Body Worn Cameras

First advantage in law enforcement agents wearing body cameras is to hold the officers accountable. “Holding the officers accountable, will ensure the officer adheres to policies and procedures during an encounter with victims and suspects.” Body-worn cameras are poised to help boost accountability for law enforcement and citizens and, unlike many new police technologies, the cameras share preliminary support from both law enforcement and social justice groups. Successful implementation of the cameras will require careful policies that respect and protect both the police and the public.

Body cameras in policing are still new, but more and more agencies are beginning to implement this technology into their line of work. At first police officers were very hesitant to wear these body cameras because they were afraid they would infringe themselves and give away their own privacy. Later, as body cameras were beginning to see more use in the work place, officers began to realize that these very own body cameras that they once thought would only cause themselves harm would actual prove to be useful in a variety of situations. Some of these situations can be citizen complaints, to even backing up an officers use of force. Body cameras can be the one sole thing that can give

I selected an article about police body cameras. The article cited several studies, as well as the authors’ ideas and thoughts. The article, titled Police Body Cameras, is part of the CATO Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, and prepared by Matthew Feeney in 2015. The theme throughout the article is that the use of body cameras will reduce police misconduct. Although we all hope this is the case, we must also look at the other issues involved with the wearing of body cameras. In an effort to gain citizen buy-in and obtain their opinions, they conducted surveys. Interestingly enough, most people did not want the officers to record them, unless it was during an enforcement encounter, such as a traffic stop or arrest situation.

Rialto, California is an example of a city with positive results from the use of body-cameras. In Rialto, police began wearing body-cameras a little less than three years ago. As a result of officers wearing body-cameras, citizens’ complaints against police officers dropped 88 percent and use of force by police officers dropped 60 percent from the previous 12 month period when body-cameras were not in use. Rialto’s police chief said, “When you put a camera on a police officer, they tend to behave a little better, follow the rules a little better. And if the citizen knows the officer is wearing a camera, chances are the citizen will behave a little better” (Lovett).

Studies demonstrate that the use of body-worn cameras significantly reduce any kind of force used by police officers during civilian encounters. Conjointly, police wearing body-worn cameras also significantly reduce citizen noncompliance during civilian encounters (Ariel et al., “The Effect…” 510). These findings strongly suggest that although many think that body-worn cameras are only effective for motivated

In today’s society no one is safe from everyday peril. Situations arise daily that may present either a law enforcement official or civilian that could warrant the need for extra protection. In some cases it is a matter of he said, she said. For those faced with such situations, documentation that could be provided by body cameras worn by police officials could be of great use. Body cameras have been tested in a small group of police departments and have provided an overwhelming positive effect. Police officers wearing body cameras not only provide the officers with extra peace o mind but give civilians documentation to back up their sides of the story. Not everyone is in favor of police

They have the power and responsibility to use the force, but citizens expect them to use the amount of force that is proportional, reasonable and necessary for the situation. However, the used of body cameras on police officers will reduce police misconduct like the use of offensive language, including racial slurs, or act with more force than necessary during encounters with citizens. These cameras will keep track of what the officer says or does when at the scene of the crime, keeping them liable. Police Foundation Executive Fellow, Chief Tony Farrar, wanted to test out this theory with a yearlong study. The cameras were distributed to all the patrol officers of the California Rialto Police Department. During their 12 month test period they were haphazardly assigned to experimental or control conditions to see the results and after the test period ended, the results showed very interesting results. “The findings suggest more than a 50% reduction in the total number of incidents of use-of-force compared to control-conditions, and nearly ten times more citizens’ complaints in the 12-months prior to the experiment.” says Chief Farrar (Ariel, et al). Law enforcement officers improved their behavior when using cameras by simply knowing that someone would see their behavior and their performance as officers when the supervisor or the officer in charge was reviewing the camera when your turn

