The Blue Line on Thin Ice: Police Use of Force in the Era of Cameraphones, ‘Citizen Journalism’, and Youtube
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Blue Line on Thin Ice: Police Use of Force in the Era of Cameraphones, ‘Citizen Journalism’, and YouTube by Gregory Roy Brown A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts In Sociology Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario ©2013 Gregory Brown ABSTRACT In today’s urban environments the ubiquity of cameraphones and the entrenchment of both ‘citizen journalism’ and Web 2.0 media into social life and socio-political discourses have exponentially increased the public's exposure to police violence. This thesis investigates the impact on contemporary policing of the ‘new visibility’ of police conduct. Findings emerged from the surveying of 231 front-line officers in Toronto and Ottawa, follow-up interviews with 20 of these officers, and interviews with 8 policing officials in those cities. It was determined that widespread video oversight of policing and the ability of citizens to disseminate imagery through social media is profoundly embedded in the consciousness of operational officers and has resulted in various behavioural changes through the deterrence of certain ‘performances’, including significant moderations in police use of force practices. Technological innovations have enabled transformative changes in the public-police relationship and power dynamic through a democratizing social leveling. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am profoundly grateful to Aaron Doyle for agreeing to take me on as an academic project in the making when we met two years ago to discuss my potential for graduate studies at Carleton University. You have been truly inspiring and an exceptional supervisor and mentor. Your guidance, encouragement, and friendship have made this an incredibly rewarding experience. I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation to Mike Mopas who has been a supportive and instructive committee member throughout this challenging process. Thank you for your commitment and your dedication. I also extend a heartfelt thank you to George Rigakos for his insights and significant contributions as the external examiner for this thesis. Along my lengthy academic journey I have been motivated and academically stimulated by some incredible educators and I would like to specifically recognize the contributions of Larry Jones, Eugene Oscapella, Galen Perras, and Janet Siltanen. I have reserved a special thank you for Leslie-Anne Keown. After somehow making sense of statistics for me at the University of Ottawa in 2010 (no small feat), L.A. became a tremendous support and resource through each step of graduate studies. I am deeply indebted to her for her friendship, advice, and the countless hours of assistance with discussion, conceptualization, and reading draft after draft of my various writings. To Lisa and Ben, Kyle, Meredith, and William – thank you for your support and patience as I undertook this challenge. Without you this would not have been possible. I would like to acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in making this research project possible and I am grateful for the assistance of Paula Whissell (and her fielding of my many administrative inquiries). iii Finally, to the front-line police officers and the policing officials in Ottawa and Toronto, I am grateful to you for sharing not only your time but also for setting aside the skepticism that often characterizes the mindset of the police occupational culture in relation to academic research and for truly engaging with this project through your meaningful participation. And, to those police officers who met with me and devoted several hours of your time to provide candid and uncensored information that made a unique contribution to knowledge, I cannot thank you enough for investing me with your trust and then allowing me into your innermost thoughts and experiences around this important and contentious contemporary social issue. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ..............................................................................................................v List of Tables .................................................................................................................. vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................. viii List of Images .................................................................................................................. ix List of Appendices .............................................................................................................x Chapter One: Situating the Project .................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................1 1.2 Origins of the Project ..............................................................................................13 1.3 Research Objectives and Research Questions ........................................................22 1.4 Outline of Thesis .....................................................................................................23 Notes .............................................................................................................................25 Chapter Two: Terms of Reference/Conceptual Frameworks .....................................29 2.1 The Police ...............................................................................................................29 2.2 The Media ...............................................................................................................36 2.3 The Technology ......................................................................................................43 Notes .............................................................................................................................56 Chapter Three: Literature Review and Establishing a Theoretical Framework .....60 3.1 Introduction to the Literature Review and Theoretical Development ....................60 3.2 Surveillance Studies ................................................................................................63 3.3 The Panopticon .......................................................................................................70 3.4 The ‘New Visibility’ ...............................................................................................80 3.5 The Presentation of Self ..........................................................................................84 3.6 ‘Network Society’ ...................................................................................................89 3.7 Medium Theory ......................................................................................................98 3.8 Web 2.0 Activism in the ‘Digital Age’ .................................................................106 3.9 Police Occupational Culture .................................................................................112 3.10 Contemporary Socio-Political Transformations – A Cultural Shift ....................117 3.11 The Use of Theory in this Study .........................................................................129 Notes ...........................................................................................................................133 Chapter Four: Methodology and Research Methods ................................................139 4.1 The Research Question .........................................................................................139 4.2 Research Design ....................................................................................................139 4.3 Methodologies, Assumptions, Reflexivity, and Researcher Positionality ............140 4.4 Case Study Research .............................................................................................149 4.5 Mixed Methods Research .....................................................................................152 4.6 Potential Problems and Ethical Issues/Considerations .........................................155 4.7 Data Collection Methods ......................................................................................161 4.8 Data Analysis and Data Inclusion Criteria ............................................................175 4.9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................178 Notes ...........................................................................................................................180 v Chapter Five: Analysis and Discussion .......................................................................181 5.1 Introduction to Analysis and Discussion ..............................................................181 5.2 Research Methods – Trust, Positionality, and Innovation ....................................182 5.3 How commonplace is the civilian recording of police conduct in contemporary Canadian urban environments? ......................................................190 5.4 Can the phenomenon be temporally situation in the Canadian context? ..............198