The Quarterly keeps our law enforcement partners, their agencies, and supporters informed of developments,
trends, and news within the body-worn camera (BWC) field, and is meant to encourage involvement in our ongoing activities.
The Quarterly describes the most up-to-date tools and technical assistance materials for your continued success in navigating and implementing a long-lasting, successful BWC program.
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In this Issue:
- BWC TTA Team Spotlight
- Spotlight on BWC Resource: BWC TTA National Meeting Keynote
- Featured BWC TTA Resources
- Latest Research on BWCs
- Special Feature: BWC Site Spotlight: Park City, Utah
- In Case You Missed It!
- Practices from the Field
- BWCs in the News
Quick Links
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The BWC TTA Team Spotlight |
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Richard McLaughlin
Chief of Police, Laurel, MD (ret.)
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The BWC TTA team consists of CNA, Arizona State University (ASU), Justice and Security Strategies (JSS), and a network of experts in BWCs along a wide variety of topics, such as use of force, policy and procedures, technology, community collaboration, prosecution, crime prevention, and justice research.
Chief Richard McLaughlin (ret.) is an accomplished law enforcement professional with extensive experience directing and managing the daily operations of a full-service police department of nearly 100 personnel serving a population of 25,000 (nighttime)/ 125,000 (daytime). He has over 30 years of progressive and diverse experience, including operational and staff assignments. He implemented community policing initiatives by proactively working with community leaders and concerned citizens to develop and strengthen relationships. He is dedicated to professionalism, personal integrity, courage and ethical decision-making.
Chief McLaughlin serves as a TTA Lead to agencies in the mid-west and southern regions of the United States.
Learn more about Chief McLaughlin and the other BWC TTA Leads here.
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Spotlight on BWC Resource |
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BWC TTA 2020 National Meeting Keynote Presentation:
Chief Gordon Ramsay, Wichita Police Department
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Chief Gordon Ramsay of the Wichita Police Department discussed his agency’s experience implementing BWCs, lessons learned, and how they are advancing their BWC program. The Wichita Police Department is a nationally recognized leader in the field of policing and the use of BWCs. Chief Ramsay is also a Commissioner on the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. |
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Featured BWC TTA Resources |
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Directories of Outcomes
The research base on the impact of police body-worn cameras (BWCs) has grown rapidly, and over time, the results have become increasingly mixed. This development poses two problems:
- It is difficult to keep track of the quickly growing evidence base.
- It is difficult to make sense of the sometimes competing findings across studies.
The Directories provide a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the existing research by outcome. Access the directories here.
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In View: Commentary from BWC Experts
In View Commentaries feature commentary from BWC experts, including researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.
Read the recent In Views here:
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BWC TTA Podcasts
The Body-Worn Camera TTA Podcasts provide a unique opportunity for law enforcement officers, researchers, and the law enforcement community to learn about a variety of topics related to body- worn cameras. The podcasts are available for you to listen to at your own convenience on our website and on various podcast channels. Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions, requests for additional information, or to suggest additional podcast topics.
To subscribe to our podcast on different channels, visit the BWC TTA website or click on the images to the left.
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Latest Research on Body-Worn Cameras |
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Abstract: Law enforcement agencies have rapidly adopted BWCs in the last
decade with the hope that they might improve police conduct, accountability, and transparency, especially regarding use of force. Overall, there remains substantial uncertainty about whether BWCs can reduce officer use of force, but the variation in effects suggests there may be conditions in which BWC could be effective. BWCs also do not seem to affect other police and citizen behaviors in a consistent manner, including officers’ self‐initiated activities or arrest behaviors, dispatched calls for service, or assaults and resistance against police officers. BWCs can reduce the number of citizen complaints against police officers, but it is unclear whether this finding signals an
improvement in the quality of police–citizen interactions or a change in reporting. Research has not directly addressed whether BWCs can
strengthen police accountability systems or police–citizen relationships.
