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 improve the high-quality public service expected of police officers and promote the perceived legitimacy and sense of procedural justice that communities have about their police departments. Furthermore, departments that are already deploying body-worn cameras tell us that the presence of cameras often improves the performance of officers as well as the conduct of the community members who are recorded" (p. v). Three chapters comprise this report: perceived benefits of body-worn cameras; considerations for implementation; and body-worn camera recommendations. An appendix provides a Recommendations Matrix.