Comments on: The Effect of Police Body-Worn Cameras

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 05:30:37 +0000

I am also sure that the public will not notice the cameras. That still doesn’t mean that the police department shouldn’t have a great body camera policy. I would like to see the District Attorney be in charge of storing the video evidence.

By: Alex J.

Alex J. — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 15:26:34 +0000

$#@! the Security Guards!

By: Space Nookie

Space Nookie — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 19:26:09 +0000

Personally, I’m skeptical that the general public would even be aware of the cameras.

By: Boonton

Boonton — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 16:22:36 +0000

On both sides perception is likely to be biased. An objective record like a camera does not always provide a solution to all disputed cases but it does put a cap on how far each sides’ narratives can stray from the truth.

Behavior can also change on both sides. A person might be less inclined to be aggressive towards police knowing the camera will capture him as the person starting the conflict, for example. That may result in both fewer complaints against cops and less use of force by cops even if the officer in question isn’t actually behaving better.

I think so far a good case has been made that both sides should agree on deploying cameras as much as possible and seeing what we learn from the results. I suspect reducing abuse and decreasing false complaints will only be the tip of the iceberg here. A lot might be learned by studying the hours of real life interactions by both average and cops that are exceptionally good and bad.

By: Toddy Cat

Toddy Cat — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 14:50:32 +0000

I don’t think that anybody thinks that false complaints are all of the story, but you will note that complaints dropped a lot more than did the use of force, which would indicate that false complaints are a more significant problem than abuse of force. No matter, as long as they do not make police less likely to enforce the law (a topic not dealt with here), cameras would seem to be an unalloyed good, for all concerned.

By: Boonton

Boonton — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 12:13:17 +0000

Only problem for someone who thinks false complaints are all or most of the story: If it was just that the camera deterred false complaints, then the overall use of force would not have changed so much.