Inovação tecnológica e estresse ocupacional: as câmeras corporais na Polícia Rodoviária Federal

Abstract

We live in a digital and global society, in which images have been of growing importance. The use of body-worn cameras by police all over the world has been a increasing reality. In Brazil there has been growing pressure to adopt this technology, given the high rates of lethality and police victimization. At the same time, we notice concern about the mental health and stress levels among police officers. In this sense, the present study sought to verify whether there would be a correlation between stress in police activity and the recording of operational activities through body cameras. The study was based on a questionnaire of 88 questions, divided into thematic sections, which was previously applied to a sample of federal highway police officers (n=532). The questions related to occupational stress and the tendency to use body cameras to record police actions were selected, within the thematic sections "Valuing the Federal Highway Police" and "Relationship with the Media", respectively. The answers to these questions, characterized as ordinal categorical variables, were analyzed using Spearman's correlation indexes. The results obtained demonstrate that the stress levels of federal highway police officers existing at the time of this research do not impact the process of recording images by bodycams, since no significant correlation was observed between the variables analyzed within these two thematic sections. Therefore, these results say in favor to the process of adopting the use of body cameras, considering that a general receptivity to them was also identified, being perceived as useful and that they do not reduce police authority, nor do they demonstrate to affect stress levels. In addition, it was evidenced that, as independent variables, there are levels of stress in a portion of the police officers. The results point to the importance of mental health and psychoeducational care interventions, aiming to reduce stress levels and promote the well-being of federal highway police.