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.
In addition to funding over $85 million in grants to 420 police agencies across the country over the past five years, BJA also funded CNA and its partners (Arizona State University and Justice and Security Strategies) to establish the BWC Training and Technical Assistance (BWC TTA) program. The BWC TTA program documents BWC implementation progress and activities in the funded PIP sites, identifies opportunities to assist local jurisdictions in their implementation efforts, provides such assistance in an efficient and effective manner, and generally supports the successful implementation of BWCs in the PIP sites.
In a small law enforcement agency, the responsibility for implementing the BWC program often falls to a small number of people. This can present challenges for implementing aspects of the program that require specific knowledge (e.g., IT, community engagement, public release of video, and discovery requests). During this webinar, we discussed challenges and lessons learned from implementing BWCs in a small agency, focusing on agency personnel responsible for implementing the BWC technology. BWC TTA Senior Advisor, Tom Woodmansee, facilitated a conversation with three BWC TTA leads—Assistant Chief Orlando Cuevas (ret.), Director Geoff Smith (ret.), and Shellie Solomon—discussing technology-related implementation topics and challenges that small agencies often experience such as those associated with testing and evaluation, legacy technology considerations, and vendor selection. The panelists also discussed ways they have seen small agencies overcome these challenges.
To access the slides from the webinar, click here.
