Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras © 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved This PDF has been generated from SAGE Research Methods Datasets SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras Student Guide Introduction In this dataset, we describe how to analyze qualitative transcripts of interviews and focus groups As an example, we draw on data collected from 17 specialized police units in two police departments in the Western United States The larger study from which these data originate is a randomized controlled trial of the effects of body-worn cameras (BWCs) in the Spokane (Washington) and Tempe (Arizona) Police Departments, led by Dr Michael White (Professor, Arizona State University), Dr Janne Gaub (Assistant Professor, East Carolina University), and Dr Natalie Todak (Assistant Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham) Several datasets were collected as part of this study to assess different outcomes, including an officer perceptions survey administered to all officers at various points throughout the study Through survey results and conversations with officers, it became apparent that the perceptions of officers in specialized units may differ from those in general patrol To more fully understand these differences, we conducted a series of focus groups with officers in specialized units We sought to understand their unique experiences with BWCs and whether deployment to specialized units might require adjustments to policy or practice Page of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved Focus Groups Focus groups are a commonly used qualitative research method that allows the researcher to gather the opinions of many people together through group conversations (Kitzinger, 1995) Compared to one-on-one interviews, focus groups are less costly and time-intensive Additionally, they allow research participants to discuss their opinions and perspectives in a social setting The group setting elicits more detailed discussions, allows for variations in viewpoints, and engages participants’ emotional processes and reactions to others In the current study, police officers who participated in the focus groups were able to talk about their shared on-the-job experiences with members of their own units The focus groups used in this study were semi-structured, meaning we used broad questions to guide the discussion, but asked follow-up probing questions where appropriate and allowed participants to draw the conversation in different directions as they saw fit Compared to a structured interview or focus group, the semi-structured method allows individuals to tell their own stories and allows the researcher to probe deeper into the concepts broached by participants (Rabionet, 2011) We used a semi-structured method in the current study to accommodate the fact that every specialized unit has a different purpose in the department and, therefore, may encounter different problems, have varying concerns, or perceive diverse benefits of BWCs We allowed each unit to identify the main pros and cons of BWCs and took the conversation from there It is important to note, however, that maintaining an amount of structure in the qualitative focus group is key to ensure the data elicited are relevant to and address the research questions For this study, all members of specialized units in the two police departments were invited to participate Participation was voluntary, and confidentiality was guaranteed from the perspective of the researcher However, it is impossible to guarantee 100% confidentiality when using the focus group method, as other Page of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved members of the focus group could repeat what is said All participants were advised of this possibility Focus groups were organized in Spokane using a central contact person because the researchers needed to travel to Spokane, thus only had 2–3 days to conduct the groups One concern with this approach is that researchers can experience fatigue when conducting multiple focus groups in quick succession In Tempe, focus groups were conducted during regularly scheduled roll call briefings (i.e., when officers meet at the beginning of their shift for a meeting with the sergeant) at the police station or at another time that was better suited for the group involved Since the researchers were located locally in Tempe, those focus groups occurred on a more relaxed time frame and were scheduled directly with sergeants When conducting focus groups or interviews, researchers have several options for recording data: Take written or typed notes; Audio record; Video record; or A combination of these Each approach has benefits and drawbacks and, in some cases, can be determined by Institutional Review Board (IRB) restrictions or requirements In this study, all focus groups were audio recorded and then transcribed Dataset: Focus Groups of Officers in Specialized Police Units At the time of the study, all research examining police officer perceptions of BWCs had focused on general patrol officers This makes sense, as patrol divisions are usually the focus of BWC programs, and patrol forces make up the majority of a police department In the two departments under study, however, many of the specialized units were included in the patrol division and were included in BWC deployment We realized that by only assessing patrol officer perceptions on a broad scale, without accounting for group-level differences such as by unit, we Page of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved could be ignoring unique problems with implementation for the specialty units Thus, we opted to assess specialized units separately from general patrol The study’s multisite design allowed the researchers to examine differences in officer perceptions in three ways: between units, between departments, and between specialized units and general patrol (based on existing research evidence) In our analysis, it became apparent that officers in specialized units perceived different challenges and benefits of BWCs, compared to general patrol officers We also found that, within units, each specialized unit had unique experiences in their adoptions of BWCs As noted, both departments participated in randomized controlled trials The focus groups were conducted approximately six months after the conclusion of the randomized period to ensure that all participating officers had sufficient experience with the cameras before being questioned about their perceptions and experiences Some units were not assigned to wear BWCs at all, per their agency’s policy; specialized units without cameras were included in the current study to understand their perceptions about that decision and their general beliefs about the utility of cameras for specialized units The questions used to guide the semi-structured groups were: Do you believe that BWCs are useful for police officers generally (not just for those in your unit)? What