Early research indicates that the deployment of police body-worn cameras (BWCs) may generate numerous benefits for a law enforcement agency, from enhanced legitimacy and transparency to reductions in violence between citizens and police. However, more recent research has been mixed in terms of impact. One potential reason for the mixed findings involves poor implementation. BWC programs come with a high degree of difficulty, and the potential for implementation failure is significant. In short, all of the potential benefits of BWCs can quickly be eroded by poor planning and implementation failure.
In May 2015, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) rolled out a National Body-Worn Camera Toolkit. BJA’s toolkit provides police agencies with a wide range of resources about BWCs, including a Law Enforcement Implementation Checklist, which serves as a best practices guide for successful planning and implementation of a BWC program. In this webinar, the presenters will describe the principles and strategies that serve as the foundation of the best-practice implementation guide, and they will review the experiences of one police department that adhered closely to that guide.
Featured presenters include:
- Brenda Buren, Ph.D., Support Services Assistant Chief/Director, Tempe, Arizona Police Department; and
- Michael D. White, Ph.D., Professor, Arizona State University (ASU) School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Associate Director, ASU Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety.