Article Willingness to Record Police-Public Encounters: The Impact of Race and Social and Legal Consciousness Ashley K. Farmer 1 , Ivan Y. Sun 1 and Brian Chad Starks 2 Abstract Although using personal electronic devices to record police–public encounters has surfaced as an important social phenomenon that could potentially shape public perceptions of the police and police–community relations, very little research has investigated factors affecting people’s willingness to record the police. Using survey data collected from two universities, this study assessed whether race/ethnicity and social and legal consciousness influence college students’ inclination to record public inter- actions with the police. Results indicated that minority students and those who believed that recording served social justice, had a deterrent effect on the police, and was legally justified were more likely to engage in such behavior. Past recording experience and negative encounters with the police also led to higher levels of willingness to record police activity. Implications for policy and future research are discussed. Keywords race and public opinion, race and policing, citizen satisfaction, treatment by the police, African/Black Americans, race/ethnicity Introduction It was over 20 years ago when George Holliday used a Sony Handycam video recorder outside of his apartment building in Los Angeles to videotape four police officers 1 Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA 2 Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, VA, USA Corresponding Author: Ivan Y. Sun, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA. Email: isun@udel.edu Race and Justice 2015, Vol. 5(4) 356-377 ª The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/2153368715581663 raj.sagepub.com at UNIV OF DELAWARE LIB on September 11, 2015 raj.sagepub.com Downloaded from