Promise of police body‐worn cameras

• Author: Aili Malm
• Published date: 01 February 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12420
• Date: 01 February 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1745-9133.12420

POLICY ESSAY

RESEARCH ON BODY-WORN CAMERAS

Promise of police body-worn cameras∗

Aili Malm

California State University, Long Beach

Correspondence

AiliMalm, School of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Emergency Management, California State University,Long Beach, 1250

BellflowerBlvd., Long Beach, CA 90803.

Email:Aili.Malm@csulb.edu

∗Acknowledgment:I would like to thank Jerry Ratcliffe for his extremelyhelpful suggestions and comments.

As Cynthia Lum, Megan Stoltz, Christopher Koper, and Amber Scherer (2019, this issue) point out, the

amount of research on police body-worn cameras (BWCs)has dramatically increased in the last 5 years.

This upsurge culminated in the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing's (2015) focus on

BWCs and increased funding for research. And although politics and money definitely played a role,

another factor driving the increase in the number of studies was the air of skepticism surrounding the

technology. Critics warned that any benefit of BWCs might be outweighed by costs, such as loss of

privacy, excessive financial burden, tension between officers and management, and reduced police

activity. This tone of caution continues to pervade police and academic discussions of BWCs.

The rush of research opportunities has run counter to traditional academic caution. This caution

originates in scientific skepticism, where claims lacking sufficient empirical evidence are subject to

rigorous scrutiny, tested, and re-tested using the scientific method. This is not a bad thing—scientific

skepticism has fueled progress and debate, and it has led to groundbreaking discoveries throughout

history. Even the most ardent promoters of the scientific method, however, have argued that too much

skepticism can hinder progress;

Too much openness and you accept every notion, idea, and hypothesis—which is tanta-

mount to knowing nothing. Too much skepticism […] and you're not only unpleasantly

grumpy, but also closed to the advance of science. A judicious mix is what we need.

(Sagan, 1995: 30)

Finding that “judicious mix” has been the challenge to date. In their comprehensive narrative review,

Lum et al. (2019) state that, “BWCs have not had statistically significant or consistent effects on most

measures of officer and citizen behavior or citizens’ views of police,” and they go on to illustrate the

inconsistent results and research gaps. It may be worth examiningthe potential reasons for these results

in greater depth.

1ASSESSING BWC EVIDENCE USING THE EMMIE

FRAMEWORK

Policing has long been considered a craft in which experience outweighs all else (Willis, 2013). With

the emergence of evidence-based policing (EBP), however, science is starting to play a greater role in

Criminology & Public Policy. 2019;18:119–130. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/capp © 2019 American Society of Criminology 119