about for your unit? What you think are the most important benefits of BWCs generally? [ask officers to rank order, or identify the top 3–4] Are the benefits for your unit the same or different than the benefits generally? What you think are the most important drawbacks of BWCs generally? [ask officers to rank order, or identify the top 3–4] Are the drawbacks for your unit the same or different than the drawbacks generally? Page of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved What has been the biggest challenge to integrating BWCs into your daily work? Provide some examples of how you have used BWCs in the field that is unique to your unit (or different from the traditional use in patrol) Do you think the benefits of BWCs outweigh the drawbacks for the police department as a whole? What about for your unit? What are some examples of issues that departments should consider when making decisions about BWC purchasing, policy, training, and implementation that are relevant to your unit? 10.Is there anything else that we have not covered that you would like to mention about how BWCs affect your unit or general patrol, or the differences between them? Analysis: Thematic Our population for this study was police officers working in specialized units We sampled 72 officers from 17 different units in the Spokane and Tempe Police Departments The goals of the analysis were (1) to assess whether there are commonalities among the sample as a whole and (2) whether there are differences by department and by unit Part 1: Read and Code All the Transcripts Thematic analysis involves a search through qualitative data for major ideas that are important to the subject under study (Daly, Kellehear, & Gliksman, 1997) The first step of a qualitative thematic analysis is to immerse yourself in your data (Rice & Ezzy, 1999) During this stage, the researchers read each transcript and make notes about the various ideas and topics discussed It is important to complete this process a few times during the data analysis stage to become fully acquainted with your data, ensure important ideas are not missed, and allow for new ideas and patterns to emerge over time, particularly if they are Page of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved contradictory to expectations Once you are familiar with your data, the structured coding process can be both deductively and inductively driven (Fereday & MuirCochrane, 2006) Deductive codes are developed from predetermined themes based on previously derived hypotheses or theoretical insights The researcher determines these themes in a template before coding (Crabtree & Miller, 1992) For example, existing research indicated that patrol officers might receive fewer citizen complaints when they wear BWCs compared to when they don’t We therefore wanted to see whether officers in specialized units reported receiving more, the same, or fewer citizen complaints after they adopted BWCs and, by asking officers to relay their experiences, we hoped to better understand why During the first read through of the transcripts, we deductively coded for any mention of complaints and grouped these comments into the theme “complaints.” Over time, as we noticed a common story surrounding the topic of complaints, we honed this code to be more specific: “BWCs reduce complaints.” During our analysis, we also looked for any ideas that were common but that we hadn’t previously considered (Boyatzis, 1998) These ideas can eventually become emergent themes and are consistent with inductive coding During this process, you let the data speak to you and see what you find One emergent theme we found was that some units believed they could not under any circumstance wear BWCs without compromising the entire mission of their unit The Patrol Anti-Crime Team (PACT) in Spokane worked with confidential informants and believed there was no way that they could wear BWCs without risking the safety of their informants They believed suspects might see the BWC videos, learn the identities of the informants, and retaliate against them We called these officers’ concerns “deal breakers”—an emergent theme in our data that we did not anticipate Only a few units in our sample reported that BWCs were “deal breakers” for them, while the rest had some concerns but generally thought the benefits outweighed the drawbacks Page of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved Part 2: Look for Big Patterns Across the Entire Sample Once you have read through all the data and completed the first round of coding, you can then assess what themes are common across your entire dataset At this stage of the process, we were looking specifically at what specialized unit officers thought about BWCs This question was important because research had focused only on what patrol officers thought, finding they were generally very supportive of BWCs Given the differences in mission between patrol officers and specialized units, we wanted to see whether specialized units were also supportive of BWCs One theme that was common across most of the specialized unit officers was the belief that the BWC policy designed for patrol officers did not consider the needs of specialized units Our sample believed specialized units required tailored policies to account for their unique missions and activities Officers on the Tactical (TAC) team in Spokane work major events that sometimes last all day, such as running races, sporting events, or protests These officers said they were instructed by their agency’s policy to record any official law enforcement activity However, TAC officers were unsure when to activate their BWCs and when to keep them off during these long events They could not feasibly record the entire event because the battery would die Further, if they recorded continuously for 15 hours, the recorded videos would be mostly useless and very expensive for the agency to store These officers said their unit required a more customized policy that instructed them on when to activate their cameras at long events Another theme that was common among all the units was the use of BWCs in innovative ways Almost every unit described figuring out inventive ways to use the BWCs to help them better perform their duties, serve the public, collect evidence, and conduct investigations Officers in the gang unit in Tempe stated that they always recorded themselves searching vehicles and persons to prevent accused persons from claiming the evidence was planting by the police Because Page of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved these accusations are quite common for gang units, they make sure to record on the body camera the exact locations from which they find pieces of evidence and how they collected and bagged it Part 3: Assess Department-Level Differences Once the transcripts are coded and reviewed as a whole for common themes, the third stage of the analysis involves separating data into categories We first categorized our data into two