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Armed with Technology: The Effects on Fatal Shootings of Civilians by the Police

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Abstract

Deaths of civilians by the police in recent years have led to protests and disruptions in several cities, such as New York and Chicago. In this study, we investigate how the use of technology by the police affects deadly shootings of civilians. Drawing upon the criminology literature, we propose a simple, stylized model on a police officer’s decision-making to shoot to explain how technology use for intelligence analyses and evidence gathering affects the use of lethal force. Our empirical analyses revealed both encouraging and surprising findings. We found that both the use of smartphones and the statistical analyses of crime data are associated with a decrease in deadly shootings. In contrast, the use of wearable body cameras is related to an increase in fatal shootings by the police. We also found that the effect of technology use is more pronounced for armed suspects and among males, the youth, and minorities.

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... This desire is shaped by one's attitude toward the job, which is the outcome of some job-related factors and some factors related to the conditions of the environments of the job (Taiwo, 2010). For example, in the police department, especially those directly related to the core task of this department have to deal with the criminals (Khan & Sultana, 2021), and they have an uncertainty of life (Clayman & Friedman, 2020;Pang & Pavlou, 2016). At the same time, they go to trace criminals, and thus it is a stressful profession (Nisar & Rasheed, 2020). ...
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Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify the trilogy of job stress and job motivation on job satisfaction. For this purpose, police officers of Khulna city were investigated accordingly. Research Methodology: The questionnaire is quantitative in nature and a standard questionnaire was followed throughout the research study. The survey was done in police stations of Khulna city and information was taken from 100 officers from sub-inspector to police commissioners. Results: The study found that job stress is negatively related to job satisfaction. Along with this, there is a negative correlation between job stress and job motivation. However, a positive correlation exists between job motivation and job satisfaction. Limitations: The study result is based on the police personnel in Khulna city rather than in other cities in Bangladesh. There are not prevailing the same ratio of male and female which could affect the measurement of findings. Contribution: The study will help government practitioners and policymakers to understand job stress, motivation, and satisfaction of police personnel in Khulna city. Keywords: 1. Job motivation 2. Job satisfaction 3. Job stress 4. Police officers 5. Work overload
... There have also been other studies completed, the most notable of which in California, USA, which has resulted in BWV cameras appearing to reduce the number of complaints made against officers with both police officers and members of the public apparently changing their behaviour because of its use (Ariel et al., 2014). An argument has also been made by Pang and Pavlou (2016) that the cameras can reduce the use of deadly force utilised by police officers in the USA which links to the idea of police behaviour also being modified. However, this research is in its infancy and lacking any similar research, and therefore needs further investigation. ...
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