Legal
Resources About Legal Issues, Legislation, & Court Cases
Body-Worn Camera Policies and Procedures: Guidelines for Prosecutors
Justice & Security Strategies, Inc. (JSS) is pleased to announce the availability of a new publication – Body-Worn Camera Policies and Procedures: Guidelines for Prosecutors
Prosecutor Review of BWC’s for Evidentiary Consideration and Ways that Prosecutors Manage Digital Evidence
The webinar included presentations and guidance from three Prosecuting Attorney Offices (Mahaska County, IA; Shelby County, TN; Orange County, CA) on how BWC footage can be used as evidence across the workflows for which prosecutors are responsible, including charging decisions, support for grand jury and preliminary hearings, and eventual use in trial. We also heard how they manage all digital evidence received from their law enforcement partners, followed by Q&A moderated by retired DA Damon Mosler.
Watch the recording here.
BWCPIP Site TTA One-Pager
The Body-Worn Camera (BWC) Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program offers several means of supporting the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) BWC Policy and Implementation Program (BWCPIP) grantees to achieve their BWC program goals and desired outcomes. TTA is also available to agencies that are not BWCPIP grantee when the topic is relevant and resources are available to address those agencies’ needs.
Access this resource here.
Webinar: Lessons Learned from Critical Incident Investigations
Webinar: Lessons Learned from Critical Incident Investigations
The webinar explored the overall management of critical incidents and the role that BWCs have within that incident management. The main purpose of the webinar was to provide guidance on the essential aspects of managing a critical incident and share insight on how agencies work with each other throughout the aftermath of a critical incident.
Use of BWC Footage for Training Purposes
At this point in our experience with body-worn camera (BWC) implementation, agencies are realizing the potential of utilizing BWC footage beyond evidentiary purposes.
Body-Worn Camera Footage: What do we do with all that evidence? (Part II)
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) launched the Body-Worn Camera (BWC) Policy and Implementation Program (PIP) in FY 2015 to assist law enforcement agencies in enhancing or implementing BWC programs. PIP’s primary goals are to improve public safety, reduce crime, and improve trust between police and the citizens they serve.
External Factors that Impact BWC Program Staffing
Two challenging aspects of implementing or expanding a body-worn camera (BWC) program are ensuring projecting staffing is sufficient to support the program as well as anticipating the impacts on existing staff. Several variables make staffing challenging—some of which an agency can control while others are imposed. Ideally, agencies could simply use a staffing formula based on deployed BWC units, but the complexity of BWC issues makes that impractical.
Body-Worn Camera Site Spotlight: Wichita, KS
Many people know Wichita, Kansas, as the “air capital of the world,” or as the birthplace of both White Castle and Pizza Hut. Wyatt Earp also worked as a Wichita police officer long before the famed 1881 shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. More recently, we recognize Wichita as an early adopter and innovator of police body-worn cameras (BWCs).