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 (TTA) 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
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Spotlight on BWC Resource: "Use of BWC Footage for Training Purposes" webinar
- Featured BWC TTA Resources
- Latest Research on BWCs
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Special Feature: Body-Worn Camera Site Spotlight One-Pager: Wichita, Kansas
- 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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Allie Land
BWC TTA Analyst
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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. Our TTA includes a wide variety of topics, such as the role of BWCs in use of force, BWC policy and procedures, technology, community collaboration, prosecution, crime prevention, and research regarding BWCs.
Allie Land is an expert in criminal justice research and policing. She currently serves as an associate research analyst in CNA's Center for Justice Research and Innovation. Land's research interests include body-worn cameras and digital evidence management, violent crime investigations, and alternatives to corrections. Prior to joining CNA, Allie was a research program manager with Justice & Security Strategies, Inc., where she worked on several research projects related to policing and prosecution. Land holds a M.S. in criminology and criminal justice from California State University, Long Beach and a B.A. in criminal justice and sociology from California State University, Fullerton.
Learn more about BWC TTA analysts here.
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Spotlight on BWC Resource |
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Article: Assessing the Utility of Body-Worn Cameras for Collegiate Police Agencies
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Nearly all scholarship on body-worn cameras (BWCs) has focused on municipal police departments, as they comprise a majority of sworn agencies. Given the unique environment of collegiate law enforcement agencies, however, it is possible that their paths to BWCs—and the benefits and challenges they experience—vary from that of more traditional agencies. Using a survey of 126 collegiate police departments and in-depth interviews with 15 collegiate police executives, this study describes their goals, challenges, and benefits related to BWCs. Importantly, it also describes the decision-making of agencies that chose not to implement BWCs, giving voice to an understudied population and providing guidance to special agencies in making the decision to adopt BWCs. The most notable benefits and challenges interrelate with their placement as part of institutions of higher education, such as the impact of collegiate privacy concerns (e.g., FERPA) and the utility of BWC footage in both law enforcement and educational processes. |
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Featured BWC TTA Resources |
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Directories of Outcomes
Practitioners, policy makers, and researchers face two key problems when assessing the relevant research:
1. It is difficult to keep up with the quickly growing body of research on body-worn cameras.
2. It is difficult to make sense of findings that vary considerably across studies.
The Directories of Outcomes provide a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the existing research by study outcome. Access the directories here.
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In View: Commentary from BWC Experts
In View Commentaries feature thoughts, opinions, and experiences from BWC experts, including researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.
Read the recent In View 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, such as trends in BWC policies, options for mounting BWCs, and technological capabilities of the cameras. Our most recent episode covers the use of BWCs in after-action reviews. The podcasts are available for you to listen to at your 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, visit the BWC TTA website or click on one of the images to the left for the various channels.
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Latest Research on Body-Worn Cameras |
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Abstract: Police body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been the subject of much research on how the technology’s enhanced documentation of police/citizen interactions impact police behavior. Less attention has been paid to how BWC recordings affect the adjudication of citizen complaints against the police. We employ citizen complaint data from the Chicago Police Department and Civilian Office of Police Accountability filed between 2012-2020 to determine the extent to which BWC footage enhances the efficacy of evidence used to formulate a conclusion of responsibility, and whether bias against complainants based on race would subsequently be reduced. Accordingly, we exploit the staggered deployment of BWCs across 22 Chicago police districts over time to estimate the effect of BWCs on these outcomes. Our findings indicate that BWCs led to a significant decrease in the dismissal of investigations due to insufficient evidence ("not sustained") as well as a significant increase in disciplinary actions against police officers ("sustained" outcomes”) with sufficient evidence to sanction their misconduct. We further find that disparities in complaints across racial groups for the “unsustained” category fade away with the implementation of BWCs.
