Research on body‐worn cameras

• Author: Christopher S. Koper,Cynthia Lum,Megan Stoltz,J. Amber Scherer
• Published date: 01 February 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12412
• Date: 01 February 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1745-9133.12412

RESEARCH ARTICLE

RESEARCH ON BODY-WORN CAMERAS

Research on body-worn cameras

What we know, what we need to know

Cynthia Lum Megan Stoltz Christopher S. Koper J. Amber Scherer

George Mason University

Correspondence

Cynthia Lum,Depar tment of Criminology,

Lawand Society, George Mason University,

4400University Drive, MS 6D12, Fairfax,

VA22030.

Email:clum@gmu.edu

Research Summary: In this article, we provide the most

comprehensive narrative review to date of the research

evidence base for body-worn cameras (BWCs). Seventy

empirical studies of BWCs were examined covering the

impact of cameras on officer behavior, officer perceptions,

citizen behavior, citizen perceptions, police investigations,

and police organizations. Although officers and citizens

are generally supportive of BWC use, BWCs have not

had statistically significant or consistent effects on most

measures of officer and citizen behavior or citizens’ views

of police. Expectations and concerns surrounding BWCs

among police leaders and citizens have not yet been

realized by and large in the ways anticipated by each.

Additionally, despite the large growth in BWC research,

there continues to be a lacuna of knowledge on the impact

that BWCs have on police organizations and police–citizen

relationships more generally.

Policy Implications: Regardless of the evidence-base,

BWCs have already rapidly diffused into law enforcement,

and many agencies will continue to adopt them. Policy

implications from available evidence are not clear-cut, but

most likely BWCs will not be an easy panacea for improv-

ing police performance, accountability, and relationships

with citizens. To maximize the positive impacts of BWCs,

police and researchers will need to give more attention to

the ways and contexts (organizational and community) in

Criminology & Public Policy. 2019;18:93–118. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/capp © 2019 American Society of Criminology 93

94 LUM ET AL.

which BWCsare most beneficial or harmful. They will also

need to address how BWCs can be used in police training,

management, and internal investigations to achieve more

fundamental organizational changes with the long-term

potential to improve police performance, accountability,

and legitimacy in the community.

KEYWORDS

body-worn cameras, evidence-based, law enforcement, policing, review,

technology

1INTRODUCTION

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are one of the most rapidly diffusing technologies in policing today,

costing agencies and their municipalities millions of dollars. In 2013, the Bureau of Justice Statistics

Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey (Bureau of Justice

Statistics, 2013) revealed that almost a third of agencies had “utilized video cameras on patrol

officers.” The Major Cities Chiefs and Major County Sheriffs associations surveyed their members

in 2015 and found that 19% had adopted BWCs, whereas an additional 77% stated that they planned

to adopt them in the near future (Lafayette Group, 2015). The International Association of Chiefs of

Police (IACP,2014) has already developed model policies for this technology, signaling its widespread

use and importance in law enforcement. At the time of this publication, the Bureau of Justice Statistics

had just released its first body-worn camera supplement to the LEMAS, which reports that as of 2016,

60% of local police departments and 49% of sheriffs' offices had fully deployed their BWCs (Hyland,

2018). It would likely not be an exaggeration to estimate that the number of U.S. law enforcement

agencies today (end of 2018) that currently use BWCs has more than likely doubled since 2013.

The rapid adoption of BWCs in the United States has been propelled by highly publicized events

in this decade involving (often) White police officers killing (often) unarmed Black individuals.

Arguably the first pivotal event of this era did not involve a police officer but an armed individual

posing as a neighborhood watchman, who killed an unarmed Black youth—Travon Martin—in 2012.

This was followed by the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer

and then the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore City Police Department custody in 2015. Many of

these officer-involved shootings have made national headlines, and in some cases, they have led to

the conviction and imprisonment of officers (see Blinder's [2017] coverage of the sentencing of a

North Charleston police officer who had shot unarmed Michael Scott). Although most, if not all, of

these events were caught on citizen cell phone cameras, the idea that greater accountability for police

actions could be obtained had previous events been filmed became a prominent source of citizen

demands for BWCs (see general discussions by Braga, Sousa, Coldren, & Rodriguez, 2018; Maskaly,

Donner, Jennings, Ariel, & Sutherland, 2017; Nowacki & Willits, 2018; White, 2014).

These events were watershed moments in American policing that spurred on the rapid adoption of

BWCs. They reflect, however, long-incubating concerns in the United States about police authority

and racial minorities as well as about police–community relations. These concerns include law

enforcement's use of stop-question-and-frisk (see Gelman, Fagan, & Kiss, 2007); increases in their

use of misdemeanor arrests since the mid-1990s (see Harcourt & Ludwig, 2006; Lum & Vovak,