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Experiment on the effect of body-worn cameras on police use-of-force (2013) [pdf]

52 points by cmsefton 12y ago

dang 12y ago
Url changed from http://www.scribd.com/doc/130767873/Self-awareness-to-being-watched-and-socially-desirable-behavior-A-field-experiment-on-the-effect-of-body-worn-cameras-on-police-use-of-force http://www.scribd.com/doc/130767873/Self-awareness-to-being-.... A related article that fell through the cracks on HN last year: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/wearable-video-cameras-for-police-officers.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/wearable-video-ca....
justizin 12y ago
"Importantly, there are still somewhat similar cases taking place, despite efforts to stop such behavior through better training and prosecution of rogue officers." Is this an Onion University study? Anyway, seriously, while I love the idea of body worn cameras for police officers, in practice they are in control of whether the camera is recording or not, and tend to 'forget' to turn their cameras on more often than not.
- conkrete 12y ago
  I would think with current technology, an always-recording system could be put into place at a fairly low cost. Certainly an interesting idea for anyone looking for a new starup idea involving cameras and bullet proof vests.
  - harlanlewis 12y ago
    Indeed. The Ferguson police in fact have a couple dashboard cameras and body cameras for officers to wear, however none have been installed due to the $3k/per expense (no link, easy to google). It's staggering how low accountability is on law enforcement's priority list, especially given the amount of money available for "crowd control" military hardware.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - fnimick 12y ago
      Of course accountability isn't a priority. Their priority is to arrest and detain as many people as they can, and being accountable might cut into their revenue.
    - thaumasiotes 12y ago
      > It's staggering how low accountability is on law enforcement's priority list Huh? Why would they want to be accountable? Accountability would be a priority of the populace.
      - harlanlewis 12y ago
        Priorities can be mandated. Dealing with externally-set priorities is a fairly regular subject on this very forum (damn you, marketing!). No government agency should be solely responsible for selecting what is and is not its job.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    With the police unions fighting it every step of the way. I think the effort is better spent making the equipment reliable and easy to use, and then making it widely available. Then when an officer chooses not to use it, you can ask them why they made that choice. People might believe lots of things the first few thousand times, but eventually it will make the officer look pretty bad if they walked into an adverse situation without their documentation device running. I also sort of like that this preserves some discretion for the officer; if I can't trust them to have a reasonable amount of discretion, I don't think I can trust them at all, and I don't think technology is going to help me with that.
    - thaumasiotes 12y ago
      > People might believe lots of things the first few thousand times, but eventually it will make the officer look pretty bad if they walked into an adverse situation without their documentation device running. This isn't some hypothetical about the future. What you describe is very common today, with no loss of credibility having attached to the police.
      - maxerickson 12y ago
        No, I'm pretty sure police don't have universal access to (reliable, effective) recording devices. I'm also pretty sure that large segments of the population don't trust them at all.
- mrslx 12y ago
  I wonder how the police measure their 'shifts', maybe a rule change to make it on-by-default and timed breaks with auto switch on after 20 min of 'off time' for bathroom breaks etc, during this time the officer should be considered 'not on duty' hence cannot respond to incidents. they are required to document things, why not step up to technology and use everything else available? i'm sure there was similar complaints when notebooks and reports became a requirement... hopefully momentum switches.
- JshWright 12y ago
  The cameras worn by the cops in my town are integrated with a base station in their patrol car. It activates when they are more than a few feet from the base station (inside this range, they are presumably in range of the dash cam, at least for audio), and automatically uploads the recording when they return.
harlanlewis 12y ago
There's a petition for officers to wear cameras on petitions.whitehouse.gov that's rapidly approaching the required signature count: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/mike-brown-law-requires-all-state-county-and-local-police-wear-camera/8tlS5czf https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/mike-brown-law-req... It will be interesting to see how some of the access / privacy details are worked out. For example, the mike Brown shooting happened on a public street, but what if it had happened in a private residence? Would the police recording be publicly available? Edit: There are also innumerable instances of police providing damaged, incorrect, or no footage at all even of events that were filmed. The Ferguson police, after beating a handcuffed man in a jail cell and then charging him for destruction of property for getting blood on their uniforms (no link, easy to google), submitted jail footage that was a) 12x speed, rendering it useless, and b) of a different time than the incident. Simply capturing video is not enough, it must be stored and later provisioned by a 3rd party.
- kasey_junk 12y ago
  I'm no constitutional expert, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how the federal government could possibly have the authority this sort of law would require.
  - aliakbarkhan 12y ago
    Couldn't they do like they did with drinking age laws and restrict federal road/other funding to jurisdictions that don't implement police camera programs?
    - kasey_junk 12y ago
      Sure, but that's not what the petition is asking for. It's asking for federal legislation to require it. Also, the police are going to fight cameras tooth and nail. Major demographics from both parties are going to be mobilized (unions & crime hawks). The liquor laws were much more sympathetic and even they took a long time for full federal compliance.
TDL 12y ago
A simple law mandating that all officers wear body cams is probably not going to be all that effective. As another commentor mentioned, it's not real clear how this could be handled at the federal level. The threat of these cams being turned off is real and there will need to be laws to mete out punishment if it happens (which will be incredibly difficult.) All that being said, this is probably a good step in raising awareness of the usefulness of body cams. http://www.fox8live.com/story/26283883/officer-involved-in-monday-shooting-had-body-cam-turned-off http://www.fox8live.com/story/26283883/officer-involved-in-m...
JshWright 12y ago
The cops in my town wear cameras. I also happen to be a firefighter/paramedic in my town. This has given me a reason to ponder these cameras quite a bit... It's not uncommon for me to be in someone's house, while they are in some sort state that they would probably not want to have recorded (if someone is having a heart attack at 2 in the morning, they are not generally concerned about the fact that they sleep naked). Now you have a situation where a cop with a camera is walking into the room... Most folks don't even realize it's there (it's black, and blends in with their uniform pretty well). Should the LEO disclose he's wearing a camera? "Hey, I notice you just fell in the shower and are naked, soaking wet, and in an awkward position. Just FYI... I'm wearing a camera." This doesn't even begin to cover the HIPAA implications... In general, I'm very much in favor of cameras on cops. I think it helps keep everyone on their best behavior in potentially confrontational situations. That being said... I have been in situations where the presence of the camera has made me very uncomfortable.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > This doesn't even begin to cover the HIPAA implications... HIPAA doesn't generally apply to LEOs -- who are not covered entities (either health care providers nor payers) in the first place, so there probably aren't any HIPAA implications.
  - JshWright 12y ago
    Probably... What if one of the cops who shows up happens to also be a part-time firefighter/paramedic, and lends a hand with patient care? What if the agency they occasionally work with is the agency that is providing care? Lines start to get blurrier... (This is a real world scenario that is not uncommon for us) Obviously the mere existence of the recording is still a long way from a violation, but I do find it troublesome at times...
    - learc83 12y ago
      >What if one of the cops who shows up happens to also be a part-time firefighter/paramedic, and lends a hand with patient care? Probably the same thing that happens if a cop with a dashcam shows up to a traffic accident. I don't know what it is that happens exactly, but it's a pretty common occurrence, so it seems likely that this scenario isn't that big of a problem.
BrandonMarc 12y ago
Relevant, from Schenier: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/04/police_disablin.html https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/04/police_disabl... TL;DR - Voice recorders installed in police cars, and after a time it was found that a significant number of the recorders were missing or tampered with. Go figure. Playing devils' advocate, though ... it's far too easy to criticize in hindsight what happens in a split second, both sides potentially fueled by a combination of fear and adrenaline.
- ricree 12y ago
  One could just as easily say that about a great many crimes.

