Optimizing Body-Worn Cameras to Enhance Common Police Practices and Field Investigations

• NCJ Number: 305296
• Author(s): Thomas Woodmansee; John Markovic
• Date Published: March 2022
• Length: 9 pages
• Agencies: BJA-Sponsored

Annotation

This report lists some of the ways in which footage from police body-worn cameras BWCs are being used to monitor and expand recommended police policies and practices.

Abstract

As more police agencies have adopted BWCs on their own initiative and at least seven states having recently mandating their use, BWCs are becoming a permanent fixture for the majority of police agencies, with their uses and effectiveness expanding with time and testing. Some of the areas of policing where their use has improved policing are increasing community trust in police; enhancing messaging to the public about the positive and humane work performed by police officers; improving evidentiary outcomes in critical incident assessment; enhancement of evidentiary value for prosecutor decision-making, charging, and case management[; and providing agencies with police-action training material, reducing use of force and improving internal use-of-force investigation processes, and reducing citizen complaints and aiding in their resolution.