Kristin Castner: PanCOPticon: Policing in the Eye of 21 st Century Surveillance Technology

This thesis uses a cumulative view of police theory and methodology as a foundation for an investigation into the role of surveillance technology in a large-scale metropolitan police department.

Using Foucault’s notion of panopticism as a guide, original research will show how the use of technological surveillance by police superiors resulted or failed to result in a panoptic influence over officer behavior.

The internal “policing of the police” stemming from these innovations in department technology will also be discussed.

Instances where a panoptic influence of technology was seen to occur influenced an officer’s modification of professional behavior and the exercise of their personal discretion.

Cases where a panoptic threat was absent is associated with an officer’s use of evasion tactics that successfully reduce or eliminate the observational threat of surveillance.

Also important are instances where officers discussed the possibility that the department was capable of gaining access to details occurring in the context of their personal lives.

Lastly, the study discusses the implications resulting from police surveillance of police from the standpoint of rank and a decline of personal interactions among high and low ranking officers.