52 points by cmsefton 12y ago

dang 12y ago

Url changed from http://www.scribd.com/doc/130767873/Self-awareness-to-being-watched-and-socially-desirable-behavior-A-field-experiment-on-the-effect-of-body-worn-cameras-on-police-use-of-force http://www.scribd.com/doc/130767873/Self-awareness-to-being-.... A related article that fell through the cracks on HN last year: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/wearable-video-cameras-for-police-officers.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/wearable-video-ca....

justizin 12y ago

"Importantly, there are still somewhat similar cases taking place, despite efforts to stop such behavior through better training and prosecution of rogue officers." Is this an Onion University study? Anyway, seriously, while I love the idea of body worn cameras for police officers, in practice they are in control of whether the camera is recording or not, and tend to 'forget' to turn their cameras on more often than not.

conkrete 12y ago
I would think with current technology, an always-recording system could be put into place at a fairly low cost. Certainly an interesting idea for anyone looking for a new starup idea involving cameras and bullet proof vests.
- harlanlewis 12y ago
  Indeed. The Ferguson police in fact have a couple dashboard cameras and body cameras for officers to wear, however none have been installed due to the $3k/per expense (no link, easy to google). It's staggering how low accountability is on law enforcement's priority list, especially given the amount of money available for "crowd control" military hardware.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - fnimick 12y ago
    Of course accountability isn't a priority. Their priority is to arrest and detain as many people as they can, and being accountable might cut into their revenue.
  - thaumasiotes 12y ago
    > It's staggering how low accountability is on law enforcement's priority list Huh? Why would they want to be accountable? Accountability would be a priority of the populace.
    - harlanlewis 12y ago
      Priorities can be mandated. Dealing with externally-set priorities is a fairly regular subject on this very forum (damn you, marketing!). No government agency should be solely responsible for selecting what is and is not its job.
- maxerickson 12y ago
  With the police unions fighting it every step of the way. I think the effort is better spent making the equipment reliable and easy to use, and then making it widely available. Then when an officer chooses not to use it, you can ask them why they made that choice. People might believe lots of things the first few thousand times, but eventually it will make the officer look pretty bad if they walked into an adverse situation without their documentation device running. I also sort of like that this preserves some discretion for the officer; if I can't trust them to have a reasonable amount of discretion, I don't think I can trust them at all, and I don't think technology is going to help me with that.
  - thaumasiotes 12y ago
    > People might believe lots of things the first few thousand times, but eventually it will make the officer look pretty bad if they walked into an adverse situation without their documentation device running. This isn't some hypothetical about the future. What you describe is very common today, with no loss of credibility having attached to the police.
    - maxerickson 12y ago
      No, I'm pretty sure police don't have universal access to (reliable, effective) recording devices. I'm also pretty sure that large segments of the population don't trust them at all.
mrslx 12y ago
I wonder how the police measure their 'shifts', maybe a rule change to make it on-by-default and timed breaks with auto switch on after 20 min of 'off time' for bathroom breaks etc, during this time the officer should be considered 'not on duty' hence cannot respond to incidents. they are required to document things, why not step up to technology and use everything else available? i'm sure there was similar complaints when notebooks and reports became a requirement... hopefully momentum switches.
JshWright 12y ago
The cameras worn by the cops in my town are integrated with a base station in their patrol car. It activates when they are more than a few feet from the base station (inside this range, they are presumably in range of the dash cam, at least for audio), and automatically uploads the recording when they return.

