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Thread: Body-worn video: LE use in the USA?

  1. #21
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    I wonder how much this will adversely effect command latitude for police officers?

    Is there potential something meant to help will actually hurt?

    Will officers be reluctant to use personal judgement and latitude when everything is recorded?

  2. #22
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Three questions about body-worn video: my UK answers

    Quote Originally Posted by flagg View Post
    I wonder how much this will adversely effect command latitude for police officers?
    I don't think anyone really knows. The UK police have a habit of one police force (we only have 43 in England & Wales) adapting a new piece of kit, within a short time everyone else follows suit. Rarely is there a proper evaluation after deployment, let alone an independent one. There is a Home Office (Interior Dept) technology / scientific assessment process before deployment and in the last few years an ethical assessment has arrived in a few places.

    Is there potential something meant to help will actually hurt?
    Yes. We should recognise we are in the so-called 'digital age' and for at least twenty years here live audio and or visual recordings are seen by virtually everyone as essential. No video can become no evidence.

    Body-worn video (BWV) is an extension of this. I doubt many would advocate the removal of in-car video systems (although in the UK only a small proportion of patrol vehicles have them).

    I do wonder whether every member of the public will want their presence, let alone engagement with the police recorded. They also become potential witnesses for clever, aggressive criminals and lawyers to pursue.

    So if a citizen wants to help how do they say to an officer "Turn video off now, then I will help" and will official rules allow this?

    Will officers be reluctant to use personal judgement and latitude when everything is recorded?
    Maybe, especially where targets apply or a top-down emphasis exists. In the UK personal discretion has steadily been eroded; yes, discretion has been wrong exercised too.
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  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    I don't think anyone really knows. The UK police have a habit of one police force (we only have 43 in England & Wales) adapting a new piece of kit, within a short time everyone else follows suit. Rarely is there a proper evaluation after deployment, let alone an independent one. There is a Home Office (Interior Dept) technology / scientific assessment process before deployment and in the last few years an ethical assessment has arrived in a few places.



    Yes. We should recognise we are in the so-called 'digital age' and for at least twenty years here live audio and or visual recordings are seen by virtually everyone as essential. No video can become no evidence.

    Body-worn video (BWV) is an extension of this. I doubt many would advocate the removal of in-car video systems (although in the UK only a small proportion of patrol vehicles have them).

    I do wonder whether every member of the public will want their presence, let alone engagement with the police recorded. They also become potential witnesses for clever, aggressive criminals and lawyers to pursue.

    So if a citizen wants to help how do they say to an officer "Turn video off now, then I will help" and will official rules allow this?



    Maybe, especially where targets apply or a top-down emphasis exists. In the UK personal discretion has steadily been eroded; yes, discretion has been wrong exercised too.
    Thanks for that.

    My biggest issue comes down to what I perceive(worst case scenario) as front line Policing turning in the direction of video equipped "meat robots".

    The only thing missing being an audio feed connected to a Mumbai call centre with a customer service decision tree.

    When it comes to Policing, I think there is nothing more important than well informed and well equipped Police at the coal face.

    I see a day coming soon where the average Police patrol car in 1st world countries is equipped to automatically track and prioritize work for the Police driver/passenger.

    I don't even have a problem with a Police "smart car" automatically issuing speeding, expired rego, expired warrant, expired insurance type of citations recorded and tracked on the road by a "smart car".

    The idea of a "smart car" automatically prioritizing a suspected wanted felon in a vehicle over an expired vehicle warrant is a valid one in my opinion.

    But I don't like the idea of the risks and behavior change that might come with BWV.

    While I see persistent surveillance of great use in both protecting the individual Police officer and the public, I see the risk of a further divide between Police and the public with the potential loss of discretion.

    I reckon if Police lose individual discretion then they will lose positive perception of Police by the public....individual by individual.

    I'm concerned it could become more transactional and less transformational.

  4. #24
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    Default Not so fast, say researchers

    Well, well someone is asking where is the evidence. An article from The Guardian, with many links:http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...ner?CMP=twt_gu

    Citing Michael D White, an Arizona State University criminology professor:
    Although advocates and critics have made numerous claims regarding body-worn cameras, there have been few balanced discussions of the benefits and problems associated with the technology and even fewer discussions of the empirical evidence supporting or refuting those claims...e. The overwhelming theme from this review is the lack of available research on the technology.
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  5. #25
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    Default Cameras change the justice system

    Body worn video cameras for the UK police are spreading fast, although locally a number of issues remain unclear and no-one wants to hear that several US police departments, Seattle PD IIRC being one, baulked at the cost of storage.

    As if on cue here is a laudatory press article, but it does draw attention to some of the issues:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a6905691.html
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  6. #26
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    Default Two very different reports

    A report from Cambridge University, based on data from four UK police forces and two in the USA:
    Police body cameras can dramatically reduce the number of complaints against officers, research suggests. The Cambridge University study showed complaints by members of the public against officers fell by 93% over 12 months compared with the year before. Almost 2,000 officers across four UK forces and two US police departments were monitored for the project.
    The author is cited:
    I cannot think of any [other] single intervention in the history of policing that dramatically changed the way that officers behave, the way that suspects behave, and the way they interact with each other.

    Once [the public] are aware they are being recorded, once they know that everything they do is caught on tape, they will undoubtedly change their behaviour because they don't want to get into trouble. Individual officers become more accountable, and modify their behaviour accordingly, while the more disingenuous complaints from the public fall by the wayside once footage is likely to reveal them as frivolous.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37502136

    Taking a very different stance based on practice in the USA 'Atlantic' weighs in:
    recent events subvert the idea that the devices help or increase the power of regular people—that is, the policed. Instead of making officers more accountable and transparent to the public, body cameras may be making officers and departments more powerful than they were before.
    Link:http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...werful/502421/
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 10-05-2016 at 05:22 PM. Reason: 16,004v
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  7. #27
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    Default Body Worn Camera resource

    Discovered this website after a Tweet on a new academic article on the impact on video: 'Exploring the Potential for Body-Worn Cameras to Reduce Violence in Police–Citizen Encounters and it is American.'
    Added as a potential resource.
    Link:http://www.bwctta.com/
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-19-2018 at 01:25 PM. Reason: Thread was closed and had 32,886v up 16k since last post.
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  8. #28
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    Default Body worn cameras thanks to Taser

    An article from the New Yorker on policing in the era of body worn video cameras alongside Taser. It is clearly dependent on Taser, now Axon's help, but does cover many of he issues.
    Link:https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...-police-abuse?
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 08-21-2018 at 10:08 AM. Reason: 40,527v up 8k since last post
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  9. #29
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    Default Police Body Cameras Aren't Having the Effects Many Expected

    An article that reflects the mainly US experience and sub-titled:
    What’s likely the most comprehensive review of research on body cameras shows that they're most often used to prosecute citizens, not police. And while they've led to fewer citizen complaints, their impact on other aspects of policing, such as use of force, is less certain.

    That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University.
    Link:https://www.governing.com/topics/pub...gmu-study.html

    I have amended the thread's title to reflect the change from head to body-worn video (BWV).
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-28-2019 at 03:28 PM. Reason: 43,924v today
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