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Abstract: In this study, I (Jessica Huff) use Phoenix Police Department data collected as part of a three-year randomized-controlled trial of BWCs to examine variation in police discretion. These data include over 1.5 million police-citizen contacts nested within 826 officers and 388 neighborhoods. I examine two research questions. First, how do proactivity, arrests, and use of force vary depending on situational, officer, and neighborhood contexts? This provides a baseline for my next research question. Second, examining the same contexts and outcomes, do BWCs moderate the influence of neighborhood factors on police behavior? As such, I examine the untested, though heavily promoted, argument that BWCs will reduce the influence of extralegal factors on officer behavior. Using cross-classified logistic regression models, I found that situational, officer, and neighborhood factors all influenced proactivity, arrest, and use of force. BWCs were
associated with a lower likelihood of proactivity, but an increased likelihood of arrest and use of force. Officers were more proactive and were more likely to conduct arrests in immigrant and Hispanic neighborhoods. The moderating effects suggest that officers were even more likely to proactively initiate contacts and conduct arrests in immigrant
and Hispanic neighborhoods when BWCs were activated. However, after BWCs were deployed, use of force was significantly less likely to occur in black neighborhoods.
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Abstract: Body-worn cameras (BWC) have diffused rapidly throughout policing as a means of promoting transparency and accountability. Yet, whether to release BWC footage to the public remains largely up to the discretion of police executives, and we know little about how they interpret and respond to BWC footage – particularly footage involving critical incidents. We asked a nationally representative sample of police executives (N = 476) how supportive they were of legislation that would mandate releasing BWC footage upon request as public information, and presented them with an experimental vignette about BWC capturing one of their officers fatally shooting an [armed/unarmed] [Black/White] suspect. Results indicated inconsistency in executives’ attitudes and decision-making: (1) less than one-third of executives supported such legislation, (2) suspect race and armed/unarmed status shaped how executives felt media would cover the incident and whether they would state publicly that the shooting was justified, and (3) agency size conditioned the effects of armed/unarmed status on executives’ perceptions.
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Abstract: The growth of multimedia and increasing archival of this footage by public safety agencies presents as a watershed moment in converting this footage into actionable data that can inform and improve public safety practice. However, despite the considerable volume of archival footage, there remains a profound lack of research leveraging this data. While data access will always remain an issue to researchers, this article argues that a lack of tools and methodologies for working with this data remains a barrier. As such, this article introduces a technique blending the best practices of systematic social observation and event modeling for deconstructing body-worn cameras, or other recorded observational data. Incorporating an empirical example detailing the application of the technique, this article summarizes the value of this integrated technique, while providing guidance on different analytical approaches.
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Special Feature:
Body-Worn Camera Site Spotlight:
Park City, Utah
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Park City, Utah, is known for its beautiful alpine scenery, its magnificent skiing, and as host of the Sundance Film Festival, but it was also one of the first US jurisdictions to implement body worn cameras (BWCs). In 2013, the Park City Police Department (PCPD) decided BWCs might help its officers better serve their 8,000 full-time residents and the 100,000 tourists that descend on the city during peak season. They were right—after BWCs were deployed, uses of force dropped by 42 percent and complaints declined drastically. According to the city prosecutor, the courts also benefited. Clearance rates went up and trials using BWC evidence were stronger and shorter. However, as with most programs, BWCs come with both benefits and costs, and sometimes those costs are not anticipated. PCPD experienced these unanticipated costs firsthand.
Read the full document here.
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The Role of Police Body-Worn Cameras in Recent Public Protests: Benefits, Challenges, and Solutions
Arizona State University (ASU), a BWC TTA project partner, conducted a survey asking BWC PIP sites about their experiences with the recent protests, the value that BWCs added, challenges and problems each agency experienced, and solutions their agency implemented to overcome those challenges and problems.
In Part I of two webinars on this topic, Dr. Michael White from ASU discussed the results from this survey, with a focus on larger agencies, and the impact BWCs have had. Joining him, we heard from Assistant Chief Jeffery Carroll, Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department on their experiences in their jurisdiction. Concluding the webinar, Dr. Ed. Maguire discussed the principles of effectively policing protests, while reviewing how BWCs can help agencies achieve those principles.
To view the webinar, click here.