Fortunately for me, I was able to compile an ample amount of research from my Anointed Bibliography, however, it lacked crucial data, more so, the thoughts of law enforcement officers in my local community. My plan of attack focuses on the views of both the police and the public about body-worn police cameras. I shall create surveys in which I intend on distributing throughout three random neighborhoods of various economic and social backgrounds which includes poor, middle class, and wealthy communities in and around the Phoenix area. I plan to survey at least twenty-five people from each neighborhood by on going door to door in the communities which will be determined at a later date. The surveys will consist of five closed ended yes or no questions that include; Question 1: At this time, are you happy with the police and policing they do in your community? Question 2: Do you think that body-worn police cameras help the police, the people in their community or both? Question 3: Would you like to see police in your community implement a body-worn camera policy if they do not already have one in place? Question 4: Have you ever had any encounters with the police? Question 5: If you answered yes to Question4, Do you believe that had the officer been required to wear a body-worn camera, the encounter would have turned out differently for the better, worse or the same outcome?

This article describes how the increase of body cameras will help reduce police misconduct by recording police-citizen encounters, and serving as evidence of what happened. This article also talks about the complications that it contains. One of the complications are the privacy concerns, many people say they don't want their police encounters to be all over social media. It also says that body cameras are not the only thing that will make officers behave, it says they also need reforms of use-of-force policy and training. Even though there are many privacy concerns experts have said that those concerns can be resolved with the right policies. This is a great article to use because it appeals to

First off, wearing body worn cameras will provide better security to both police officers and civilians. In an experiment composed by the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology (IoC), in which police officers in Rialto, California wore cameras as a part of their uniform for one year., results gathered from the experiment proved to be beneficial. According to the experiment, “... use-of-force by officers wearing cameras fell by 59% and reports against officers dropped by 87%...” (Lewsey). This proves that BWC’s have a positive effect on police

At first glance, it might be compelling to correlate the cutback in use-of-force incidents and complaints adjacent to the police with the introduction of body cameras. Body-worn camera video provides quantitative data on rates and types of confrontation that may explain imbalances in use of force between individual officers. During these studies, the experimental period was approximately one year, which was held during 2012-2013. Table 3: use of force, citizens’ complaints, and police public raw figures exhibit group assignment experimental shifts or control shifts was the independent variable, while the number of use of force incidents and the number of citizens’ complaints was used as the dependent variable. The table provides information

Barak, A., Farrar, W. A., & Sutherland, A. (2015, September). The Effect of Police Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force and Citizens’ Complaints Against the Police: A Randomized Controlled Trial. 31(3), 509-535. Retrieved August 30, 2016, from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10940-014-9236-3

Researchers utilized random methodologies equipping police officers with body-cameras. They reviewed patrol activities over the coarse of twelve months prior as well. Police officers outfitted with cameras seen a drop in resistance by citizens during encounters as well as reduction in complaints. The majority of the officers selected to participate in the study were white males in their mid thirties, which represents the majority of law enforcement officers in the United

In 2015, Ready and Young did a research to explain how body cameras influence police-citizen interactions. They conclude that officers assigned to wear body cameras conducted less “stop-and-frisks” and made less arrests than officers who didn’t were the video cameras. They suggest that the reason of that was because they were more carefully and they didn’t want to take risks. They also issued more citations for ordinance violations, did more interactions with people and they perceived the camera as a helpful device while they were interacting with citizens. It seems that the camera-wearing officers and non-camera-wearing officers didn’t change their behavior when they had to give verbal warnings to citizens. The authors think that the fact of wear a camera that records all you do, can condition the behavior of the officers (The Hawthorne effect), making them act more carefully about criminal policy and procedures and being more

The issue of police wearing cameras as a part of their daily duty uniform has both many proponents and opponents. Those who support the cameras feel that their usage can better protect the officers from allegations of misconduct, provide indisputable evidence in court and provide invaluable training aids for officers. As a training aid, these videos would show both proper procedures being implemented in the field, and the methods that are ineffective or to be avoided. However, opponents of using cameras may have differing reasons depending to which group they belong: some officers could feel as if everything they do, will be scrutinized for any wrongdoing on their part; average citizens may feel that they are a violation of privacy laws,