NCJ Number
243595
Date Published
March 2013
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the use of body cameras by police officers to reduce the incidence of police-use-of-force.
Abstract
This study was conducted to determine whether body cameras worn by police officers would reduce the incidences of police-use-of-force. Findings from the study include the following: shifts in which officers did not use body cameras experienced twice as many incidents of police-use-of-force compared to shifts where officers used body cameras; and the number of complaints against the police for excessive use of force dropped from 28 complaints in the 12 months prior to the study to 3 during the study period. Researchers were unable to compute a treatment effect due to the large overall reduction in the number of complaints. The study was conducted with the assistance of the Rialto Police Department. All 54 frontline officers in the department participated in the study. The officers were randomly assigned to either the control group - no use of body cameras, or the experimental group - use of body cameras. The officers in the experimental group were instructed to wear the body cameras during their entire shift and to record all public-police encounters. The content of the videotapes were analyzed to determine the effect of the camera on the incidences of police-use-of-force. The findings from the analysis suggest that the presence of the cameras resulted in an almost 50 percent reduction in the total number of incidents of use of force, and that when cameras were not used (the control group), citizen complaints were almost 10 times higher compared to the experimental group. Suggestions for future research are discussed. Tables, figure, and references