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Sisseton, ND, Police Department:
Effective Community Engagement in a Rural Setting
Sisseton (SD) Police Department (SPD) has remained engaged with their community on the topic of body-worn cameras and police-community relations since the launch of their grant program. Working with a consultant, SPD surveyed officers attitudes regarding the impact of BWCs on their work day. The consultants also surveyed the community to gauge their attitudes toward BWCs. Based in an extremely rural area with a population of 2,500, the department received an exceptional response rate and overall supportive response from their community members regarding BWCs.
The SPD Chief, Jim Croymans, sent a letter to a local newspaper, describing the BWC program to the community, the purpose of the program, when the cameras arrived, and invited community groups for a demonstration of the cameras by the SPD. Additionally, Chief Croymans launched a Community-Police Advisory Board as a result of the recent climate, including community activists, with the goal of fostering open dialogue, accountability and transparency, and increasing positive police-community relations. After the launch of the Advisory Board, the Chief gave a demonstration to the members on how the cameras worked, and showed them some of the video footage of the body cameras in use.
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If your agency would like to be featured in the next issue of The Quarterly, please contact us.
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Body-Worn Cameras in the News |
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Officials with the Metro Nashville, TN, Police Department started installing in-car cameras as part of a police body camera program. More than 90 Metro officers and 65 vehicles from West Precinct will be equipped with the cameras first. The installation process could last through the end of August. MNPD IT Director John Singleton said one goal is to make uploading footage a smooth process. The West Precinct already had an IT infrastructure in place. Officers will get to send the footage wireless from the car using high-speed WiFi. “We are installing multiple access points throughout the parking lots at the precincts designed such a way that would maximize that,” Singleton said. “We’ve been preparing for this for a long time.” Metro police’s goal is to equip more than 1,300 officers and more than 700 patrol vehicles by February 2021. |
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Body cameras may be coming to the Kansas City, MO, Police Department (KCPD) as soon as October. A 16-camera trial run ended Friday. The move for body cameras came after protesters took the streets in Kansas City and cities across the United States after the May death of George Floyd. Some protesters have called for police reform and more accountability. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and KCPD have taken action. "I think people of Kansas City can say, 'Wow, they're really taking some key steps to make a difference for our future,'" Lucas said. At Tuesday’s Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners meeting, Major Paul Lester told commissioners KCPD had completed testing of body cameras for police officers. According to Lester, the testing was done across three patrol divisions and the traffic division with some of the motorcycle officers. “They performed as expected in the field. The officers reported they were very user friendly,” Lester told the commissioners. Lester said successfully sending web videos to prosecutors’ offices also went well. |
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The Knoxville, TN, Police Department has received its first shipment of new body and in-car cameras and started training on how to use them. In July, the city council approved an agreement with the vendor to outfit 350 officers with the new technology. Once training is complete, KPD will deploy the first 50 body-worn cameras and upgraded in-car systems as a pilot. The remaining cameras will be deployed later. This will be the first time that KPD officers will wear body cameras. "We hope to build greater trust between officers and the people they protect," Mayor Kincannon said. Chief Eve Thomas said that the department tried to mirror other accredited agencies' policies when creating KPD's body camera and in-car camera policies. Plans call for all patrol officers to be wearing them by January 2021, according to the city. |
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An independent auditor found no discrepancies with the Golden Valley, MN, Police Department’s use of body cameras. The audit reviewed the policy and use of the cameras, as well as the storage and handling of recorded data since the technology was implemented in spring 2018. The policy requires the department to undergo an audit of this kind every two years. The report found that body-worn cameras were consistently deployed. “A review of randomly selected dates from daily shift reports were verified against the Vista Events and Purged Events Reports and confirmed that officers are wearing and activating their BWCs,” the report read. “A comparison of total calls for service and total BWC videos shows BWCs are being consistently be used.” The report counted 44 cameras for the department’s 34 officers. It also confirmed that data was being adequately deleted per its policy. To date, the report found that no requests had been received to retain the data longer than the set retention period, and no requests for courtroom or public use had been made from data subjects. |
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Points of view or opinions in this content are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice. |
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This project was supported by Grant No. 2019-BC-BX-K001 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. |
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