From Ballotpedia

Leap to: navigation, search


Civil Liberties Policy Logo.png
Affirmative action
Affirmative action by state
Affirmative activeness and anti-bigotry laws
Federal campaign finance laws and regulations
Nonprofit regulation
Public Policy Logo-one line.png

Police trunk-worn cameras are "small video cameras—typically attached to an officer's clothing, helmet, or sunglasses—that tin capture, from an officer's betoken of view, video and audio recordings of activities, including traffic stops, arrests, searches, interrogations, and critical incidents such as officer-involved shootings." Proponents fence that constabulary body camera programs increase police accountability, thereby strengthening the public trust. Proponents in law enforcement besides say that torso cameras are helpful in show drove and protection. Opponents fence that these programs pose risks to private privacy, may hamper the efforts of police enforcement, and are costly.[1] [two]

HIGHLIGHTS

  • In 2016, 47 per centum "of the 15,328 general-purpose constabulary enforcement agencies in the United states of america had acquired body-worn cameras (BWCs)," according to the U.S. Department of Justice'south Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).[three]
  • In fall 2014, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles began pilot camera programs.[4]
  • A 2015 poll institute that 88 percent of Americans supported the use of police force body-worn cameras.[5]
  • Background

    History

    The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $23.2 million in grants "to aggrandize the employ of trunk-worn cameras and explore their bear upon."

    On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an eighteen-year-old resident of Ferguson, Missouri, was shot and killed by law officer Darren Wilson. At virtually noon on that day, Wilson observed Dark-brown and a friend on the street. Noting that Brownish matched the description of a suspect in a convenience store robbery, Wilson asked the two men to move to the sidewalk. An atmospherics reportedly ensued betwixt Wilson and Dark-brown. Ultimately, Wilson fired upon Chocolate-brown, who was unarmed. Brown did not survive.[6]

    According to the Washington Post, the events in Ferguson led to expanded use of law torso-worn cameras. On December two, 2014, President Barack Obama (D) proposed that the federal government reimburse localities half the cost of implementing body-worn camera programs. On September 21, 2015, Attorney Full general Loretta Lynch announced that the United States Department of Justice had disbursed $23.2 meg in grants "to aggrandize the use of body-worn cameras and explore their impact." The grants were given to 73 local agencies in 32 states.[four] [seven]

    According to the Washington Post, "Simply a few dozen departments, most of them small" had implemented body-worn photographic camera programs before 2014. In the backwash of the shooting in Ferguson, Washington, D.C., New York, and Los Angeles commenced pilot programs.[four]

    Usage

    In 2016, 47 percent "of the 15,328 general-purpose law enforcement agencies in the United States had acquired body-worn cameras (BWCs)," according to the U.Due south. Section of Justice'southward Agency of Justice Statistics (BJS).[3]

    Support and opposition

    Arguments supporting trunk-worn cameras

    Proponents argue that police trunk-worn cameras are "useful for documenting evidence; officeholder training; preventing and resolving complaints brought by members of the public; and strengthening police force transparency, performance, and accountability."[i] Jay Stanley, a policy analyst for the American Ceremonious Liberties Spousal relationship (ACLU), wrote the following in a March 2015 policy newspaper regarding the use of police force body-worn cameras:[8]

    " Although we at the ACLU generally take a dim view of the proliferation of surveillance cameras in American life, law on-trunk cameras are different because of their potential to serve as a cheque against the corruption of ability by police officers. Historically, there was no documentary prove of nigh encounters between police officers and the public, and due to the volatile nature of those encounters, this often resulted in radically divergent accounts of incidents. Cameras have the potential to be a win-win, helping protect the public against police force misconduct, and at the same time helping protect police confronting simulated accusations of abuse.[ix] "
    —Jay Stanley

    Additionally, a report conducted by George Bricklayer establish that police officers said the cameras were helpful when collecting evidence and for protecting themselves. "Officers and citizens both seem to believe that BWCs can protect them from each other," the study said.[2]

    Arguments opposing torso-worn cameras

    Opponents argue that trunk-worn camera programs may get in more difficult for law officers to perform their duties. Boston police commissioner William Evans argued, "I fear that a lot of people, and the dialogue nosotros have going, a lot of people might not desire to accept that interaction with us if they knew they're on camera or they're beingness recorded."[10]

    Opponents also debate that the implementation of body-worn camera programs poses a take a chance to individual privacy, equally footage from the cameras can sometimes be field of study to public inspection. Matt Pearce wrote the post-obit for the Los Angeles Times in September 2014:[11]

    " Video from dashboard cameras in constabulary cars, a more than widely used technology, has long been exploited for entertainment purposes. Internet users accept posted nuance-cam videos of arrests of naked women to YouTube, and TMZ sometimes obtains police videos of athletes and celebrities during pocket-sized or embarrassing traffic stops, turning officers into unwitting paparazzi. Officers wearing torso cameras could extend that public center into living rooms or bedrooms, should a call require them to enter a private home.[9] "
    —Matt Pearce

    Additionally, opponents debate that the price of outfitting officers with body cameras is not fiscally possible for every police department. In 2018, afterwards the Kansas State Senate considered a pecker that would accept required officers to wear trunk cameras, state Sen. Rick Wilborn (R) said in an interview that smaller cities would likely have a difficult time complying with the requirement if information technology became constabulary. He said, "We try to be understanding, especially with smaller counties. You tin't mandate something that'due south onerous to the point of breaking a upkeep."[ii]

    Public opinion

    Polls

    An Economist/YouGov poll conducted in April 2015 institute that 88 percent of respondents in the U.S. supported proposals requiring police officers to habiliment trunk cameras. The graphics beneath intermission down these results by age, race, and political ideology.[12] [13]

