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Do Police Body Cameras Really Work?
- aab0 10y ago> In places where they closely followed the instructions (use the camera during each encounter if you’re in a treatment group; don’t use it if you’re in a control group), the results were positive—a 37 percent reduction in use of force on average. But if you allow the treatment group discretion to choose when to turn it on, the result is 71 percent greater use of force. Thus the problem seems to arise mainly when officers are allowed to turn cameras on at times of their own choosing. And suddenly, Brin's _The Transparent Society_ comes flooding back to memory.
- fossuser 10y agoThat quote seems to counter the 'nobody knows why' in the article subtitle. If it backfires when Police can choose to turn them off that seems to suggest that they act as if having a camera protects them from being questioned. Since they'll likely record video evidence in their favor and just turn it off if they want to use force. In the case with no camera things would be more balanced (though still skewed toward the police officer's testimony), but selective camera use strongly biases favorably to the police officer. A camera that's always on should help get closer to the truth for the officer and the suspect.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- joshmn 10y agoI bet the failure rates on these things are incredibly high!
- spideronwall 10y agohttps://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160127/archer-heights/whats-behind-no-sound-syndrome-on-chicago-police-dashcams https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160127/archer-heights/what... Chicago Police do have a hight audio failure rate
- Spooky23 10y agoA: We don't know, and the number of self interested parties pushing them will make it difficult to tell. Everyone from Microsoft to various attorneys and activists are drooling over these things, because the one thing that is certain is that they will generate lots of revenue and create lots of litigation.
- woodman 10y agoHow are the cameras going to create more litigation? It seems to me that the officers would welcome evidence that would protect them from false accusations... although, as it is now they already have the advantage in a he-said-she-said situation. I can imagine that is an advantage that one would want to keep. They also have the opportunity to demonstrate how all the militarization is justified, or at the very least flood the media with footage of righteous kills in order to counter the latest story of somebody getting shot who shouldn't have been shot.
- Spooky23 10y agoMost litigation isn't about people wrongfully killed or injured (which is pretty rare) -- it's about things like employee disputes, time abuse, workers compensation and other, less exciting things.
- peterkshultz 10y agoThere's an interactive piece from the New York Times that discusses this same idea: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/01/us/police-bodycam-video.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/01/us/police-body...
- darawk 10y agoGiving someone discretion over when to monitor themselves causing an increase in violence seems pretty obvious to me. If I have to choose prior to an encounter "do I want this camera on?" and I choose "no", I have just reminded myself that I can act with impunity. I have just called to my own attention all the things I can get away with because no one will see it. Not only that, but I have also made a small conscious choice to defend myself from scrutiny. Which to me, seems like a small psychological commitment towards doing something bad.
- dogma1138 10y agoNot if every case in which it does would be scrutinized even more than usual. Body cams are good but they like any other camera fail often at capturing the context, they work and fail at the same time since even the slightest sign of hostility and lack of cooperation can and is used by the police as justification. The problem is way beyond what cameras can do, if you train your police to be bouncers rather than social workers you'll get violence.
- lrem 10y agoThat's why some jurisdictions implement "guilty until proven innocent" against their police force, making turning off the camera (or "not noticing it just broke") and proceeding to beat someone up a rather bad idea.
- mtgx 10y agoThere should at least be a bias against the officer's word from the judge and the jury if he intentionally stopped the camera from filming before a police action. As it is, cops already get the benefit of the doubt almost all the time and when they don't deserve it.
- Eridrus 10y agoDo you have a source for this? I'm curious where they managed to institute this
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- I_HALF_CATS 10y agoPoliticians and legislators should be the ones wearing body cameras.
- nkurz 10y agoHere’s where better technology could help. Body cameras could be automatically activated immediately when certain cues are triggered, such as when the officer enters a crime hot spot, leaves a police vehicle, takes out handcuffs or a weapon, turns on the siren, or makes a call for assistance on the radio. This way, the officer doesn’t have to think about activating the body camera in a tense situation. I'd taken it for granted that a police body camera would not require manual activation. I'd also assumed that they should be always on. Is there really need for better technology here, as opposed to just a change of political will?
- mistermann 10y agoIt's probably hard to close a sale if they can't be deactivated on demand.
- ktRolster 10y agoI'd also assumed that they should be always on. Is there really need for better technology here, as opposed to just a change of political will? I think you can easily fit a day's worth of video on an 8GB ssd, so I'd think the problem here is not really technological. Although storing that much video is a pain.
- DINKDINK 10y ago>I think you can easily fit a day's worth of video on an 8GB ssd I'm not a video expert but 8GB seems drastically inadequate for meaningful resolution / frame rate. I estimate roughly 291 Kbps which does allow you much resolution / frame rate.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- chx 10y agoLet's simply take what Netflix recommends: 3 megabit / second for HD video, that means 32GB for 24 hours. Not too bad given you can get a 32GB microSD for below $10.
- geggam 10y agoThe police have created an environment where the people on the street know they are going to come in with overwhelming force. The police have created an environment where everyone fears any interaction with the police because if the officer is scared they can and will kill you. With no consequences for the police. The police turn on the cameras and expect people to suddenly forget the above. Wont happen. Paybacks on the police will be taken by certain individuals if they are given a chance. Frankly all public servants should be required to have a camera running at all times when they are working. If a cop is carrying his weapon he isn't off duty and should have his camera running.
- Colin_M 10y ago"Frankly all public servants should be required to have a camera running at all times when they are working." Fine, but be prepared for the first-person video of me taking a piss in some conveniently placed foliage because I'm on a mail route with no bathrooms.
