A new study out of the University of South Florida revealed some not so shocking results – that officers who wear body cameras are less likely to use force than their counterparts who do not wear body cameras.
The study examined the use of police body cameras among members of the Tampa Bay police force. The study analyzed the use of force reports of 60 officers who were outfitted with the cameras and 60 officers who did not wear the body cameras. Researchers uncovered that overall use of force among the 120 officers decreased 8.4 percent in the year after half the group got the cameras, and at the same time, officers who did not wear the cameras experienced a 3.4 percent increase in use of force incidents.
“Ultimately, the results from this study contribute to the growing body of evidence in support of the utility of body-worn cameras to reduce police response-to-resistance,” the study’s authors wrote.
Police Force and Body Cameras
The reduction in instances of force equates to roughly 20 fewer incidents of physical force per year among the 60 officers in the study. If that is translated to the entire force of 761 officers, the numbers suggest that upwards of 250 instances of force could be prevented each year.
Tampa police spokesman Steve Hegarty seemed to express some doubt over taking the results at face value.
“We appreciate USF doing this study and it certainly points to some encouraging signs, but there are all sorts of issues we need to consider,” said Tampa police spokesman Steve Hegarty. “That’s what’s going to play out before City Council.”
Hegarty seems to believe that this study is suggesting that cops behave better when they know they are being watched, but that can be a dangerous conclusion to assume. Sure, some police officers may be less likely to involve physical force when detaining a suspect if they know they are being recorded, but citizens may also act more civil if they know their actions are being recorded. This isn’t a witch hunt to suggest that all police act forcefully when they aren’t recorded, and other studies have suggested that body cameras can pay for themselves by preventing frivolous lawsuits against departments, so for Hegarty to offhandedly dismiss the results because of the implication that some officers act maliciously when not recorded is short-sighted.
Obviously the cameras come with a high price tag, something that needs to be weighed by any city considering adopting the cameras, but we’ve seen time and time again that they lower instances of force and complaints between parties. Can we really put a price tag on protecting both citizens and officers? They sure would have come in handy during some recent high profile cases.
