TNL R3 – Virtual Partner

TNL RAND Researcher Residency – Kristin Warren

tIn 2019 alone, 850 people have been shot and killed by the police in the United States (Washington Post, 2019). Of the nearly 3 killings per day this year, nearly 90% of officers involved were not wearing body cameras. Although body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been rapidly deployed in police departments across the country, only 5 states have enacted laws that require at least some officers to use BWCs (NCSL, 2019).

Despite growing department acceptance of BWCs, they have “not had statistically significant or consistent effects on most measures of officer and citizen behavior or citizens’ views of police” (Lum, et al., 2019). Additionally, “data from randomized controlled trials seems to indicate that outcomes such as use of force or citizen complaints may be highly dependent on organizational implementation and policies” (McCluskey, et al., 2019 & Ariel, et al., 2017). As it is often the case with new technologies, BWCs may be ahead of imperative implementation procedures, training and organizational policies, as well as the addition of relatively simple auxiliary technologies that could further improve BWC effectiveness.

TNL R3 – Virtual Partner

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