Smile, You're On Camera: Body-Worn Camera Policies and Their Effect On Officer-Involved Shootings

• In Event: The Use of Police Body Worn Cameras

Abstract

Not all body-worn camera programs are created equal. The huge increase in law enforcement agencies' interest in body-worn cameras has been accompanied by much variation in the policy safeguards crafted to oversee their implementation. Such policies, civil rights groups warn, can mean the difference in cameras providing increased transparency or becoming instruments of injustice. Using data on 47 of the largest police departments across the US, I will evaluate the impact of body-worn camera policies on officer-involved shootings. Despite the preponderance of randomized controlled trials on body-worn cameras, this will be one of the first studies evaluating nationwide differences in body-worn camera policies.

Author

• Li Sian Goh, University of Pennsylvania