    Reports on body camera usage in the cities

    Police torso-worn camera policies by city, 2017

    In November 2017, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Man Rights released a report scoring body-worn camera programs in 75 police departments.[xiv]

    The report scored programs on 8 criteria, evaluating each department on whether it did the post-obit:[fourteen]

    "
    • Makes the section policy publicly and readily available
    • Limits officer discretion on when to tape
    • Addresses personal privacy concerns
    • Prohibits officer pre-study viewing
    • Limits retention of footage
    • Protects footage against tampering and misuse
    • Makes footage available to individuals filing complaints
    • Limits the utilise of biometric technologies[9]
    "

    The tabular array below summarizes the report's findings. "Yes" indicates that a department's program fully met the criterion. "No" indicates that a program did not meet the criterion. "Partially" indicates that a program partially met the benchmark. The tabular array includes information virtually torso-worn cameras in 57 of the 100 largest cities in the United states of america; for the complete findings, see the full report.

    Police body-worn camera policies by metropolis, 2015

    In November 2015, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights released a written report scoring trunk-worn camera programs in 25 police departments. According to the report, "[Police departments] are moving quickly to deploy body-worn cameras, and are experimenting with a broad range of policies in each of the dimensions we studied. Departments that have a potent policy in one area often stammer in another–every department has room to improve. At the same time, we are pleased to discover examples of potent policy linguistic communication currently in utilize for nearly all of our criteria."[15]

    The study scored programs on viii criteria, evaluating each department on whether it did the following:[15]

    "
    • Makes the section policy publicly and readily available
    • Limits officeholder discretion on when to record
    • Addresses personal privacy concerns
    • Prohibits officer pre-report viewing
    • Limits retentiveness of footage
    • Protects footage against tampering and misuse
    • Makes footage available to individuals filing complaints
    • Limits the utilise of biometric technologies (like facial recognition)[9]
    "

    The table below summarizes the report'south findings. A green cheque mark indicates that a department's program fully met the criterion. A red cross indicates that a program did not run across the criterion. A gray dash indicates that a program partially met the criterion. The ten largest departments addressed in the report are included in the table beneath; for the complete findings, see the full report.[15]

    Police body-worn camera policies, Nov 2015
    Department Policy available Officer discretion Personal privacy Office review Footage retention Footage misuse Footage access Biometric use
    New York

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    {{{1}}}

    {{{1}}}

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Unresolved Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Chicago

    {{{1}}}

    {{{1}}}

    {{{1}}}

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Los Angeles

    {{{1}}}

    {{{1}}}

    Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Philadelphia

    {{{1}}}

    {{{1}}}

    {{{1}}}

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Houston

    {{{1}}}

    {{{1}}}

    Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    {{{1}}}

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Washington, D.C.

    {{{1}}}

    {{{1}}}

    Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Unresolved Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Dallas

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    {{{1}}}

    Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    {{{1}}}

    Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Phoenix

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Unresolved Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Baltimore

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Unresolved Unresolved Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    {{{1}}}

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    {{{1}}}

    Miami-Dade

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    {{{1}}}

    Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    Unresolved Unresolved

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    10px-600px-Red x.png

    State legislation

    Proposed state legislation

    The following is a listing of recent bills relating to constabulary policy generally, and body-worn photographic camera policy specifically, that accept been introduced in or passed past land legislatures throughout the United States. To learn more than near each of these bills, click the nib title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

    Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may non exist relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, then no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislatures recently.

    News feed

    The link below is to the near contempo stories in a Google news search for the terms constabulary body camera. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

    Meet too

    • Federal policy on crime and justice, 2017-2020
    • Changes to policing policy in the states and 100 largest cities, 2020

    References

    1. ane.0 one.1 U.S. Department of Justice, Community Oriented Policing Services; Policy Executive Research Forum, "Implementing a Torso-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned," accessed 2014 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "report" defined multiple times with dissimilar content
    2. two.0 two.1 ii.2 The Pew Charitable Trusts, "Body Cameras May Not Be the Easy Answer Everyone Was Looking For," January fourteen, 2020
    3. 3.0 three.i U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Torso-Worn Cameras in Constabulary Enforcement Agencies, 2016," November 2018
    4. 4.0 4.i 4.two The Washington Mail service, "Issues over constabulary shooting in Ferguson atomic number 82 push button for officers and body cameras," December ii, 2014
    5. YouGov, "Unlike Ferguson, the shooting of Walter Scott finds racial understanding," April 15, 2015
    6. The New York Times, "What Happened in Ferguson?" August x, 2015
    7. The states Department of Justice, "Justice Section Awards over $23 Million in Funding for Body Worn Photographic camera Pilot Program to Support Law Enforcement Agencies in 32 States," September 21, 2015
    8. American Civil Liberties Union, "Law Body-Mounted Cameras: With Right Policies In Place, A Win For All," updated March 2015
    9. nine.0 9.1 9.2 ix.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are owing to the original source.
    10. PoliceOne.com, "Boston brass, police wedlock fearfulness body cams on cops," Dec iii, 2014
    11. The Los Angeles Times, "Growing apply of constabulary torso cameras raises privacy concerns," September 27, 2014
    12. YouGov, "Unlike Ferguson, the shooting of Walter Scott finds racial understanding," April 15, 2015
    13. YouGov, "The Economist/YouGov Poll, April 11-13, 2015," accessed April 10, 2016
    14. fourteen.0 14.1 Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, "Police Body Worn Cameras: A Policy Scorecard," November 2017
    15. 15.0 xv.ane 15.2 The Leadership Briefing on Civil and Homo Rights, "Police Body Worn Cameras: A Policy Scorecard," November 2015