- geggam 10y agowell... im assuming you are more showered than the homeless bum i have to walk around pissing on market street most mornings ?
- JshWright 10y agoIt would be a HIPAA/data retention nightmare for certain classes of public servants (namely public EMS services)
- alexandercrohde 10y agoI think this article overlooks the multitude of benefits of body cameras. Sure, according to some research they may not reduce violence. But reducing he-said she-said situations can make a much better legal situation.
- rsync 10y agoKilling someone is more serious than tampering with evidence. If it is claimed (and it is) that police officers sometimes kill people and get away with it, it's easy to conclude that they can also get away with tampering with evidence. Therefore, I believe it's easy to conclude that body cameras will do nothing at all to curb the instances of police getting away with killing people. Get ready for "malfunctioning and/or obstructed" cameras.
- brobinson 10y ago>Get ready for "malfunctioning and/or obstructed" cameras. This is sadly already happening. https://www.google.com/#q=police+turn+off+body+camera https://www.google.com/#q=police+turn+off+body+camera
- rtpg 10y agoIf you, as a police officer, are in court because somebody died in an altercation with you, and the camera was obstructed/destroyed, and there are any eyewitnesses at all that will testify to your bad behaviour, you are toast. Most juries will assume you destroyed evidence out of malice, and the prosecution will go for that.
- tamana 10y agoNot when prosecution is a collegial DA who uses the missing video as a lack of evidence and declines to press charges.
- chillwaves 10y agoDo you have any examples of this happening? Because there are multiple examples of the opposite. The boy shot in Ohio with the toy gun is one, off the top of my head. I am sure there are many more.
- alexandercrohde 10y agoThat sounds rather defeatist, not to mention contradictory to the evidence presented by the article.
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- Qantourisc 10y agoBodycam rules: - Footage where a only a small portion of the siltation is visible should be taken with a serious grain of salt. - They only work properly when you have 2 cops: there has to be one "recording" from a distance, at an objective angle. - Bodycams should not have an off function. If it was off or disabled somehow, this should reduce the police its credibility to probably below the defended.
- nihonde 10y agoIt bothers me that those cameras aren't self-centering on the horizon line. So much of the footage is of the wearer's feet or (if they're fat) the sky.
- hackaflocka 10y agoIf they reduce even one case of potential police brutality, then they work.
- blisterpeanuts 10y agoThat's only valid if they also don't result in police avoiding confrontations with bad characters.
- clockwerx 10y agoI find the interoperation problems of software alarming - you would think open source tools would grow in use at some point, even if just the basics (ie: postgres/postgis, or tools dumping csv out to other tools, or one or two REST apis).
- intrasight 10y agoFuture Americans will look back on this era were police are judge, jury, and executioner and say "what a primitive and violent society we once were".
- michaelbuddy 10y agomore like. "wow we figured out how to detect and rewire malevolent brain dysfunction through technology, so police were no longer needed."
- blisterpeanuts 10y agoFuture Americans will, I hope, look back and say, what primitive and violent people the police had to deal with. Fortunately we today in the 22nd Century provide excellent education and intervention services for children at risk, so that they don't grow up to become criminals.
- blisterpeanuts 10y agoBody cams as a required accessory for police work is a terrible idea that will have very bad unintended consequences. The very notion that you need to be monitored constantly during your shift to ensure you behave as you were trained to is demeaning and insulting. We trust LEO's to carry loaded guns, mace, tasers, and other weaponry, and we expect them to risk their lives in the line of work, yet we also don't trust them enough to do their jobs honestly and professionally. If we can't trust our law enforcement personnel to do their jobs without constant video surveillance, sometimes under very difficult circumstances amidst a hostile civilian population for example in the ghetto areas, then we basically can't trust them at all and should find a different model for controlling (or ignoring) criminal behavior. The ongoing slowdown in police activity in the ghetto areas of Baltimore, Chicago, etc., and the accompanying uptick in violent crime should be a sobering indication of what's in store if we tell our police, "We don't trust you and we blame you if anything goes wrong, now get out there and risk your lives for us." Put yourself in their shoes and think on this. "I'm honest, I have no reason to oppose video," you may claim from your safe, suburban sofa. But get out on the streets and deal with some of the tough customers they have to deal with, then let's hear how nice and proper you are. These characters only respect strength. If the police are hobbled and limited, they'll just laugh at them. I prefer the Giuliani model of police administration. Back the police force, give them the authority to stop and frisk, to pick people up for loitering or breaking windows (the "Broken Window" policy), to establish total control on the streets. Then the criminal element will be cowed and subdued, and the police will be confident and enthusiastic, and this whole issue of police feeling they have to overcompensate and work around the laws will go away because they'll be working with the community, working with the government toward the same goals.
- tpallarino 10y agoNice to see someone with an ounce of empathy on this site.
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- adeel4 10y agoHuman ingenuity will figure out a way to have it record in a way that doesnt incriminate the police officer.
- alricb 10y agoIt depends on whether the cameras are just for show (like most CCTV cameras) or whether the authorities actually care. In the Rialto experiment, the police chief was running the experiment as he was doing his master's degree with a prestigious university. In places with a long and proud history of police brutality, with a tradition of covering it up at the top levels, the cameras are going to be bought just for show. Soon after officers will realize this and go back to their old ways.
- moomin 10y agoEven when police have body cameras in the US, there are many problematic policies with them. Here's a short primer: http://www.joincampaignzero.org/film-the-police/ http://www.joincampaignzero.org/film-the-police/ Personal highlights: footage should not be under the control of the force, and officers should not be permitted to review it before giving statements.