As Obama pledges investment in body-worn-camera technology for police
officers, researchers say cameras induce 'self-awareness' that can
prevent unacceptable uses-of-force seen to have tragic consequences in
the US over the past year -- from New York to Ferguson -- but warn that
cameras have implications for prosecution and data storage.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge's Institute of
Criminology (IoC) have now published the first full scientific study of
the landmark crime experiment they conducted on policing with
body-worn-cameras in Rialto, California in 2012 -- the results of which
have been cited by police departments around the world as justification
for rolling out this technology.
The experiment showed that evidence capture is just one output of
body-worn video, and the technology is perhaps most effective at
actually preventing escalation during police-public interactions:
whether that's abusive behaviour towards police or unnecessary
use-of-force by police.
The researchers say the knowledge that events are being recorded
creates "self-awareness" in all participants during police interactions.
This is the critical component that turns body-worn video into a
'preventative treatment': causing individuals to modify their behaviour
in response to an awareness of 'third-party' surveillance by cameras
acting as a proxy for legal courts -- as well as courts of public
opinion -- should unacceptable behaviour take place.
During the 12-month Rialto experiment, use-of-force by officers
wearing cameras fell by 59% and reports against officers dropped by 87%
against the previous year's figures.
However, the research team caution that the Rialto experiment is only
the first step on a long road of evidence-gathering, and that more
needs to be known about the impact of body-worn cameras in policing
before departments are "steamrolled" into adopting the technology --
with vital questions remaining about how normalising the provision of
digital video as evidence will affect prosecution expectations, as well
as the storage technology and policies that will be required for the
enormous amount of data captured.
President Obama recently promised to spend $263m of federal funds on
body-worn-video to try and stem the haemorrhaging legitimacy of US
police forces among communities across the United States after the
killing of several unarmed black men by police caused nationwide
anguish, igniting waves of protest.
But some in the US question the merit of camera technology given that
the officer responsible for killing Eric Garner -- a 43-year-old black
man suffocated during arrest for selling untaxed cigarettes -- was
acquitted by a grand jury despite the fact that a bystander filmed the
altercation on a mobile phone, with footage showing an illegal
'chokehold' administered on Garner who repeatedly states: "I can't
breathe." (A medical examiner ruled the death a homicide).
For the Cambridge researchers, the Rialto results show that
body-worn-cameras can mitigate the need for such evidence by preventing
excessive use-of-force in the first place. Data from the Rialto
experiment shows police officers are deterred from unacceptable
uses-of-force -- indeed, from using force in general -- by the awareness
that an interaction is being filmed; but this 'deterrence' relies on
cognition of surveillance.
While the evidence provided by the video of Garner's death would
suggest a heinous miscarriage of justice, say researchers, the filming
itself by a bystander would not generate the self-awareness and
consequent behaviour modification during the incident as observed during
Rialto's institutionalised camera use.
"The 'preventative treatment' of body-worn-video is the combination
of the camera plus both the warning and cognition of the fact that the
encounter is being filmed. In the tragic case of Eric Garner, police
weren't aware of the camera and didn't have to tell the suspect that he,
and therefore they, were being filmed," said Dr Barak Ariel, from the
Cambridge's IoC, who conducted the crime experiment with Cambridge
colleague Dr Alex Sutherland and Rialto police chief Tony Farrar.
"With institutionalised body-worn-camera use, an officer is obliged
to issue a warning from the start that an encounter is being filmed,
impacting the psyche of all involved by conveying a straightforward,
pragmatic message: we are all being watched, videotaped and expected to
follow the rules," he said.
"Police subcultures of illegitimate force responses are likely to be
affected by the cameras, because misconduct cannot go undetected -- an
external set of behavioural norms is being applied and enforced through
the cameras. Police-public encounters become more transparent and the
curtain of silence that protects misconduct can more easily be unveiled,
which makes misconduct less likely." In Rialto, police use-of-force was
2.5 times higher before the cameras were introduced.
The idea behind body-worn-video, in which small high-definition
cameras are strapped to a police officers' torso or hat, is that every
step of every police-public interaction -- from the mundane to those
involving deadly force -- gets recorded to capture the closest
approximation of actual events for evidence purposes, with only
case-relevant data being stored.
In Rialto, an experimental model was defined in which all police
shifts over the course of a year were randomly assigned to be either
experimental (with camera) or control (without camera), encompassing
over 50,000 hours of police-public interactions.
The dramatic reduction in both use-of-force incidents and complaints
against the police during the experiment led to Rialto PD implementing
an initial three-year plan for body-worn cameras. When the police force
released the results, they were held up by police departments, media and
governments in various nations as the rationale for camera technology
to be integrated into policing.
Ariel and colleagues are currently replicating the Rialto experiment
with over 30 forces across the world, from the West Yorkshire force and
Northern Ireland's PSNI in the UK to forces in the United States and
Uruguay, and aim to announce new findings at the IoC's Conference for
Evidence-Based Policing in July 2015. Early signs match the Rialto
success, showing that body-worn-cameras do appear to have significant
positive impact on interactions between officers and civilians.
However, the researchers caution that more research is required, and
urge police forces considering implementing body-worn-cameras to contact
them for guidance on setting up similar experiments. "Rialto is but one
experiment; before this policy is considered more widely, police
forces, governments and researchers should invest further time and
effort in replicating these findings," said Dr Sutherland.
Body-worn cameras appear to be highly cost-effective: analysis from
Rialto showed every dollar spent on the cameras saved about four dollars
on complaints litigations, and the technology is becoming ever cheaper.
However, the sheer levels of data storage required as the cameras are
increasingly adopted has the potential to become crippling.
"The velocity and volume of data accumulating in police departments
-- even if only a fraction of recorded events turn into 'downloadable'
recordings for evidentiary purposes -- will exponentially grow over
time," said Ariel. "User licenses, storage space, 'security costs',
maintenance and system upgrades can potentially translate into billions
of dollars worldwide."
And, if body-worn cameras become the norm, what might the cost be
when video evidence isn't available? "Historically, courtroom
testimonies of response officers have carried tremendous weight, but
prevalence of video might lead to reluctance to prosecute when there is
no evidence from body-worn-cameras to corroborate the testimony of an
officer, or even a victim," said Ariel.
"Body-worn-video has the potential to improve police legitimacy and
enhance democracy, not least by calming situations on the front line of
policing to prevent the pain and damage caused by unnecessary
escalations of volatile situations. But there are substantial effects of
body-worn-video that can potentially offset the benefits which future
research needs to explore."
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