Additional Pattern Five: Occupational Paranoia

A pattern evident from the cross-case analysis is that some police-civilian interactions documented by user-generated online video include or have elicited police responses that can be characterized as “occupationally paranoid” in the sense Fogelson (1977, pp. 110-116) applied that phrase. This is most evident when police react to a camera as they reasonably would to a weapon, or react to user-generated online video as they reasonably would to an assault. It is also apparent that not all police react to video in these occupationally paranoid patterns, and that there are both individual police and police organizations that welcome and encourage the videorecording of police-civilian interactions. It is apparent that occupationally paranoid police responses evident in user-generated online video are likely to exacerbate negative public response to the content of the video, to have a negative effect on public statements of trust in the police, and to result in more severe penalties for misconduct. Conversely, police-civilian interactions where police respond reasonably to the camera or to the user-generated online video are likely to reduce negative public response to the content of the video, to have a positive effect on public statements of trust in the police, and to result in less severe penalties for misconduct, if any.

The constraints of the present research do not allow the development of this observed pattern into a robust theory.

Considering the prevalence of this observed pattern throughout the cases studied, there would appear to be fertile ground for quantitative survey and qualitative interview research on police attitudes toward civilian cameras and user-generated online video, particularly addressing the possible influence of police occupational paranoia.