Some police departments are turning to wearable cameras, allowing their officers to record interactions with citizens. At the Taser International headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., Joseph LeDuc, a police officer, checked a video made with such a camera. (Photo: Joshua Lott, The New York Times)
Those of us who don’t confront the potential wide diffusion of on-officer body-worn cameras with excitement and hopefulness have already grown accustomed to some pat responses from advocates. Certain to be among them is the citation of a study from Rialto, California, that has made national news.
As the New York Times reported:
The Rialto study began in February 2012 and will run until this July [2013]. The results from the first 12 months are striking. Even with only half of the 54 uniformed patrol officers wearing cameras at any given time, the department over all had an 88 percent decline in the number of complaints filed against officers, compared with the 12 months before the study, to 3 from 24.
Rialto’s police officers also used force nearly 60 percent less often — in 25 instances, compared with 61. When force was used, it was twice as likely to have been applied by the officers who weren’t wearing cameras during that shift, the study found.
After completion of the study, Britain’s The Guardian relayed the same statistics and reported “Rialto’s randomised controlled study has seized attention because it offers scientific – and encouraging – findings.” Civilian police monitoring groups, like Police The Police, touted the new technology with an internet meme that circulated widely on social media. (more…)
Great additional insight to this study. Cameras MAY reduce the number of officer-involved shootings, but this study is hardly “proof.” My son’s murder-by-cop was captured on a Costco security video, but cops and Costco personnel intentionally destroyed data that would have proven THEY screwed up and literally executed Erik Scott for having a BlackBerry phone in his hand. Then they covered up critical evidence to exonerate dirty, corrupt cops and a complicit Costco employee, who caused my son’s death. Bizarre? Yes, but true. Read all about it a novel of “faction,” entitled “The Permit.”
Great additional insight to this study. Cameras MAY reduce the number of officer-involved shootings, but this study is hardly “proof.” My son’s murder-by-cop was captured on a Costco security video, but cops and Costco personnel intentionally destroyed data that would have proven THEY screwed up and literally executed Erik Scott for having a BlackBerry phone in his hand. Read about it in “The Permit,” a work of “faction.”
[…] likely continue to see these cameras “malfunction” during exceptionally brutal acts. There is an oft-cited study claiming that body cameras cut down on use of force. This actually was conducted by the chief of a […]
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Cool, that is an amaizing post (BTW, I’m not a bot!)
It shows how the falacy of attributing agency to technological devices is used to mask the real relevance of the human factor behind those devices. That way people get confused with details, while the real issue is the personal determination of the people involved (and in charge).