RT Article
T1 Policing in an era of sousveillance: a randomised controlled trial examining the influence of video footage on perceptions of legitimacy
JF Policing and society
VO 32
IS 1
SP 52
OP 70
A1 Mohler, Megan
A2 Campbell, Christopher
A2 Henderson, Kelsey
A2 Renauer, Brian
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1785942352
AB Controversial incidents of police-citizen interactions, coupled with advancements in internet media technology has created a new dynamic of how public perceptions of the police might be influenced. This paper reports results of an experiment examining how videos of police-citizen interactions found on social media platforms might influence civilian perceptions of legitimacy and procedural justice. Using 173 randomly assigned participants and a pre/post-test design, we compare perceptual effects of positive, negative, and neutral depictions of police-citizen interactions. Results indicate all media had an effect on perceptions of legitimacy, with negative content yielding the largest effects, significantly diminishing global perceptions of legitimacy, whereas positive content significantly improved perceptions of legitimacy. Our findings suggest that while public videos of police-citizen interactions found online can contribute substantially to increasing distrust in the police, they may also demonstrate how policing agencies might use similar platforms to improve public perceptions of their legitimacy.
K1 Experiment
K1 Cooperation
K1 Police videos
K1 Citizen journalism
K1 Media effects
K1 Procedural Justice
K1 Police Legitimacy
DO 10.1080/10439463.2021.1878169