U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Use of force

New Research on Body-Worn Cameras

May 2015

This video captures the presentations of several speakers. Jennifer Wood, Associate Professor at Temple University, presents key findings from a pilot evaluation of the Philadelphia Police Department's use of body-worn cameras (BWC) in one of the districts. During his presentation, Michael White, Professor at Arizona State University, focuses on available BWC resources and research. And, Daniel Lawrence from the Urban Institute spoke about the Institute's evaluation of BWC.

Episode 63: Interpreting BWC Video Footage – Part 2

March 2017
Todd Maxwell with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Body Worn Camera Team, interviews University of South Carolina’s Assistant Professor Seth Stoughton to discuss the potential benefits of Body Worn Cameras. Stoughton discusses his three categories were the benefits fall into including a signaling benefit, a behavioral benefit, and an evidentiary or documentation benefit. We further discuss how these effect policy, evidence considerations, effects on officer and prosecution and more.

Episode 62: Interpreting BWC Video Footage – Part 1

February 2017
Todd Maxwell with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Body Worn Camera Team, interviews University of South Carolina’s Assistant Professor Seth Stoughton to discuss the potential benefits of Body Worn Cameras. Stoughton discusses his three categories were the benefits fall into including a signaling benefit, a behavioral benefit, and an evidentiary or documentation benefit. We further discuss how these effect policy, evidence considerations, effects on officer and prosecution and more.

Episode 61: Midwestern Spotlight – Wichita Police Department

February 2017
Todd Maxwell with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Body Worn Camera Team, interviews Wichita Police Department’s Brian White to discuss the challenges and lessons learned from their implementation process regarding Body Worn Cameras. White discusses policy challenges, vendor considerations, storage considerations and more.

Episode 59: Research Spotlight – GMU’s Center of Evidence Based Policing (Part 1)

January 2017
Todd Maxwell with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Body Worn Camera Team, interviews George Mason University’s Dr. Cynthia Lum to discuss the Center of Evidence Based Policing’s recent papers on prosecutors perceptions of BWCS and a research based examination of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommendations. Dr. Lum talks about research based recommendations, areas for more research and recommendations on implementing BWCs.

Episode 58: Nation’s Capital Spotlight – Washington Metro PD, DC (Part 3 of 3)

December 2016
Todd Maxwell with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Body Worn Camera Team, interviews Washington Metropolitan Police Department’s Commander Ralph Ennis, Derek Meeks and research fellow Anita Ravishshankar to discuss process of implementing a BWC program in the nation’s capital and the challenges that presented. The group will also discuss lessons learned regarding policy creation and community outreach along with its research efforts. Finally the group gives some advice on large agency considerations.

Episode 57: Nation’s Capital Spotlight – Washington Metro PD, DC (Part 2 of 3)

December 2016
Todd Maxwell with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Body Worn Camera Team, interviews Washington Metropolitan Police Department’s Commander Ralph Ennis, Derek Meeks and research fellow Anita Ravishshankar to discuss process of implementing a BWC program in the nation’s capital and the challenges that presented. The group will also discuss lessons learned regarding policy creation and community outreach along with its research efforts. Finally the group gives some advice on large agency considerations.

Episode 52: Anniversary Spotlight on the BJA BWC Team (Part 2)

October 2016
The BWC Technical and Training Assistance’s Dr. Chip Coldren interviews BJA’s Senior Policy Advisor Mike Roosa, ASU’s Dr. Michael White, Booz Allen Hamilton’s Todd Maxwell who are all part of BJA’s Body Worn Camera team to discuss solicitations, funding, research, the toolkit, technical and training assistance, the podcast series and other efforts supporting law enforcement and the justice community around BWCs.

Episode 47: Prosecutor's Spotlight – San Diego County District Attorney's Office (CA)

September 2016
Todd Maxwell from BJA’s Body-Worn Camera Team interviews Deputy District Attorney Damon Mosler from the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office to discuss prosecution’s role and challenges with BWCs. Deputy DA Mosler discusses how BWCs are used in the court room, how to handle different formats of BWCs from different LE agencies and collaboration with police/sheriff in the county on policy formation. Damon Mosler part of the Expert Panel convening on BWCs with BJA at the White House.

Episode 46: BJA SMART Policing Initiative Spotlight – A look into the research at Phoenix PD, AZ

September 2016
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.

Episode 37: BWC Civil Rights Spotlight – ACLU

July 2016
Todd Maxwell from BJA’s Body-Worn Camera Team interviews Senior Policy Analyst Jay Stanley from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to discuss trending privacy and civil rights issues involving body-worn cameras along with the ACLU’s position on these issues. Jay Stanley contributed to the BJA Expert Panel on Body Worn Cameras that helped form the BJA National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit.

Episode 34: BWC Pilot Program Spotlight - Philadelphia PD

June 2016
Chip Coldren from BJA’s Body-Worn Camera Training and Technical Assistance Team interviews Philadelphia Police Department’s Chief Inspector Michael Cochrance and Sergeant Jay Bown along with Public Safety Program Manager Mike Vidro from the City’s Office of Innovation and Technology and from Temple University Dr. Elizabeth Groff and Jennifer Wood. The group discusses the Body-Worn Camera Pilot Program at Philadelphia PD along with the research conducted by Temple University.

Episode 32: Research Spotlight – Tempe PD

May 2016
Michael Roosa, Senior Policy Advisor for the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Body-Worn Camera Team interviews Tempe PD’s Assistant Chief Brenda Buren and Arizona State University’s Dr. Michael White to discuss the digital evidence study being conducted at Tempe. They 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 work around BWCs. Dr. White were part of the BJA Expert Panel on Body Worn Cameras that helped form the BJA National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit.

National BWC Toolkit Anniversary Episode 2: President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Spotlight

May 2016
Dr. Michael White from Arizona State University and BJA’s Body-Worn Camera Training and Technical Assistance Program interviews Sean Smoot, Director and Chief Council for the Police Benevolent and Protected Association of Illinois and the Police Benevolent Labor Committee, about his perspectives regarding body-worn cameras. Dr. White was part of the BJA Expert Panel on Body Worn Cameras that helped form the BJA National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit and the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing’s final report helped create the BJA National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit.