The Quarterly
Winter 2019
The Quarterly
The Quarterly keeps our law enforcement agencies and their partners and supporters informed of developments, trends, and news within the body-worn camera (BWC) field and encourages involvement in our ongoing activities. The Quarterly  provides the most up-to-date tools and technical assistance materials for your continued success in navigating and implementing a long-lasting, successful BWC program. 
In this Issue: 
  • BWC TTA Team Spotlight
  • Welcome FY 2018 BWC PIP Sites
  • Featured BWC TTA Resources
  • Latest Research on BWCs
  • Special Feature: Body-Worn Cameras: What You Need To Know
  • In Case You Missed It!
  • Practices from the Field
  • BWCs in the News

Quick Links


The BWC TTA Team Spotlight
James "Chip" Coldren

Project Director

Dr. James R. “Chip” Coldren, Jr., is the project director on BWC TTA and is a managing director for the Safety and Security Division at the CNA Institute for Public Research. He has more than 35 years of experience with research; program and policy evaluation, policy development, advocacy, development, coordination, and delivery of training and technical assistance; and justice system improvement. In addition to serving as the project director on BWC TTA, Dr. Coldren is also the national project director for the Strategies for Policing Innovation and the BJA Public Safety Partnership technical assistance initiatives. He also serves as Principal Investigator on two national institute of Justice–funded research projects, one to study equipment modalities and correctional officer safety and another to study the impact of body worn cameras in an adult detention facility

Meet the rest of the BWC TTA team here.
Welcome the FY18 BWC PIP Sites!
As part of President Trump’s commitment to expand funding, training, and evidentiary tools for law enforcement agencies, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) significantly enlarged the Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program (BWC-PIP) in 2018 with an additional 75 BJA awards to grantees, bringing the three-year total to 338 awards. BWC-PIP funding will enable the deployment of more than 70,000 BWCs across the county as part of broader BWC implementation strategies. Overall, Congress and BJA have provided more than $70 million to BWC-PIP grantees during the past 4 years to meet the immediate needs of local and tribal law enforcement organizations. The BWC-PIP program has supported agencies in nearly every state, as well as to several agencies operating in tribal areas and territories, as depicted in the BWC Policy and Implementation Program Award Map. A number of BWC-PIP awards are administered as multiagency partnerships or through regional and state organizations. In FY 2018, for example, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency received a BWC-PIP award to support BWC implementation in 35 law enforcement agencies throughout the state. All agencies funded through BWC-PIP have access to training and technical assistance (TTA) to help them develop their policies and implementation plans.

For a complete list of the FY18 BWC sites, click here.
Featured BWC TTA Resources
BWC TTA Request Form

Have a technical assistance request? Complete and submit the form, and someone from the BWC TTA team will be in touch with you shortly!







BWC Policy Review Scorecard
As part of the BJA BWC Policy and Implementation Program, a TTA team—composed of members of CNA, Arizona State University, and Justice and Security Strategies, Inc.—created a BWC Policy Review Scorecard, which assesses the comprehensiveness of an agency’s BWC policy, captures local issues that influence policy (e.g., specific state regulations), and identifies areas for policy enhancement. We recently revised the BWC scorecard for FY 18 sites to focus on 13 specific policy issues. Interested agencies can access the scorecard    here. Instructions for completing the scorecard can be found   here.



Sample Policies of BWC PIP Sites  
An agency's BWC policy is essential to the success of its BWC program. To view example policies from BWC PIP sites, click   here  . 

These policies are provided with the permission of the agencies. Please note that these agencies strive to continuously review and update their policies to ensure that they meet the needs of the departments and communities they serve. 
Latest Research on Body-Worn Cameras

Abstract:   Police legitimacy is generally regarded as a view among community members that police departments play an appropriate role in implementing rules governing public conduct. Placing body-worn cameras (BWCs) on police officers has been suggested as a potentially
important response to police legitimacy crises. We tested the impact of BWCs on citizen perceptions of procedural justice and police legitimacy during traffic stops in Turkey. Relative to stops by officers without BWCs, we find that motorists stopped by officers with BWCs reported improved perceptions of procedural justice in the encounter and perceptions of legitimacy of traffic officers and the police more generally. Supplementary analyses suggest that the perceived improvements in police legitimacy were entirely driven by perceived enhancements in procedural justice during the traffic stop encounter. These findings suggest that body camera technology helps ensure procedurally just encounters and improve public perceptions of police legitimacy.

Abstract: In 2016, nearly half (47%) of the 15,328 general-purpose law enforcement agencies in the United States had acquired body-worn cameras (BWCs) (figure 1). By comparison, 69% had dashboard cameras including 80% of large agencies (500 or more sworn officers) and 38% had personal audio recorders. Findings are based on the 2016 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics - Body-Worn Camera Supplement (LEMAS-BWCS) from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The LEMAS-BWCS was administered for the first time in 2016. Data were collected from a nationally representative sample of general-purpose law enforcement agencies (i.e., municipal, county, and regional police departments; sheriffs’ offices with law enforcement duties; and primary state and highway patrol agencies). The LEMAS-BWCS excluded federal agencies, sheriffs’ offices with only jail or court duties, and special-purpose agencies such as transit police and campus police.

