1. International Policing Conference 2014 The James Smart Memorial Lecture The Impact of Technology on Modern Policing Professor Cynthia Lum CEBP, George Mason University

2. The Impact of Technology on Modern Policing Cynthia Lum, PhD Director and Associate Professor Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy Department of Criminology, Law and Society George Mason University

3. 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

4. Expectations of Technology ▪ Improve efficiency ▪ More/quicker/better access to information ▪ Increase detections ▪ Control crime ▪ Increase officer safety ▪ Facilitate exchange ▪ Increase accountability

5. Does technology fulfill these expectations?

6. Suspicions about technology

7. What do we know about the impact of technology on policing?

8. 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

9. Key Technologies Examined

10. 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

11. 1. Technology’s impact and interaction with agency culture

12. Receptivity to Technology % patrol officers that agreed or strongly agreed

13. 2. Impact on accountability and management

14. 3. Impact on organizational units, hierarchy and organizational structure

15. 4. Police-citizen communication and legitimacy

16. 5. Impact of technology on discretion and decision making

17. Experimental evaluation of mobile computer technology

18. 6. The impact of technology on efficiency

19. 7. Impact of technology on crime control effectiveness Effectiveness viewed through the lens of what officers believe is “good policing”

20. Experimental Evaluation of Mobile Computer Technology ModelImpact Estimate High Dosage / Low Technology Use versus Matching Controls -45% High Dosage / High Technology Use versus Matching Controls -14%

21. 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.

22. 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.

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

24. 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.

26. 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

27. 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.

28. Thank you Cynthia Lum clum@gmu.edu

29. International Policing Conference 2014 22 nd October 2014 University of Edinburgh