Abstract
This research explores the effectiveness of mobile wireless information and communication technologies (ICTs) for law enforcement teams. Law enforcement teams require real-time information access and rapid communication to diagnose potential threats, analyze problems, and coordinate actions. To meet these needs, two U.S. law enforcement organizations implemented pilot trials of RIM BlackBerries for approximately 650 squad members. These trials provided an opportunity to assess acceptance, use, and perceived performance benefits of the technology as well as factors influencing these outcomes. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, user surveys, and system logs. Although the work teams and tasks were similar in the two organizations, the outcomes, while generally positive, differed markedly, with much greater acceptance and use in one organization versus the other. Results show how technical factors, functionality, and implementation processes account for these differences and illustrate how mobile wireless ICT can meet the unique needs for information access and communication in investigative action teams. We expect that these findings will generalize beyond action teams as more mobile workers in a variety of domains adopt wireless handheld technologies.
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Notes
Jones and Hinds also define extreme work teams as those that meet for a single event. In contrast, the action teams described by Sundstrom (1999) as well as those examined here generally are not temporary.
NCIC is a database of criminal justice information (i.e.- criminal record history information, fugitives, stolen properties, missing persons) available to Federal, state, and local law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies. ChoicePoint is a company that provides data about individuals and organizations to industry and government. For example, Choicepoint database users can obtain personal information about individuals such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and credit reports.
There were no early adopters in Site Y, as the pilot was initiated in Site X.
Most of the nonusers appeared as having sent zero messages. Participants who did not retain or use their devices still had valid user IDs, so they appeared in the usage logs even if they did not use the device to send a message.
For withstanding physical stress of the job, M = 3.0 (SD = 1.0) in Site X and M = 3.28 (SD = . 94) in Site Y. For concerns about security of information, M = 3.54 (SD = .91) in Site X and M = 3.28 (SD = .78) in Site Y.
Paradoxically, the lack of internal system integration made it easier for BlackBerry users to communicate via email in the field with people outside of their organizations than with others in their own organizations who did not have BlackBerries.
Assuming a 5-day work week, users in Site X sent 2.41 messages and received 4.41 messages, on average, and users in Site Y sent 1.88 messages and received 3.98 messages per day, on average. In contrast, in a study of email use at work among a diverse sample of respondents (n = 484), Dabbish and Kraut (2006) found that respondents sent 21 messages and received 41 messages per day, on average.
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records typically include information such as the names and addresses of vehicle owners based on license plate numbers or vehicle identification numbers and driving records (e.g., license suspensions, accident records, moving violation convictions) based on driver license numbers. DMVs are generally state-operated government agencies; therefore, functions of these agencies vary from state to state. DMV is a generic term; other titles are used in different states.
Examples of other requested applications included GPS and the ability to take and transmit photographs.
In fact, these sites subsequently segmented password protection for voice and text, such that users no longer needed to re-authenticate every 30 min to use the phone. The 30-minute lockout applied to text-based functions, such as email and access to internal databases and the Internet.
BlackBerries were subsequently deployed to all squad members throughout the organization.
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Acknowledgments
We are indebted to the squad members and managers in each study site who shared their time, knowledge, and experience. Our thanks to Joy Moini, Jennifer Kavanagh, Amelia Haviland, Scott Ashwood, Chris Beighley, and Chris Corey for their contributions to this study and to three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this article.
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Appendix: Examples of scale items
Appendix: Examples of scale items
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Straus, S.G., Bikson, T.K., Balkovich, E. et al. Mobile Technology and Action Teams: Assessing BlackBerry Use in Law Enforcement Units. Comput Supported Coop Work 19, 45–71 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-009-9102-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-009-9102-2