Body-worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program to Support Law Enforcement Agencies (BWCPIP)

Todd Maxwell with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Body Worn Camera Team, interviews Dinwiddie County Sheriff’s Office’s Major William Knott to discuss a rural sheriff’s office perspectives on BWCs. Major Knott discusses discusses topics like community and prosecutorial outreach, vendor/storage selections tips and specifics related to a rural sheriff’s office experiences.

Todd Maxwell, a member of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Body Worn Camera team, interviews Camden County Police Department’s Deputy Chief Orlando Cuevas to discuss their agencies research and experiences with BWCs. Deputy Chief Cuevas shares their initial experiences in researching BWCs along with the challenges to implementing them for a medium-sized agency.

Mike Roosa, Senior Policy Advisor for the Bureau of Justice Assistance interviews Phoenix Police Department’s Sergeant Kevin Johnson and Arizona State University’s Dr. Charles Katz to discuss their departments deployment of body cameras in 2013 as part of BJA’s SMART Policing Initiative grant to evaluate body worn camera technology. The group discusses lessons learned and progress of their program along with the research around the program. Dr. Katz and Phoenix PD were part of the BJA Expert Panel on Body Worn Cameras that helped form the BJA National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit.

Todd Maxwell, part of the Bureau of Justice Assistances Body-Worn Camera team, interviews San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Police Department’s BWC team to discuss their BWC program. The agency discusses the uniqueness of being a transit police and how their BWC program differs from a traditional police department.

Chip Coldren, project director for the Bureau of Justice Assistances Body-Worn Camera Technical Assistance Program, interviews Deputy Attorney General Matthew Frawley of the criminal division of the Delaware Department of Justice to discuss Wilmington Police Department's body-worn camera pilot program and what it means for prosecutors. Deputy Attorney General Frawley discusses the Attorney General's Office efforts around planning and coordinating activities for the state-wide implementation of BWCs.

Chip Coldren, project director for the Bureau of Justice Assistances Body-Worn Camera Technical Assistance Program, interviews Montgomery County Police Department’s Chief Information Officer, Brian Acken to discuss their departments decision to outfit their officers with body worn cameras in an area that is home to over a million residents. The agency discusses how the agency assigns each officer two BWCs.

Todd Maxwell from BJA’s Body-Worn Camera Team interviews Oakland Police Department’s Assistant Chief Paul Figueroa to discuss the study Stanford University is doing in collaboration with his police department. He will give an overview of the project along with discussing what they hope to learn and how they plan to use the information learned from the study to improve police accountability and community relations. Oakland PD was part of the BJA Expert Panel on Body Worn Cameras that helped form the BJA National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit. 

Lauren Gonzalez from BJA’s Body-Worn Camera Team interviews Executive Director Adam Rosenberg from the Baltimore Child Abuse Center in Maryland to discuss privacy and other concerns around BWCs involving juveniles whether they are suspects, witnesses, or victims. The discussion explores the challenges around recording juveniles and the potential effects on them. Adam Rosenberg contributed to the BJA Expert Panel on Body Worn Cameras that helped form the BJA National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit.

Todd Maxwell from BJA’s Body-Worn Camera Team interviews Lt. Zehnder from Las Vegas Metro PD and Dr. Chip Coldren from CNA to discuss the ongoing research of the BWC pilot program with UNLV that was funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The study is a multi-year study that examines the implementation and impact of BWCs on a large police agency. Lt. Zehnder contributed to the BJA Expert Panel on Body Worn Cameras that helped form the BJA National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit and Dr. Coldren leads BJA’s BWC Training and Technical Assistance Program.

Mike Roosa, Senior Policy Advisor for the Bureau of Justice Assistance, interviews Richmond Police Department's Chief Chris Magnus and Assistant Chief Allwyn Brown to hear about hear about their adoption of BWCs which began earlier this year and give us the perspective of a medium sized agency.

Pat McCreary, Associate Deputy Director for the Bureau of Justice Assistance, interviews Calgary Police Services Deputy Chief Trevor Daroux and Staff Sergeant Asif Rashid to get a Canadian perspective on BWCs that includes lessons learned on policy and procedure and challenges they have encountered. Calgary started a pilot program in 2012 and is expanding the implementation to all front line officers. When completed Calgary Police Service will have 11,000 BWCs in use making it one of the largest BWC implementations in the world. Calgary Police Services contributed content that helped form the BJA National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit.

Mike Roosa, Senior Policy Advisor for the Bureau of Justice Assistance, interviews Arizona State University's Dr. Mike White to better understand research perspective on Body-Worn Cameras. Dr. White wrote the Police Officer Body-Worn Cameras: Assessing the Evidence report for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Diagnostic Center, facilitated the Body-Worn Camera Expert Panel convening in Washington, DC, and contributed to BJA's National Body-Worn Toolkit by authoring the FAQs for the toolkit with Dr. Charles Katz.

Todd Maxwell, contractor working with BJA's Body-Worn Camera Team, introduces this new podcast series and explains what to expect in the interview style podcasts focusing on important issues regarding implementing body-worn cameras (BWCs) in a law enforcement environment. The podcast series will focus on diverse aspects of the implementation and includes input from law enforcement, prosecutors, defenders, advocates, unions, civil rights, and more to cover the most pressing issues concerning BWCs.