Technology in Corrections - Body Cameras
Body-Worn Cameras for Criminal Justice: Market Survey, Version 1.0
"The use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) by criminal justice practitioners (e.g., patrol, corrections, SWAT and other tactical responders) offers potential advantages in keeping officers safe, enabling situational awareness, improving community relations and accountability, and providing evidence for trial. These products are also sometimes called officer-worn or wearable cameras. In the last couple of years, there has been a dramatic increase in the criminal justice use, public and media attention and commercial offerings of BWCs. This market survey report aggregates and...
Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned
"The recent emergence of body-worn cameras has already had an impact on policing, and this impact will only increase as more agencies adopt this technology. The decision to implement body-worn cameras should not be entered into lightly. Once an agency goes down the road of deploying body-worn cameras-and once the public comes to expect the availability of video records-it will become increasingly difficult to have second thoughts or to scale back a body-worn camera program ... Body-worn cameras can help...
Equipment and Technology Research on Body-Worn Cameras and Law Enforcement
"To date, little research is available to help law enforcement executives decide whether and how to implement the use of body-worn cameras in their departments." This website provides access to information that will help in making these decisions. Topics discussed on this website are organized according to: research on body-worn cameras and law enforcement; ongoing NIJ-funded research on body-worn cameras; Primer on Body-Worn Cameras for Law Enforcement; market survey of body-worn cameras for criminal justice; and other resources.
Police Body-Worn Cameras (BWCs)
If you want a great source for information body-worn cameras (BWC's), then this is the place. Links are organized according to: model and specimen policies; reports and studies; legislation and interpretations; general litigation; privacy issues; Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and litigation; training documents; scholarly articles; disciplinary actions; eavesdropping laws; and selected links.
Body-Worn Video Cameras for Law Enforcement Assessment Report
Correctional agencies will find this information very valuable. "The purpose of this assessment was to obtain information on body-worn video cameras that will be useful in making operational and procurement decisions. The activities associated with this assessment were based on recommendations from a focus group of emergency responders with experience using body-worn video cameras" (p. vi). Evaluation criteria consisted of affordability, capability, deployability, maintainability, and usability. Seven products are assessed: Safety Vision LLC Prima Facie Body Camera; TASER International Inc...
Body-Worn Camera Toolkit
"This toolkit is a comprehensive clearinghouse for criminal justice practitioners interested in planning and implementing a body-worn camera program in an effort to strengthen community trust and confidence in the justice system and improve officer and community safety."
Each entry point begins with a description of that section and a video from the series "Subject Matter Experts Share".
Points of entry to this website are:
- getting started-
- "Toolkit Welcome Message" from Denise O'Donnell
implementation, - "Law Enforcement Implementation...
- "Toolkit Welcome Message" from Denise O'Donnell
The Technology Advantage: Using Shoulder Mounted Cameras Within a Detention Facility (2013)
"SOG Operators wear shoulder-mounted body cameras to record their moves and the actions of their partners. Because the SOG Operators work in assigned partner teams, the agency gains two recordings of each incident that show different angles and views. The cameras record good-quality audio and capture rapidly unfolding events better than the handheld versions we previously used. This unique, hands-free method of camera carrying accommodates wearers of all shapes and sizes and enables each operator to more easily film the incident and not the back of someone’s head"
Why all COs should wear body cameras (2014)
"We have all asked the question, what if? Life is full of what if choices. Each of those choices will make or break us. Asking what if questions can squander opportunities or challenge us to ponder an issue before it comes to pass. Which brings me to the point of this article: what if correctional staff were equipped with personal body cameras?"
Maryland county equips some detention officers with body cameras (2016)
"As in-jail deaths such as those of Sandra Bland in Texas and Natasha McKenna in Virginia’s Fairfax County attract the same scrutiny as police-involved fatalities, a growing number of agencies nationwide are bringing body cameras behind bars. It is the latest bid to improve transparency in law enforcement and takes the devices into a world where interactions almost always happen away from the public eye."
Research on Body-Worn Cameras and Law Enforcement (2017)
"Overview of Body-Worn Camera Use by Law Enforcement: In a sample of police departments surveyed in 2013, approximately 75 percent of them reported that they did not use body-worn cameras. The survey was funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)"
A Primer on Body Worn Camera Technologies (2016)
"A Primer on Body-Worn Camera Technology provides information to agency policymakers concerning considerations - including policy and training considerations— for integrating body-worn cameras into current systems and the legal implications associated with adoption of body-worn cameras. It also provides a summary of the information found in A Market Survey on Body-Worn Camera Technologies."
A Market Survey on Body Worn Camera Technologies (2016)
"A Market Survey on Body-Worn Camera Technologies provides a landscape view of the claimed key attributes of 66 commercially available body-worn camera models offered by 38 vendors and four stand-alone body-worn camera video management software systems. APL developed the information contained in this survey primarily through an Internet search, supplemented by a request for information published in the Federal Register and outreach to vendors. The attributes considered in the report include, but are not limited to: suggested retail price, weight and dimensions; capability of the body-worn camera to record footage in low light; size and weight; capability to record audio...
The Milwaukee Police Department’s Body-Worn Camera Program (2018)
Evaluation Findings and Key Takeaways
This brief describes the results of the Urban Institute’s evaluation of the Milwaukee Police Department’s body-worn camera program. From October 2015 to December 2016, the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) deployed body-worn cameras (BWCs) in a phased rollout to all of its roughly 1,100 patrol officers. Through a randomized controlled trial of 504 officers, the Urban Institute found that those who wore BWCs conducted fewer subject stops and were less likely to receive a complaint than officers that did not receive cameras. However, BWCs had no effect on whether officers engaged in use of force during...
NCSL - Body-Worn Camera Laws Database
Body-worn cameras are recording devices police officers wear as part of their uniforms to document what they see as they perform their duties. Body cameras continue to be a significant focus for state law makers as they consider and enact legislation to address police-community relations. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia have created laws for body cameras.
Research on Body‐Worn Cameras (2019)
"...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...