I’ve discovered that the use of body cameras in the police force are being used increasingly because of many altercations with police and citizens that have resulted in injuries, misconduct and even death. Since the early 2010’s police have been testing out using body cameras to record every move of the police officer to prevent these incidents of misconduct, and help build a better relationship between the community. I have found in my research of body cameras that they are still experimenting and trying to figure out the best ways to utilize them, but there is currently a limited amount of research that has been recorded about body cameras and with that research, researchers have found mixed results of benefits and downsides. Using body …show more content…
And they wanted to see the effects of the use of body cameras in the police force. In this study the police’s main goal was to reduce the amount of use of force incidents and the number of complaints by using body cameras to see how behaviors differ. They developed a theory of what they believe will happen from research that has been previously done, “The body-worn cameras may have a “self-awareness effect”, which could impact both suspects and police. Suspects would be less likely to act aggressively in a situation, and police officers would be less likely to react with excessive or unnecessary force (Ariel, Farrar, and Sutherland 2015).” To prove this theory, they developed a control and experimental condition, in the experimental study the police would inform the citizens that they were being recorded and the control shifts would be without the body cameras. The results were that there was a total of 25 incidents of use of force by police with 17 during the control shifts and 8 in the experimental shifts. The numbers of use of force that year were down over half than the previous years, which shows there is an impact of the body cameras even when they’re not in use. And the results of complaints were also very low with only 3, 1 in the control and 2 in the experimental shifts, also the number of complaints were significantly down from other years. Their conclusion was that the use of body cameras improves the police performance because they became used to getting evaluated on camera. Also, the citizens change their behavior when they are aware they are being