Body Cameras Decrease Police Violence. But What About the Public?

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

New evidence from the largest-yet series of experiments on use of body-worn cameras by police has revealed that rates of assault against police by members of the public actually increased when officers wore the cameras. The team of researchers from the University of Cambridge worked with eight police forces across the UK and US. The results were released across two articles published in the European Journal of Criminology and the Journal of Experimental Criminology.

The research also found that on average across all officer-hours studied, and contrary to current thinking, the rate of use-of-force by police on citizens was unchanged by the presence of body-worn cameras, but a deeper analysis of the data showed that this finding varied depending on whether or not officers chose when to turn cameras on. If officers turned cameras on and off during their shift then use-of-force increased, whereas if they kept the cameras rolling for their whole shift, use-of-force decreased.

According to Homeland Security News Wire,  the research team found that rates of assault against officers wearing cameras on their shift were an average of 15 percent higher, compared to shifts without cameras. The researchers say this could be due to officers feeling more able to report assaults once they are captured on camera – providing them the impetus and/or confidence to do so. The monitoring by camera also may make officers less assertive and more vulnerable to assault. However, they point out these are just possible explanations, and much more work is needed to unpick the reasons behind these surprising findings.

The study found that during shifts with cameras in which officers stuck closer to the protocol – requiring them to keep the cameras on and record all stages of interaction with the public – police use-of-force fell by 37 percent over camera-free shifts. During shifts in which officers tended to use their discretion, police use-of-force actually rose 71% over camera-free shifts.  

The new results are the latest to come from the research team since their ground-breaking work reporting the first experimental evidence on body-worn cameras – a study widely-cited as part of the rationale for huge investment in this policing technology.