Examining User Acceptance of COPLINK Technologies by Law Enforcement Officers: A Survey Study

This study purports to develop and empirically examine a model for explaining technology acceptance decisions by individual law enforcement officers. Specifically, we describe the research model and hypotheses, detail our study design, and highlight important results from a pretest study that included 42 detectives and police officers from the Tucson Police Department (TPD). Based on the pretest results, our survey instrument exhibited satisfactory validity and reliability. A large-scale empirical examination of the proposed model is currently under way, targeting several hundred police officers and detectives at TPD. Results expected from this large-scale survey will contribute to technology acceptance/adoption research, particularly in law enforcement settings. In addition, findings anticipated from the study will also shed lights on the probable areas that hinder technology acceptance/use, thus providing a necessary foundation upon which effective implementation management strategies and organization intervention mechanisms can be developed to foster technology acceptance and use by individual law enforcement personnel.