Translating the story on body‐worn cameras

• Published date: 01 February 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12421
• Author: Michael D. White
• Date: 01 February 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1745-9133.12421

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

RESEARCH ON BODY-WORN CAMERAS

Translating the story on body-worn cameras

Michael D. White

Arizona State University

Correspondence

MichaelD. White, School of Criminology and Cr iminal Justice,Ar izona State University,411 N. Central Avenue,Suite 680,

Phoenix,AZ 85004.

Email:mdwhite1@asu.edu

Police body-worn cameras (BWCs) have diffused rapidly and widely in policing, both in the United

States and abroad. Results from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Law Enforcement Management

and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey in 2016 show that 47% of U.S. law enforcement agen-

cies have acquired BWCs, including 80% of large agencies (500 or more officers; Bureau of Justice

Statistics, 2018). By the end of 2018, there is little doubt that hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of addi-

tional law enforcement agencies have made the decision to start a BWC program.

Just as BWCs have spread rapidly, so too has research on the technology. I published a review of the

BWC research base in April 2014, and at the time, there were five published studies (White, 2014).

Lum, Koper, Merola, Scherer,and Reioux (2015) published a review in November 2015, which identi-

fied more than 40 BWC studies underway or completed.In t his issue of Criminology & Public Policy,

Cynthia Lum, Megan Stoltz, Christopher Koper, and Amber Scherer (2019, this issue) conduct a narra-

tive review of 70 empirical BWCstudies, a 14-fold increase since my original review in 2014. Clearly,

researchers have worked hard to keep up with the diffusion of BWCs!

Lum et al.'s (2019) article is valuable for several reasons. First, it is difficult for police practition-

ers and researchers to keep track of the rapidly growing body of research. It seems like new studies

are published every week. Some studies are widely publicized and disseminated (e.g., Yokum, Rav-

ishankar, and Coppock's [2017] Washington, DC, study), whereas others only appear in obscure or

limited access academic journals. Lum et al. provide a comprehensive compendium of BWC studies

as of fall 2018. It is now the go-to resource for the latest in BWC research.

Second, the early BWC studies werefocused almost exclusively on the impact of cameras on use of

force and citizen complaints, and the findings reported in those studies were unanimously positive. As

the evidence base has grown over the last few years, researchers have focused on a much larger set of

outcomes, and the findings have become increasingly mixed. Lum et al. (2019) review and critically

assess the available evidence, and they note positive findings have emerged in many studies across

different outcomes:

“Officers seem supportive of BWCs, particularly as they gain more experience with

them.”

“BWCs seem to reduce complaints against officers.”

“BWCs may curb some of the worst police behaviors.”

Criminology & Public Policy. 2019;18:89–91. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/capp © 2019 American Society of Criminology 89