. (2017) found that when citizens were aware of BWCs on
officers, they were more likely to believe their encounter with an officer was procedurally just.
However, research on public perceptions of BWCs has been limited to field studies that do not
experimentally manipulate the presence versus absence of a BWC while holding all other factors
constant; therefore, these studies are unable to conclusively state whether the presence of a BWC
impacts citizens’ perceptions of an encounter independent of the effect of the BWC on the

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 5
officer’s own behaviour. Furthermore, previous research demonstrates that a citizen’s perception
of a single encounter with a police officer is related to their perception of police more broadly
(e.g., Mazerolle et al., 2013), but the research is silent on whether BWCs strengthen or weaken
this relationship (between perceptions of single encounters and perceptions of the broader
policing institution).
Objectives of the study
The present study has two main aims:
 To investigate whether a police officer’s behaviour and the presence of a BWC
independently affect perceptions of procedural fairness; and
 To investigate whether the presence of a BWC strengthens or weakens the relationship
between perceptions of the procedural fairness of the single encounter and perceptions of
the legitimacy of the police as a whole.
Research Methodology
Participants
Materials/Measures
Design
The study was therefore conducted as a 2 (Police behaviour: respectful, disrespectful) x 2 (BWC:
present, absent) x between-subjects experimental design1. The design is between subjects
because each respondent only participated in one condition. It is a 2 x 2 design because there are
two independent variables, each with two levels: police behaviour (respectful versus
1

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 6
disrespectful) and BWC (present versus absent). These manipulations created four separate
conditions, and each participant was randomly assigned to one of the four conditions:
i. Police officer respectful; BWC present
ii. Police officer respectful; BWC absent
iii. Police officer disrespectful; BWC present
iv. Police officer disrespectful; BWC absent
Independent variables:
Independent variable 1: Police behaviour
We manipulated this variable by giving participants indications that the police officer had
behaved respectfully or disrespectfully in the encounter. Participants in the respectful condition
read that the police officer spoke in a pleasant tone of voice, and was responsive and polite to the
driver. Participants in the disrespectful condition read that the police officer was brusque, and at
times behaved as though he was annoyed with the driver.
Independent variable 2: BWC
We manipulated this variable by giving participants indications that the police officer was either
wearing or not wearing a BWC during the encounter. Participants in the BWC absent condition
saw no mention of a BWC. Participants in the BWC present condition were told that there was a
BWC visible on the police officer’s uniform during the encounter; they were told that a recent
news article described BWCs as being rolled out across the police force, to record all interactions
with the public.
Dependent variables:
There are two key dependent variables as far as this study is concerned
i. Procedural fairness of the encounter:

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 7
Five items measured participants’ perceptions of the fairness of the RBT encounter with the
police officer. Participants’ scores on these five items were averaged to form a single index of
procedural fairness for each participant.
ii. Police legitimacy:
Sixteen items measured participants’ perceptions of the legitimacy of the police more broadly.
Participants’ scores on these items were averaged to form a single index of police legitimacy for
each participant.
Procedure
Research Questions
In this research report, the following four important research questions are presented in relation
to the topic.
i. Does police behaviour affect perceptions of procedural justice?
ii. Does the presence of a BWC affect perceptions of procedural justice?
iii. Does the effect of police behaviour on perceptions of procedural justice depend on
the presence of a BWC?
iv. Does the relationship between perceptions of procedural justice and police legitimacy
depend on the presence of a BWC?
Results and Discussion
The findings indicate limited differences between BWC volunteers and resistors. Volunteers did
have higher levels of educational attainment and were more likely to agree that BWCs improve
citizen behaviors, relative to their resistant counterparts. Interestingly, there were no differences

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 8
in perceptions of organizational justice, self-initiated activities, use of force, or citizen
complaints between these groups.
Hypothesis 1: Poor behaviour does not affect perceptions of procedural justice
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Differenc
e
Std.
Error
Differenc
e
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
DV_Pro
cFair
Equal variances
assumed
1.031 .312 -
12.35
6
94 .000 -2.28835 .18520 -2.65607 -1.92062
Equal variances
not assumed
-
12.27
8
89.17
1
.000 -2.28835 .18637 -2.65866 -1.91804
Hypothesis 2: The presence of a BWC does not affect perceptions of procedural justice
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Differen
ce
Std.
Error
Differen
ce
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 9
DV_Pr
ocFair
Equal
variances
assumed
.003 .953 2.38
4
94 .019 .69947 .29338 .11695 1.28199
Equal
variances not
assumed
2.39
5
89.6
38
.019 .69947 .29211 .11910 1.27984
Hypothesis 3: The effect of police behaviour on perceptions of procedural justice does not
depend on the presence of a BWC
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Differen
ce
Std.
Error
Differen
ce
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
DV_ProcF
airAbsent
Equal
variances
assumed
3.108 .086 -
9.04
8
40 .000 -
2.33173
.25771 -
2.85258
-
1.81088
Equal
variances not
assumed
-
8.57
4
26.6
52
.000 -
2.33173
.27195 -
2.89007
-
1.77339
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Differen
ce
Std.
Error
Differen
ce
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 10
DV_ProcFa
irPresent
Equal
variances
assumed
.076 .784 -.378 52 .707 -.15284 .40405 -.96363 .65795
Equal
variances not
assumed
-.374 43.2
59
.711 -.15284 .40917 -.97788 .67219
Hypothesis 4: The relationship between perceptions of procedural justice and police legitimacy
does not depend on the presence of a BWC
Correlations
DV_ProcFair DV_PolLegitAbsent
DV_ProcFair Pearson Correlation 1 .480**
Sig. (2-tailed) .001
N 96 42
DV_PolLegitAbsent Pearson Correlation .480** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .001
N 42 42
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Correlations
DV_ProcFair DV_PolLegitPresent
DV_ProcFair Pearson Correlation 1 -.088
Sig. (2-tailed) .527
N 96 54
DV_PolLegitPresent Pearson Correlation -.088 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .527
N 54 54

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND BODY WORN CAMERAS (BWCS) IN POLICING 11
Research limitation
In this study, we only interviewed participants who had encounters with police officers wearing
body worn cameras however the difference in BWCs awareness among these participants only
allowed us to construct a proxy non BWCs condition for the comparison.
Conclusion
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