Policy

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) have become a popular technology for use in police forces around the world; however, little is known about the effects of this technology on policing and on the criminal justice system more generally. In this article, we discuss reported benefits and limitations of body-worn cameras. We examine the current evidence-base for BWCs and the legislative framework in NSW.

Body-worn cameras provide officers with a reliable and compact tool to systematically and automatically record their field observations and encounters. They can be used for documentation purposes, to include interactions with victims, witnesses, and others during police-public encounters; arrests; and critical incidents. These documents provide items for agencies to consider when developing their own body-worn cameras programs.

To read the documents, click here.

The New Orleans, Louisiana, Police Department provided examples of its Stops, Searches, Arrests, Use of Force, and Procedural Justice Audit Form and Use of Force Reporting and Force Statements Audit Form to assist agencies interested in implementing similar audit and reporting practices. 

To view the New Orleans Stops, Searches, Arrests, Use of Force, and Procedural Justice Audit Form, click here.

As police departments across the United States embrace the use of police body-worn cameras (“BWCs”), it is imperative that prosecutors be involved in the uptake process as early as possible. The cameras will inevitably capture a great deal of evidentiary material that will be used in every type of criminal prosecution. Thus, systems and policies must be developed to ensure that this evidence is properly captured and delivered to the prosecutor in a timely and usable way.

The Compensation Board is pleased to present this report summarizing the review by a workgroup of the impact on the workload of Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ offices of the use of body worn cameras (BWCs) by law enforcement officers within the jurisdictions they serve, pursuant to Chapter 2 of the 2018 Special Session I Virginia Acts of Assembly.

An agency's body-worn camera (BWC) policy is essential to the successful implementation of its BWC program. This document provides sample policy language that previous BWC Policy and Implementation Program (PIP) grantees have used in their BWC policies to sufficiently address objectives on the BWC Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Scorecard. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the BWC TTA providers, CNA, Arizona State University (ASU), and Justice and Security Strategies Inc.