Exploring Effects of Police Body-Worn Cameras on Officer Behavior

This literature review examines the effects of police body-worn cameras on officer behavior, focusing on how these cameras impact accountability, ethical conduct, and interactions between police and civilians. The review discusses the use of body-worn cameras as a tool for cultural reform within police departments, increasing officer accountability, and reducing abuse of power. It explores how the awareness of being recorded can influence both officer and civilian behavior, providing factual evidence for incidents and preventing misuse of force. The review also addresses the limitations and challenges of using body-worn cameras, such as situations where wearing a camera may hinder officers' ability to perform their duties effectively. Research methodology is discussed, emphasizing the use of secondary data from journals and books to gather information and analyze the effects of body-worn cameras on police behavior. The analysis involves segregating data into different themes to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the topic.

Running head: EFFECTS OF POLICE BODY WORN CAMERA AND BEHAVIOR
Effects of police body-worn camera and behavior
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Literature Review:
This purpose of this chapter is to gather and obtain the existing scholarly information,
which are associated directly with the research topic. Moreover, this section is actually
formulated for focusing on the theoretical information that is linked with the research topic.
Various theories and concepts that are linked to research topic will be the prime content of
the research. This Chapter highlights the received empirical data that are engaged with the
given research topic. The concerned topic is related to the effects of policy body-worn
camera and their behavior. Such a situation has been observed in the United States as the
departments of the police are facing trouble and crisis of confidence. However, having a
camera attached to the body of the police officers will provide them confidence and make the
work easy and hassle free. The camera will act as an evidence of the large number of
incidents they have to take care of. The purpose of the cameras is that it acts as a recording
process when the interactions of the civilians will help and act as the proof (Ready & Young,
2015). Therefore, technology will facilitate cultural reform by increasing the officer
accountability and reducing the power of abuses in such situations. Hence, when both the
civilians and officers are aware of the camera being attached they are bound to behave
ethically and normally all the interactions and conversation gets recorded. The video
therefore acts as the footage, which will offer the factual evidence regarding what had
occurred so that it gets easy to defend and explain them and prevent from further abuse use of
force. Another reason for installing the cameras is that generally, police officers have been
observed to show restraint in heated circumstances for ignoring being accused of worse
behavior.
On contrary to this, it can be stated that it is not always possible and feasible for the
police officers to wear the camera and carry out their activities and duties. Hence, in those
particular scenarios, the installation of the camera acts as a disadvantage (Ariel, Farrar &

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Sutherland, 2015). The department of police had mentioned and specified as to when to use
the camera and not to (Jennings, Lynch & Fridell, 2015). Thus, it can be said that the cameras
does not always help the police officers in those situations. The cameras can make it difficult
for them to run around and do their job as police officers are required to provide necessary
and fast assistance. Hence, it is not necessary for the police officers to wear the camera
positively every time they go out for their duty. This is the major demerit of attaching the
cameras in their body. The local police officers does not get a chance to acquire the cameras
for recording their behavior and of other individuals. Lastly, it can be argued by stating that
there are both positive and negative effects of police body worn camera and their behavior
accordingly. The following step of the research is more crucial regarding this area.
Research Methodology:
This chapter will highly focus on the selection process of suitable research
methods for gathering proper research information. Moreover, this section will choose the
right research strategy, research design, the method of data collection and data analysis
process for concluding at particular research result. The implementation of the correct
research method will vastly contribute in the excellence of the research result.
Research Approach and Source of Data
The approach of the research is regarded as an effectual method of gathering the data.
The data of this research has been collected with the help of Secondary data. The Research
approach should therefore be chosen dependent on the kinds of the research variables. The
source of this data has been gathered from the journals and books that discuss the effects of
police body worn camera and their behavior. Without the help of the journals, it is not
possible for collect the data or information from any other sources. The secondary data thus
saves the time of filling survey forms and other theories. Extracting the information directly

3EFFECTS OF POLICE BODY WORN CAMERA AND BEHAVIOR
from these books and journals will help in the procedure of the research. Effective choice of
the source is necessary for collecting the most useful data related to the research topic. For
this research, since the secondary form of data collection is used, it is quite cooperative for
collecting the major secondary information that is related to the research topic. Thus, such
sources are said to have a major donation in achieving the quality of the data. The journals
and books provide direct information for carrying out and researching on the topic of police
behavior and police body worn camera. Moreover, majority of the times, the secondary
sources also includes magazines, websites, e-books and other related methods.
Data collection
The Secondary data is majorly engaged with the in-depth information that is
descriptive in nature as related to the research topic. Hence, such kind of data is considered to
be useful while preparing the section of literature review. The purpose of the research is to
collect secondary information for preparing information from various kinds of scholars who
are dealing with this particular research topic. Thereafter, the study related to this research
will majorly depend on the secondary data for achieving the exact result of the research. The
journals, websites and other sources will help in the collection process.
Data Analysis Technique
The Data Analysis Technique is treated to be highly effective for obtaining the best
and the authentic result of the research. Hence, effective data analysis technique has the
power to convert the basic information that have been gathered from the above mentioned
journals, websites, e-books and other sources. In such a situation, the existing secondary
sources will therefore be segregated into different types of themes to obtain a better outcome.
(Ready & Young, 2015). Therefore, the purpose of this data analysis is to record the
information, examine the collected data and apply in the research accordingly. The

4EFFECTS OF POLICE BODY WORN CAMERA AND BEHAVIOR
interpretation of the data collected can be explored in a better way as it is better engaged
between different research variables.
References:
Ariel, B., Farrar, W. A., & Sutherland, A. (2015). The effect of police body-worn cameras on
use of force and citizens’ complaints against the police: A randomized controlled
trial. Journal of quantitative criminology, 31(3), 509-535.
Ariel, B., Sutherland, A., Henstock, D., Young, J., Drover, P., Sykes, J., ... & Henderson, R.
(2017). “Contagious accountability” a global multisite randomized controlled trial on
the effect of police body-worn cameras on citizens’ complaints against the
police. Criminal justice and behavior, 44(2), 293-316.
Jennings, W. G., Fridell, L. A., & Lynch, M. D. (2014). Cops and cameras: Officer
perceptions of the use of body-worn cameras in law enforcement. Journal of Criminal
Justice, 42(6), 549-556.
Jennings, W. G., Fridell, L. A., Lynch, M., Jetelina, K. K., & Reingle Gonzalez, J. M. (2017).
A quasi-experimental evaluation of the effects of police body-worn cameras (BWCs)
on response-to-resistance in a large metropolitan police department. Deviant
behavior, 38(11), 1332-1339.
Jennings, W. G., Lynch, M. D., & Fridell, L. A. (2015). Evaluating the impact of police
officer body-worn cameras (BWCs) on response-to-resistance and serious external
complaints: Evidence from the Orlando police department (OPD) experience utilizing
a randomized controlled experiment. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(6), 480-486.

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McCluskey, J. D., Uchida, C. D., Solomon, S. E., Wooditch, A., Connor, C., & Revier, L.
(2017). ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF BODY WORN CAMERAS ON
PROCEDURAL JUSTICE IN THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT.
Ready, J. T., & Young, J. T. (2015). The impact of on-officer video cameras on police–
citizen contacts: Findings from a controlled experiment in Mesa, AZ. Journal of
Experimental Criminology, 11(3), 445-458.