Body camsPolice body-worn-cameras can prevent unacceptable use-of-force: Report
As President Barack Obama pledges investment in body-worn-camera technology for police officers, researchers say cameras induce self-awareness that can prevent unacceptable uses-of-force seen to have tragic consequences in the U.S. over the past year — from New York to Ferguson — but warn that cameras have implications for prosecution and data storage. Researchers have now published the first full scientific study of the landmark crime experiment they conducted on policing with body-worn-cameras. The experiment showed that evidence capture is just one output of body-worn video, and the technology is perhaps most effective at actually preventing escalation during police-public interactions: whether that is abusive behavior towards police or unnecessary use-of-force by police.
As President Barack Obama pledges investment in body-worn-camera technology for police officers, researchers say cameras induce self-awareness that can prevent unacceptable uses-of-force seen to have tragic consequences in the U.S. over the past year — from New York to Ferguson — but warn that cameras have implications for prosecution and data storage.
A University of Cambridge release reports that researchers from the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology (IoC) have now published the first full scientific study of the landmark crime experiment they conducted on policing with body-worn-cameras in Rialto, California in 2012 — the results of which have been cited by police departments around the world as justification for rolling out this technology.
The experiment showed that evidence capture is just one output of body-worn video, and the technology is perhaps most effective at actually preventing escalation during police-public interactions: whether that is abusive behavior towards police or unnecessary use-of-force by police.
The researchers say the knowledge that events are being recorded creates self-awareness in all participants during police interactions. This is the critical component that turns body-worn video into a “preventative treatment”: causing individuals to modify their behavior in response to an awareness of third-party surveillance by cameras acting as a proxy for legal courts — as well as courts of public opinion — should unacceptable behavior take place.
During the 12-month Rialto experiment, use-of-force by officers wearing cameras fell by 59 percent and reports against officers dropped by 87 percent against the previous year’s figures.
The research team caution, however, that the Rialto experiment is only the first step on a long road of evidence-gathering, and that more needs to be known about the impact of body-worn cameras in policing before departments are “steamrolled” into adopting the technology — with vital questions remaining about how normalizing the provision of digital video as evidence will affect prosecution expectations, as well as the storage technology and policies that will be required for the enormous amount of data captured.
President Obama recently promised to spend $263m of federal funds on body-worn-video to try and stem the hemorrhaging legitimacy of U.S. police forces among communities across the United States after the killing of several unarmed black men by police caused nationwide anguish, igniting waves of protest.