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Abstract: This study investigated citizen attitudes about the public release of police body-worn camera (BWC) video. We examined quantitative and qualitative survey data from a convenience sample of 535 citizens living in and around Birmingham, Alabama, USA. We found citizens’ attitudes ranged widely and were often contextualized based on the circumstances of the video and case. Race, gender, and police accountability concerns were significantly related to greater support for video release, with race being the strongest factor. Surveillance concerns were not significantly related to attitudes about video release. While numerous studies show that officers and citizens support the use of BWCs in policing, questions about the public release of video are still under debate. Very few studies have examined the issue of video release for the purposes of developing evidence-based policy that satisfies the interests of diverse groups and minimizes civil unrest following critical incidents. Further research is needed before clear recommendations can be made regarding optimum policies guiding BWC video release.
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Special Feature:
Body-Worn Camera Site Spotlight One-Pager:
Wichita, Kansas
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Concerns about deploying BWCs to SWAT teams range from the potential to expose tactics, to privacy issues, to concerns over battery life and camera placement. The Wichita, KS Police Department (WPD), an early adopter and innovator of police body-worn cameras (BWCs) weighed the pros and cons and decided to issue cameras to SWAT officers in 2020.
Captain Travis Rakestraw notes that WPD sought to accomplish three goals with the SWAT BWC deployment: Transparency and building trust within the community, protecting officers, and evidentiary purposes. Following deployment WPD faced issues with BWC issuance, policy, and training; this one-pager covers how WPD handled those obstacles and the lessons they learned.
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Read the one-pager here.
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Webinar: Use of BWC Footage for Training Purposes |
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This webinar focuses on the innovative work of two agencies to incorporate body-worn camera (BWC) footage into different officer trainings.
Dr. Mike White of Arizona State University facilitated this panel, which included Captain Kevin Lutz of the Camden County (NJ) PD, and Commander Dane Sorensen of the Tempe (AZ) PD. Each of them spoke about how BWC footage can be used for training and evaluation purposes, providing videos that they have shown to their agencies and how these videos have been used to teach officers.
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Mounting Considerations, and Adjusting During the Training & Evaluation Process
In a recent call with a BWC PIP site, representatives spoke about how their BWCs are mounted and the changes they have made along the way. The agency's adjustments provide a good lesson in testing and evaluating during BWC implementation.
This agency initially used magnetic mounts for their BWCs. Additionally, this agency has automatic triggering devices that activate BWCs when a firearm is pulled from a holster. If the BWC is not already activated, these devices have a sensor that turns on the BWC and begins recording once the firearm is drawn.
What this agency found during training and evaluation is that their magnetic mounts were interfering with these automatic triggering devices. As a result, the agency switched to "wing clip" mounts instead to prevent any further electrical interference.
How BWCs are mounted has been an important consideration for agencies, often spoken about in the context of how mounting can affect a camera's field of vision or stability. As BWC technology progresses to include features like automatic activation, it becomes increasingly important for agencies to be aware of how one feature may affect another. Agencies should perform frequent testing and evaluation throughout the BWC implementation process to make any necessary adjustments smoother.
To learn more about pilot testing and evaluating BWCs, please contact [email protected]
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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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Police body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been the subject of much research on how the technology’s enhanced documentation of police/citizen interactions impact police behavior. Less attention has been paid to how BWC recordings affect the adjudication of citizen complaints against the police. |
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On Sept. 1, “Bo’s Law” went into effect in Texas. The law is named after Botham Jean, who was killed in his apartment in 2018 by off-duty police officer Amber Guyger. Part of the law will require police officers across the state to have their body cameras on at all times when conducting an investigation. For some local agencies, like Bishop, TX Police Department, the law will not change how the department operates, as officers were already required to wear body cameras.
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Come Friday, all Rockford Police Department officers and detectives are expected to be trained on body-worn camera operations and an 18-page policy on how they are to be used. Starting Monday, they go live with Rockford's nearly 300-strong police force using the cameras to record traffic stops, arrests and most law enforcement activities.
Here's what changes in Rockford next week:
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BWC TTA has to offer!
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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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