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Research papers on Police body cameras

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  1. The Effect of Police Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force and Citizens’ Complaints Against the Police: A Randomized Controlled Trial

    Barak Ariel, William A. Farrar, Alex Sutherland · 2014 · Journal of Quantitative Criminology · 614 citations

    AbstractObjectivePolice use-of-force continues to be a major source of international concern, inviting interest from academics and practitioners alike. Whether justified or unnecessary/excessive, the exercise of power by the police can potentially tarnish their relationship with the community. Police misconduct can translate into complaints against the police, which carry large economic and social costs. The question we try to answer is: do body-worn-cameras reduce the prevalence of use-of-force and/or citizens’ complaints against the police?MethodsWe empirically tested the use of body-worn-cameras by measuring the effect of videotaping police–public encounters on incidents of police use-of-

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  2. Report: increases in police use of force in the presence of body-worn cameras are driven by officer discretion: a protocol-based subgroup analysis of ten randomized experiments

    Barak Ariel, Alex Sutherland, Darren Henstock, et al. · 2016 · Journal of Experimental Criminology · 164 citations

    Our multisite randomized controlled trial reported that police body-worn cameras (BWCs) had, on average, no effect on recorded incidents of police use of force. In some sites, rates of use of force decreased and in others increased. We wanted to understand these counter-intuitive findings and report pre-specified subgroup analyses related to officers’ discretion on activating the BWCs. Using pre-established criteria for experimental protocol breakdown in terms of treatment integrity, ten experimental sites were subgrouped into “high-compliance” (no officer discretion applied to when and where BWCs should be used; n = 3), “no-compliance” (treatment integrity failure in both treatment and cont

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  4. A randomized control trial evaluating the effects of police body-worn cameras

    D. Yokum, A. Ravishankar, A. Coppock · 2019 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 109 citations

    Significance Police departments are adopting body-worn cameras in hopes of improving civilian–police interactions. In a large-scale field experiment (2,224 officers of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC), we randomly assigned officers to receive cameras or not. We tracked subsequent police behavior for a minimum of 7 mo using administrative data. Our results indicate that cameras did not meaningfully affect police behavior on a range of outcomes, including complaints and use of force. We conclude that the effects of cameras are likely smaller than many have hoped. Police body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been widely promoted as a technological mechanism to improve policing and

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  5. Paradoxical effects of self-awareness of being observed: testing the effect of police body-worn cameras on assaults and aggression against officers

    B. Ariel, A. Sutherland, Darren Henstock, et al. · 2018 · Journal of Experimental Criminology · 81 citations

    ObjectivesRecently, scholars have applied self-awareness theory to explain why body-worn cameras (BWCs) affect encounters between the public and police, with its most immediate manifestation being a reduction in the use of force by and complaints against police. In this study, we report on the paradoxical effects of BWCs in the context of assaults on officers.MethodsA multisite randomized controlled trial in ten departments, with officers wearing (or not wearing) BWCs based on random assignment of shifts. Odds ratios are used to estimate the treatment effect on assaults, along with “one study removed” sensitivity analyses. Further subgroup analyses are performed in terms of varying degrees o

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  6. Testing the effects of police body-worn cameras on use of force during arrests: A randomised controlled trial in a large British police force

    Darren Henstock, Barak Ariel · 2017 · European Journal of Criminology · 78 citations

    This study aims to assess the effect of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on police use of force, in a British police force context. We tested the effect of BWCs with a large British force in a six-month randomised controlled trial. Police shifts ( n = 430) were randomly assigned on a weekly basis into treatment and control conditions. Odds ratios of use-of-force rates per arrests were used to estimate the causal impact of BWCs. Analyses of these odds for overall use of force and again within pre-specified force categories were conducted. Overall, we found a 50 percent reduction in the odds of force used when BWCs are present compared with control conditions. Our estimates suggest a 35 percent reduct

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  7. Do the Effects of Police Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force and Complaints Change Over Time? Results From a Panel Analysis in the Milwaukee Police Department

