Bureaucratic behavior at the frontline: three essays on the police and the public

How can we motivate civil servants to behave in ways consistent with public demands? How can we address distrust in government that also inhibits performance of civil servants? This dissertation, which consists of three essays, builds on existing theories to address these big questions in public management from a street-level angle, with an empirical focus on policing. Chapter 2 explores how body-worn cameras shape police behavior, drawing on theories of bureaucratic accountability and control. Bayesian structural time-series modeling was employed to examine the New Orleans Police Department, an agency that was under pressure to improve frontline accountability. Results demonstrate that recording video footage incentivized officers to be more responsive to performative as well as procedural demands, yet failed to affect some desired outcomes such as racial disparities in police actions. Chapter 3, on the contrary, explores how representation of marginalized groups in police shapes police behavior. Combining insights from social identity theory and representative bureaucracy, two discrete-choice conjoint experiments were performed in the Korean National Police, an agency that has faced pressure to enhance gender equity. Results demonstrate that, compared with male officers, female officers are more likely to represent the preferences of female clients when their task involves salient female disadvantages, such as intimate-partner violence. Improving police behavior is important, but is it enough to enhance public confidence in police? Drawing on policy feedback theory, Chapter 4 addresses this follow-up question using a high-profile policy change: Arizona S.B.1070 and its copycat immigration enforcement laws. These laws faced criticisms for accelerating racial profiling against Hispanics and Latinos, but their actual implementation by frontline officers was delayed and ultimately restricted by the courts. Nevertheless, results of difference-in-differences analyses demonstrate that the passage of these laws had a disproportionately negative impact on confidence in police among Hispanics and Latinos compared with the rest of society. The findings of this dissertation highlight the importance of bureaucrats’ willingness and capacity to meet public demands without necessarily being directed by control mechanisms to do so, as well as a need to integrate policy and management angles to tackle critical issues in citizen-state interactions.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference