Exploring Officer Patrol Behaviors Using Automated Vehicle Locator and Body-Worn Camera Data in Kansas City, Missouri

Policing is largely defined by low levels of in-field supervision and high levels of officer autonomy; these aspects of policing present significant challenges to the accurate measurement of police officer activity in the field. Funded by the National Institute of Justice, this project will incorporate a mixed-methods design to leverage automated vehicle locator (AVL) and body-worn camera (BWC) video to analyze police patrol activity and police-citizen interactions in Kansas City, MO. Data from the AVL and BWC video will further be triangulated with a wide range of KCPD and public data sources to identify contextual factors that are significantly related to a range of police patrol behaviors and response outcomes. This study’s novel methodology provides a blueprint for leveraging AVL and BWC data in support of evidence-based policing and police reform.

Project team:

• Ayanna Miller-Smith, Northeastern University
• Christinna Palermo, Northeastern University
• Savannah Reid, Northeastern University

Outside collaborators:

• Nathan Connealy, University of Tampa
• Victoria Sytsma, Queen’s University

Project sponsor/grantor:

• National Institute of Justice