    Bryce Elling Peterson, Daniel S. Lawrence · 2020 · Criminal Justice and Behavior · 22 citations

    Police body-worn cameras (BWCs) can help improve transparency, accountability, and policing behaviors. This study extends prior BWC research by using a panel analysis design with a measure of treatment duration to examine how the effects of BWCs change over time. Using data from the Milwaukee Police Department ( N = 1,009), we propose and test two competing hypotheses: The program maturity hypothesis suggests that BWCs will be more effective at reducing use of force and complaints over time, whereas the program fatigue hypothesis expects BWCs to be less effective the longer officers wear BWCs. We find that BWCs reduced complaints overall and that, over time, each additional month with a came

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  8. The Power of Observation: An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of Body Worn Cameras on Police Use of Force and Productivity

    Taeho Kim · 2019 · SSRN Electronic Journal · 13 citations

    Controversial police use-of-force incidents have spurred protests and calls for reform across the nation. Body-worn cameras (BWCs) have received extensive attention as a potential key reform. I conduct a nationwide study of the effects of BWCs across more than 1,000 agencies. I use idiosyncratic variation in adoption timing that is attributable to administrative hurdles to identify the impact of BWCs on the use of force and law enforcement outcomes. This empirical strategy addresses the limitations of previous studies that have evaluated BWCs within a single agency. In a single-agency setting, the control group officers are also indirectly affected by BWCs due to interactions with the treatm

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  9. The effects of body‐worn camera footage and eyewitness race on jurors' perceptions of police use of force

    Alana Saulnier, Kelly C. Burke, Bette L. Bottoms · 2019 · Behavioral Sciences & the Law · 13 citations

    Police use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) is increasingly common in the USA. This article reports the results of one of the first experimental examinations of the effects of three BWC status conditions (absent, transcribed, viewed) and eyewitness race (Black, White) on mock jurors' case judgments, in a case in which a community member (defendant) was charged with resisting arrest but where the officer's use of force in conducting the arrest was controversial. Results provide evidence of significant main effects of both eyewitness race and BWC status. When the eyewitness supporting the defendant was White, mock jurors were less likely to vote the defendant guilty of resisting arrest, as well as

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  10. Body-Worn Cameras, Use of Force and Police-Civilian Interactions

    Abi Dymond, Matthew J. Hickman · 2017 · Policing A Journal of Policy and Practice · 9 citations

    This special issue seeks to present a diversity of research and commentary on a promising yet highly controversial issue in policing: the use of police body-worn cameras (BWCs). The potential benefits of BWCs are very broad, and may include improvement in the overall quality of police–civilian interactions, reduction in the levels of force used by officers and subjects, reduced injuries and assaults, creation of evidence to support arrest and prosecution, and enhanced police transparency and accountability. They may also help generate improvements in officer training, enhance professional development, and encourage reflective practice by officers. For the research community, the advent of BW

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  11. The eyes have it! Functional field of view differences between visual search behavior and body-worn camera during a use of force response in active-duty police officers

    Nicholas P. Murray, William J. Lewinski, Craig Allen, et al. · 2024 · Police Practice and Research · 6 citations

    ABSTRACT Although officer body-worn cameras (BWCs) have improved transparency of police interactions within the community, BWCs have a limited field of view, are subject to bias, and do not account for the factors that influence rapid decision-making by officers, including their visual attentional control and perceptual processes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the camera perspective of six critical incidents and position data from BWC compared to eye tracking and head movement data in a use-of-force scenario from 44 active-duty police officers. The analysis of gyroscope and accelerometer data demonstrated low correlations between eye cameras and BWC position data. Officers att

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  12. Behind the yellow sticker: paradoxical effects of a visual warning of body-worn cameras on the use of police force

    Noy Assaraf, Alejandro Mouro, Donald M. Papy, et al. · 2024 · Journal of Experimental Criminology · 4 citations

    Research on police body-worn cameras (BWCs) draws attention to the need for suspects to be aware of the devices for them to exert a deterrent, “civilising effect”, which can manifest as a reduction in the use of force in police-public interactions. This awareness can be manipulated audibly, visually, or both, yet no trials exist to test a visual stimulus that increases awareness of BWCs relative to BWCs without this function. In this field experiment, we test the effect of a visual warning of BWCs on use-of-force incidence. A six-month cluster-randomised controlled trial involving spatiotemporal police units was conducted in Miami Beach, USA. The units were randomly assigned to the experimen

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  13. Body‐worn cameras and representation: What matters when evaluating police use of force?