groups—the Spokane units and the Tempe units—to assess whether there were differences between the units from the two agencies A primary difference we found was that Washington had very open public records laws, which presented strong privacy concerns for the Spokane units At the time of data collection, Washington State laws provided that any citizen could request a copy of police BWC video if they submitted the proper form, and the agency was required to redact the video and release it to that citizen in a timely manner The citizen did not need to have an association with the case in order to request the video For this reason, Spokane units worried about what should be recorded for fear that videos could compromise the safety or privacy of individuals, show violent or traumatic scenes not suitable for public viewing, or expose special police tactics to the public We did not find these same concerns among the Tempe units because Arizona state laws were more restrictive in who could request and review footage We found several additional department-level differences, which we critically explored in our published works Acknowledging these differences underscored the need for agencies to comprehensive planning within their own organizations before developing policies to better suit individual units Examining these department-level differences also highlighted the need for future research to assess the generalizability of the research findings to other agencies and communities Page of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved Part 4: Assess Unit-Level Differences The final task of the analysis was to conduct in-depth readings of each transcript and consider the unique perceptions of BWCs held by each unit This process highlights specific issues that each unit had with implementation that we could then discuss in detail to aid other police agencies in their considerations and planning For example, we opted to conduct a focus group with the Dignitary Protection unit in Spokane, even though the unit did not wear BWCs, because we wanted to understand the rationale behind their decision This unit provides protection as a supplement to federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Secret Service, when special dignitaries visit the city We learned that Dignitary Protection officers derive much of their authority by allowing outsiders to believe they are members of federal law enforcement They so by wearing plain clothes and radio ear pieces They not wear clothing or insignia that identifies them as police officers These officers said BWCs would immediately identify them as police, and therefore they cannot wear them and still conceal their identities Dignitary officers also said there was no place to mount a BWC on their plain clothes suits because the devices were created for mounting on police uniforms Our in-depth analysis of the Dignitary Protection Unit, the SWAT team, and the PACT in Spokane, all of which did not wear BWCs, helped us provide nuanced information to police agencies about these units’ decisions not to implement BWCs Agencies considering implementation with these units could make more informed decisions and perhaps decide not to deploy cameras if doing so would compromise the unit’s mission Conclusion When programs are designed for one part of an organization—as BWC programs are designed for implementation among general patrol officers—we cannot assume that they will function the same way when implemented among other Page 10 of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved parts of the organization (like specialized units) The purpose of this dataset of focus groups was to more fully understand the perceptions and experiences of officers in specialized units related to BWCs Through thematic analysis, we found that many units agreed that BWCs have a place in most (but not all) specialized units, so long as their unique mission and function are taken into consideration Reflective Questions A focus group involves multiple research participants coming together to discuss a topic What are the benefits of collecting data in a group setting? When might a one-on-one interview method be more suitable for your research? Why is it important to immerse yourself in your data during the analysis stage? What are the benefits and drawbacks of audio versus video recording your focus groups? When might you choose to take notes without recording? Further Readings Gaub, J E., Todak, N., & White, M D (2018) One size doesn’t fit all: The deployment of police body-worn cameras to specialty units International Criminal Justice Review (Special Issue on Body-Worn Cameras) Advance online publication doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1057567718789237 Jennings, W G., Fridell, L A., & Lynch, M D (2014) Cops and cameras: Officer perceptions of the use of body-worn cameras in law enforcement Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(6), 549–556 Pelfrey, W V., & Keener, S (2016) Police body worn cameras: A mixed method approach assessing perceptions of efficacy International Journal of Police Page 11 of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved Strategies & Management, 39(3), 491–506 Smykla, J O., Crow, M S., Crichlow, V J., & Snyder, J A (2016) Police bodyworn cameras: Perceptions of law enforcement leadership American Journal of Criminal Justice, 41(3), 424–443 Todak, N., Gaub, J E., & White, M D (2018) The importance of external stakeholders for police body-worn camera diffusion Policing: An International Journal, 41(4), 448–464 White, M D., Todak, N., & Gaub, J E (2018) Examining body-worn camera integration and acceptance among police officers, citizens, and external stakeholders Criminology & Public Policy, 17(3), 649–677 References Boyatzis, R E (1998) Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Crabtree, B F., & Miller, W F (1992) A template approach to text analysis: Developing and using codebooks In B F Crabtree & W F Miller (Eds.), Doing qualitative research (pp 163–177) Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Daly, J., Kellehear, A., & Gliksman, M (1997) The public health researcher: A methodological approach Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press Fereday, J., & Muir-Cochrane, E (2006) Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(1), 80–92 Kitzinger, J (1995) Qualitative research: Introducing focus groups British Medical Journal, 311, 299–302 Rabionet, S E (2011) How I learned to design and conduct semi-structures Page 12 of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras SAGE SAGE Research Methods Datasets Part 2019 SAGE Publications, Ltd All Rights Reserved interviews: An ongoing and continuous journey Qualitative Report, 16(2), 563–566 Rice, P L., & Ezzy, D (1999) Qualitative research methods: A health focus Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press Page 13 of 13 Analyzing Focus Groups to Understand Specialized Unit Officers’ Perceptions of Police Body-Worn Cameras