Abstract: In late August, a Texas jury convicted former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver of the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. The uncommon verdict largely rested on footage of the incident captured on Oliver’s body camera, technology the city’s police department implemented in 2015. As more law enforcement agencies nationwide use police body-worn cameras, states are developing and refining policy guidance. Since updating the last body camera legislation tracker in January 2017, 16 states have passed new laws and 12 states have pending legislation governing key aspects of the technology’s use. The Urban Institute's new tracker illustrates several shifts in policy and focus and reveals five notable trends.

Abstract: Although body-worn cameras (BWCs) have diffused rapidly in law enforcement both in the United States and abroad, questions have emerged regarding the potential utility of BWCs for specialized police units. Given the near-sole focus on patrol during BWC implementation, the role of specialty units in BWC deployment is often overlooked. Further, the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges associated with BWCs may be unique for specialty units compared to patrol, given their differences in mission and operational focus. We explore this issue using qualitative data from 17 focus groups with 72 officers assigned to specialty units in two midsize Western police departments. The findings highlight the importance of carefully considering unit mission when making decisions about BWCs, especially related to policy and procedure.
Special Feature:  
Body-Worn Cameras: What You Need To Know
International City/County Management Association (ICMA)

The ICMA released a fact sheet highlighting best practices for implementing BWCs in local police departments, from the Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), U.S. Department of Justice. The development of the fact sheet was supported by a grant awarded by BJA and implemented by CNA and ICMA. For more resources developed by ICMA and BWC TTA, please visit the   ICMA BWC project page . 

To view the entire document, click here.
In Case You Missed It!
Webinar: Welcome FY 2018 Body-Worn Camera PIP Site

On November 6, 2018, BJA and the BWC Training and Technical Assistance Team presented the "FY 2018 Body-Worn Camera PIP Sites Welcome Webinar". This webinar served as an orientation to the FY18 Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program. This grant program is meant to help agencies develop, implement, and manage a BWC program as one tool in a law enforcement agency’s comprehensive problem-solving approach to enhance officer interactions with the public, combat crime, and build community trust. During the webinar, sites heard from BJA and the training and technical assistance (TTA) provider, CNA, and were also provided introductions to the BJA grant administrators and a brief overview of grant administration requirements. 

To view the entire webinar recording, click  here .
Practices from the Field
Body-Worn Camera Program:
  Peoria, Illinois Sheriff’s Office

The Peoria, Illinois, Sheriff’s Office received a fiscal year 2017 Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) BWC Policy and Implementation Program (PIP) grant that also includes the Peoria Police Department, the East Peoria Police Department, and the Peoria Parks department. Since the grant was awarded, all agencies successfully completed their policy review scorecards, revealing they had completed a comprehensive and deliberate BWC policy development process. Each agency has it's own unique BWC policy to meet the specific needs of the department, but the agencies worked together to develop their policies. Additionally, the Peoria agencies also met with community groups and consulted other BWC policies. In April 2018, agencies received policy approval, the site sent representatives to the BWC National Meeting at which they requested more information on cloud verses in house storage; after the national meeting, the sites began testing cameras. 

In September 2018, Peoria sent representatives to a regional BWC meeting hosted by the Regional Justice Information Services (REJIS) group in St. Louis, Missouri, another regional group BWC PIP grantee. BWC TTA Director Dr. James “Chip” Coldren; BWC TTA Subject Experts Damon Mosler, Scot Haug, and Dan Zehnder, and CNA Senior Subject Expert Tom Woodmansee   facilitated the meeting. The regional meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the unique circumstances of implementing BWCs in a regional setting. 

Since the regional meeting, all the Peoria agencies have procured their cameras and are working toward full deployment. They encountered some technical issues with infrastructure and storage, but plan to have their BWC program fully implemented in January 2019. Peoria has been engaged throughout the grant process and its experience has provided valuable lessons for future regional groups planning to implement BWC programs. The CNA analyst working with Peoria, Lily  Robin, strongly considers other sites to look to them as a peer for regional BWC programs.  

To learn more about the Peoria, Illinois Sheriff’s Office, visit its website .

If your agency would like to be featured in the next issue of The Quarterly,  please contact us .

Body-Worn Cameras in the News
The Doral Police Department will implement the body-worn cameras (BWC) for greater accountability, enhanced public trust, and a safer community. The use of BWCs is seen as the future of modern policing because it creates a real-time, permanent record of all encounters and interactions between police officers and members of the public. In addition, numerous studies conducted have shown that the use of BWC results in a reduction of false complaints, and lawsuits against police departments.
Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale invited community members to form a citizen advisory committee in reference to the recent initiative of equipping our personnel with body-worn cameras. The first meeting of the advisory committee is today.
We learned in July that JSO planned to buy 200 body cameras. They completed their three-phased body camera pilot program in May, which had 30 officers test them out to see how they work. Phase one of what JSO calls the Body Worn Camera Program started Thursday, November 1, 2018. JSO says a full rollout of body-worn cameras will take approximately two years.
Community leaders hope body cameras will bring a new level of transparency to the Buffalo Police Department. Officers will start wearing body cameras this month. Under the policy, officers have to wear the cameras on every call for service, or anytime an officer responds to a situation.
The Clarksville Police Department reports that the fielding of the body-worn cameras is progressing smoothly and on schedule. The first BWCs cameras were fielded on October 29, 2018, to handpicked “super users." Since then, patrol officers, who were already trained on BWC departmental policy, received additional training from the “super users” on the hardware and software associated with the use of the BWCs.
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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.
This project was supported by Grant No. 2015-DE-BX-K002 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 US Department of Justice. 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.