harlanlewis 12y ago

There's a petition for officers to wear cameras on petitions.whitehouse.gov that's rapidly approaching the required signature count: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/mike-brown-law-requires-all-state-county-and-local-police-wear-camera/8tlS5czf https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/mike-brown-law-req... It will be interesting to see how some of the access / privacy details are worked out. For example, the mike Brown shooting happened on a public street, but what if it had happened in a private residence? Would the police recording be publicly available? Edit: There are also innumerable instances of police providing damaged, incorrect, or no footage at all even of events that were filmed. The Ferguson police, after beating a handcuffed man in a jail cell and then charging him for destruction of property for getting blood on their uniforms (no link, easy to google), submitted jail footage that was a) 12x speed, rendering it useless, and b) of a different time than the incident. Simply capturing video is not enough, it must be stored and later provisioned by a 3rd party.

kasey_junk 12y ago
I'm no constitutional expert, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how the federal government could possibly have the authority this sort of law would require.
- aliakbarkhan 12y ago
  Couldn't they do like they did with drinking age laws and restrict federal road/other funding to jurisdictions that don't implement police camera programs?
  - kasey_junk 12y ago
    Sure, but that's not what the petition is asking for. It's asking for federal legislation to require it. Also, the police are going to fight cameras tooth and nail. Major demographics from both parties are going to be mobilized (unions & crime hawks). The liquor laws were much more sympathetic and even they took a long time for full federal compliance.

TDL 12y ago

A simple law mandating that all officers wear body cams is probably not going to be all that effective. As another commentor mentioned, it's not real clear how this could be handled at the federal level. The threat of these cams being turned off is real and there will need to be laws to mete out punishment if it happens (which will be incredibly difficult.) All that being said, this is probably a good step in raising awareness of the usefulness of body cams. http://www.fox8live.com/story/26283883/officer-involved-in-monday-shooting-had-body-cam-turned-off http://www.fox8live.com/story/26283883/officer-involved-in-m...

JshWright 12y ago

The cops in my town wear cameras. I also happen to be a firefighter/paramedic in my town. This has given me a reason to ponder these cameras quite a bit... It's not uncommon for me to be in someone's house, while they are in some sort state that they would probably not want to have recorded (if someone is having a heart attack at 2 in the morning, they are not generally concerned about the fact that they sleep naked). Now you have a situation where a cop with a camera is walking into the room... Most folks don't even realize it's there (it's black, and blends in with their uniform pretty well). Should the LEO disclose he's wearing a camera? "Hey, I notice you just fell in the shower and are naked, soaking wet, and in an awkward position. Just FYI... I'm wearing a camera." This doesn't even begin to cover the HIPAA implications... In general, I'm very much in favor of cameras on cops. I think it helps keep everyone on their best behavior in potentially confrontational situations. That being said... I have been in situations where the presence of the camera has made me very uncomfortable.

dragonwriter 12y ago
> This doesn't even begin to cover the HIPAA implications... HIPAA doesn't generally apply to LEOs -- who are not covered entities (either health care providers nor payers) in the first place, so there probably aren't any HIPAA implications.
- JshWright 12y ago
  Probably... What if one of the cops who shows up happens to also be a part-time firefighter/paramedic, and lends a hand with patient care? What if the agency they occasionally work with is the agency that is providing care? Lines start to get blurrier... (This is a real world scenario that is not uncommon for us) Obviously the mere existence of the recording is still a long way from a violation, but I do find it troublesome at times...
  - learc83 12y ago
    >What if one of the cops who shows up happens to also be a part-time firefighter/paramedic, and lends a hand with patient care? Probably the same thing that happens if a cop with a dashcam shows up to a traffic accident. I don't know what it is that happens exactly, but it's a pretty common occurrence, so it seems likely that this scenario isn't that big of a problem.

BrandonMarc 12y ago

Relevant, from Schenier: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/04/police_disablin.html https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/04/police_disabl... TL;DR - Voice recorders installed in police cars, and after a time it was found that a significant number of the recorders were missing or tampered with. Go figure. Playing devils' advocate, though ... it's far too easy to criticize in hindsight what happens in a split second, both sides potentially fueled by a combination of fear and adrenaline.

ricree 12y ago
One could just as easily say that about a great many crimes.