    James E. Wright, Dongfang Gaozhao, Brittany Houston · 2023 · Public Administration Review · 4 citations

    Abstract Public administration scholarship seeks to understand ways to increase accountability within the policing profession. We employ an online conjoint experiment to disentangle the effects of both representation and body‐worn cameras (BWC) on police accountability and legitimacy. In the experiment, we ask participants to rate the likelihood that a police use of force incident prompts an investigation when there is a BWC present and racial and gender representation matches between the officer and the civilian in the use of force incident. We find that Caucasian officers who use force are more likely to be investigated. Our findings also reveal that civilians believe male officers who use

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  14. Police recruits’ perceptions of the utility of viewing body-worn camera footage following use-of-force incidents

    Sarah L. Deck, Louise E. Porter, Martine B. Powell, et al. · 2025 · Policing & Society · 2 citations

    Widespread police use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) worldwide means that many use-of-force incidents are likely to be captured on camera. Despite much exploration of the effects of BWCs on policing, both policy makers and researchers debate whether officers involved in such incidents should be permitted to review their BWC footage before providing their account of the incident. We sought to address this question through officers' first-hand perspectives. Specifically, 112 police recruits engaged in a realistic lethal force training scenario, reviewed their BWC footage, and were then asked about their experiences watching that footage and their perspective on BWC review. Qualitative analysis re

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  16. POLICE BODY-WORN CAMERAS: A FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION DEMAND FOR SOUTH AFRICA?

    L. Curlewis, Thabang Sepuru · 2023 · The Pretoria Student Law Review · 1 citations

    Incidents of police brutality are increasing around the world. South Africa faces its own excessive use of force by police as exemplified by the case(s) of Khosa v Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, as well as that of Nathaniel Julies. Countries such as the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (US) have seen positive results from leveraging advancements in technology to provide detailed, first-hand accounts of what happens during a police encounter. In light of the fourth industrial revolution, which brings with it advancements in data processing and storage, the purpose of this article is to investigate what value such advancements in technology might hold for the So

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  17. Impact of Body-worn Cameras (Bwcs) and Alternative Recording Devices (Ards) on Citizen Complaints and Use of Force Reports in the Police Force of Oriental Mindoro: a Basis for Policy Framework

    R. Mendoza · 2025 · International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

    This study explored the impact of body-worn cameras (BWCs) and alternative recording devices (ARDs) on citizen complaints and use of force reports in the police force of Oriental Mindoro as a basis for the development of a policy framework. This study used a mixed method design by collecting complaint data before and after BWC use, then conducting interviews with police and community members to explain the results. It focused on selected barangays in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro with high crime rates, using purposive sampling to choose 15 police officers and 15 community participants. Data were analyzed using basic statistics and thematic analysis, while ethical standards and confidentiali

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  18. Police Body-Worn Cameras

    Christopher Schneider, Erick Laming · 2025

    Body-worn cameras reduced the use of force by roughly 60 percent in Oakland, California, and the department reported 18 months without an officer-involved shooting, in a city that used to average about eight such incidents a year.1 In Mesa, Arizona, police reported 75% fewer use of force complaints and a 50% decline in citizen complaints during a body-worn camera pilot.2 But many law enforcement agencies are still weighing their options and hesitating to implement body-worn cameras because of uncertainty regarding policies and practices. This paper highlights some of the key policy issues that early adopters have faced and offers perspectives from their experiences.

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