Digital Evidence Management (DEM) encompasses a wide variety of devices, technologies, tools, and data, particularly as they relate to the criminal justice system (Goodison, Davis, and Jackson, 2015). This report is about body-worn cameras (BWCs) and the digital evidence (footage) created by the technology. The main purpose of the study is to understand and explain the key challenges faced by law enforcement agencies and prosecutor offices as they use BWCs routinely.

Since the inception of the BWCPIP program in 2015, CNA’s training and technical assistance (TTA) team has worked with hundreds of BWCPIP grantees. The CNA TTA team has worked closely with all types of agencies—large and small, urban, suburban, and rural. CNA has provided TTA to sheriffs’ departments, tribal law enforcement, university police, transportation authority police, school police departments, and park police. CNA has also assisted agencies in implementing BWC programs in county jails and with state correctional agencies. 

Several different mount configurations are available for body-worn cameras (BWCs). These mounts can be used with a wide variety of uniforms to hold the camera to officers' or deputies' shirts, patrol vests, hats, or jackets. The red dots on the uniform below correspond to different locations you may choose to mount your BWCs, with benefits and limitations of each location detailed in the following pages.

The BWC TTA team has just released a new resource: BWC Field Testing & Evaluation Form. This resource will help agencies evaluate the performance and suitability of different models of body-worn cameras (BWCs). The Field Testing Form (an Excel workbook) includes multiple tabs for field testers to record ratings of different aspects of BWCs, across different brands. As agencies implementing BWCs may consider many different aspects, the Testing and Evaluation Resource should be adapted to meet your agency's needs.

The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) is statutorily authorized to undertake criminal and juvenile justice planning, coordination, and policy analysis. PCCD consists of FY2018 and FY2019 BWCPIP grantees, with over 100 agencies within PCCD having received funding to date.

Nearly all scholarship on body-worn cameras (BWCs) has focused on municipal police departments, as they comprise a majority of sworn agencies. Given the unique environment of collegiate law enforcement agencies, however, it is possible that their paths to BWCs—and the benefits and challenges they experience—vary from that of more traditional agencies. Using a survey of 126 collegiate police departments and in-depth interviews with 15 collegiate police executives, this study describes their goals, challenges, and benefits related to BWCs.