Frontiers in Psychology

Eyewitnesses to crimes sometimes search for a culprit on social media before viewing a police lineup, but it is not known whether this affects subsequent lineup identification accuracy. The present online study was conducted to address this. Two hundred and eighty-five participants viewed a mock crime video, and after a 15–20 min delay either (i) viewed a mock social media site including the culprit, (ii) viewed a mock social media site including a lookalike, or (iii) completed a filler task. A week later, participants made an identification from a photo lineup. It was predicted that searching for a culprit on social media containing the lookalike (rather than the culprit) would reduce lineup identification accuracy. There was a significant association between social media exposure and lineup accuracy for the Target Present lineup (30% more of the participants who saw the lookalike on social media failed to positively identify the culprit than participants in the other conditions), but for the Target Absent lineup (which also included the lookalike) there was no significant association with lineup identification accuracy. The results suggest that if an eyewitness sees a lookalike (where they are expecting to see the culprit) when conducting a self-directed search on social media, they are less likely to subsequently identify the culprit in the formal ID procedure.

International Journal of Police Practice and Research

Perceptions of police trustworthiness are linked to citizens’ willingness to cooperate with police. Trust can be fostered by introducing accountability mechanisms, or by increasing a shared police/citizen identity, both which can be achieved digitally. Digital mechanisms can also be designed to safeguard, engage, reassure, inform, and empower diverse communities. We systematically scoped 240 existing online citizen-police and relevant third-party communication apps, to examine whether they sought to meet community needs and policing visions. We found that 82% required registration or login details, 55% of those with a reporting mechanism allowed for anonymous reporting, and 10% provided an understandable privacy policy. Police apps were more likely to seek to reassure, safeguard and inform users, while third-party apps were more likely to seek to empower users. As poorly designed apps risk amplifying mistrust and undermining policing efforts, we suggest 12 design considerations to help ensure the development of high quality/fit for purpose Police/Citizen apps.

CHI'20

The increasingly-adopted mobile devices create new opportunities for the police to engage with citizens at
anywhere and anytime. However, there has been limited academic work evaluating these technologies. This
paper reports an auto-ethnographic evaluation study of Android community policing (CP) applications (Apps)
used in Asia. Without guidance, our study indicates that finding appropriate Asian CP Apps is challenging.
This paper reports the descriptive App store characteristics, functionalities, communication channels, and
privacy of CP Apps. We conclude with design implications and call for developing the standardized App store
description system and a CP App evaluation model.

CHI'20

Pervasive digital technologies are increasingly used to record different aspects of citizens’ lives, from
activity and location tracking, to social interactions and video recordings of life experiences. However,
effective use of these technologies to strengthen collaborations between citizens and police requires a
fresh examination of the creation and use of evidence. We extend the concept of Citizen Forensics to denote
this new model of citizen-police collaboration. By drawing on the literature on citizen science and
community policing, we identify the challenges that must be addressed to meet the important societal need of
improving citizen-police collaborations.

CHI'20

Community policing faces a combination of new challenges and opportunities due to both citizens and police
adopting new digital technologies. However, there is limited scholarly work providing evidence for how
technologies assist citizens’ interactions with the police. This paper reports preliminary findings from
interviews with 13 participants, both citizens and police officers, in England. We recognize four key types
of actors in the current practice of community policing, alongside existing technologies and challenges
faced by citizens and the police. We conclude with three design implications for improving citizen-police
engagement.

Social Issues and Policy Review

Many violence prevention programs include a focus on the role of bystanders and third parties in violence
prevention training. Central to this work has been the classic social psychological research on the
“bystander effect”. However, recent research on bystander behavior shows that the bystander effect does not
hold in violent or dangerous emergencies. Meta‐analyses of the literature show that the presence of others
can facilitate as well as inhibit intervention in emergencies. Studies of real‐life bystander behavior
captured on CCTV cameras shows that some bystander intervention is the norm and that the likelihood of
bystanders being victimized is low. One reason for the limited effectiveness of violence reduction programs
may be their approach to bystanders. We argue that violence reduction programs should: recognize that some
intervention is likely (although it may not always be successful); see the group as a route to successful
intervention rather than a threat to the likelihood of any single individual becoming an intervener; inform
bystanders of the real risks of victimization; utilize the power of social relations between bystanders,
victims, and perpetrators to enhance successful intervention; seek to deliver bystander intervention
training in situ, rather than away from the context of the aggression or violence.