Research on body‐worn cameras

Abstract

Research Summary In this article, we provide the most comprehensive narrative review to date of the research evidence base for body‐worn cameras (BWCs). Seventy empirical studies of BWCs were examined covering the impact of cameras on officer behavior, officer perceptions, citizen behavior, citizen perceptions, police investigations, and police organizations. Although officers and citizens are generally supportive of BWC use, BWCs have not had statistically significant or consistent effects on most measures of officer and citizen behavior or citizens’ views of police. Expectations and concerns surrounding BWCs among police leaders and citizens have not yet been realized by and large in the ways anticipated by each. Additionally, despite the large growth in BWC research, there continues to be a lacuna of knowledge on the impact that BWCs have on police organizations and police–citizen relationships more generally. Policy Implications Regardless of the evidence‐base, BWCs have already rapidly diffused into law enforcement, and many agencies will continue to adopt them. Policy implications from available evidence are not clear‐cut, but most likely BWCs will not be an easy panacea for improving police performance, accountability, and relationships with citizens. To maximize the positive impacts of BWCs, police and researchers will need to give more attention to the ways and contexts (organizational and community) in which BWCs are most beneficial or harmful. They will also need to address how BWCs can be used in police training, management, and internal investigations to achieve more fundamental organizational changes with the long‐term potential to improve police performance, accountability, and legitimacy in the community.

Body‐worn cameras’ effects on police officers and citizen behavior: A systematic review

“…Fortunately, researchers have become very interested in studying BWCs in the latter half of the 2010s. For example, by November 2015, Lum et al's (2015) review of both completed and in‐progress studies for the Laura and John Arnold Foundation found that completed studies about BWCs had grown to more than a dozen, with 30+ additional studies underway. Later, Cubitt, Lesic, Myers, and Corry (2017) reviewed 11 articles on the impacts of BWCs.…”

The results of a randomized controlled trial of police body-worn video in Australia

“…There has been extensive uptake of body-worn video (BWV) cameras by Australian, UK, and US law enforcement agencies in the absence of clear evidence demonstrating camera efficacy (Lum et al 2019). This paper reports the findings of a 6-month randomized controlled trial of BWV undertaken by the Western Australia Police Force (WAPF) in 2016.…”

The RIDE study: Effects of body‐worn cameras on public perceptions of police interactions

“…Police officers (Jennings et al, 2014;Lum, Stoltz, Koper, & Scherer, 2019) and members of the public (ODS Consulting, 2011;White et al, 2017) have both been shown to support police use of BWCs, but more research is needed to develop evidence-based understandings of the effects of this technology on perceptions of police and reactions to police. Research that manipulates police use of BWCs (i.e., intentionally varies whether a BWC is used or not) and documents public perceptions following a police interaction is particularly important in this regard.…”