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Hundreds of police and sheriffs’ departments across the United States have welcomed reality TV camera crews in recent decades, first from the show "COPS" and more recently its 21st-century counterpart "Live PD." This paper uses a difference-in-differences strategy taking advantage of two main sources of variation in the location and timing of Live PD camera presence: across departments and - within departments - across officers to identify whether the eyes of millions of non-constituents alter how police perform their jobs. I find that the presence of Live PD cameras significantly increases arrests for low-level, quality-of-life crimes, such as drug possession, by approximately 15 percent at the department level. This shift in arrests does not correspond to a significant change in clearance rates nor a reduction in crime. The distortion is greatest among filmed officers but spills over significantly to their non-filmed colleagues. While non-constituent viewers seem to respond positively to the distorted policing activity, local residents' reactions are more mixed. The results suggest that the presence of reality TV cameras distorts police decision-making and leads to more proactive arrests that do not seem to improve public safety.
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Emma Rackstraw, Harvard University
Policing as Entertainment: The Distortionary Effects of Reality TV Copaganda on Police Behavior & Public Opinion
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Session: [228] ECONOMICS OF CRIME: POLICING / RE-ENTRY Date: 7/5/2023 Time: 10:15 AM to 12:00 PM