Technology has improved modern life in nearly every area — medicine, work productivity, communications, even entertainment. But the possibilities of technology are even more exciting when you consider what it can do to increase civility and reduce violence. A new study by the University of South Florida shows one way it will in the future.
Forty-six officers of Orlando’s Police Department were outfitted with $600 body-worn cameras for an entire year, from March 2014-February 2015. Another 43 officers without cameras served as a control group. The study — billed as the first of its kind — found a 53 percent reduction in use-of-force incidents among the officers wearing cameras. The officers with cameras also faced 65 percent fewer citizen complaints about their behavior.
The study also included interviews with the cops at different points in the experiment. When it began, they were skeptical that something as simple as a camera would change the way they operated.
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“However, after the study, many officers wearing the [cameras] felt that it impacted their behavior in the field and also felt that [they] impacted citizen behavior, helping to de-escalate confrontations between citizens and police,” principal investigator Wesley Jennings told the Florida-based Saint Petersblog. “They also said that the [cameras] improved their evidence collection, recollection of events and helped minimize errors in their reports. Most felt that the [cameras] made them better officers.”
This is the mutual benefit of transparency in nearly every aspect of government. Both officers and civilians behaved differently and better in public when they knew with 100 percent certainty that they were being watched. As a result, the job of policing became less dangerous for the cops, both from the perspective of anti-police violence and that of legal liability. The officers, in turn, were more judicious about the use of force.
Previous studies — in Rialto, Calif., and Mesa, Ariz. — used different methods, and showed even larger reductions in police confrontations with civilians and complaints against officers when cameras are used.
In addition to their helpful deterrent effect, cameras will have additional benefits when actually used as evidence. The footage from these cameras will show bogus complaints to be false and meritorious complaints against officers to be true. Elected officials will exercise unprecedented oversight, but without having to harass police over claims that are dubious. Truly bad cops will be more easily fired based on solid evidence, reducing tensions and making the job of good cops easier.
Between the cost of the cameras themselves and that of maintenance and data storage, the experiment in Orlando cost less than $2,000 per year per camera. Considering the many dubious government expenses, that’s a small price to pay for technology that helps promote civil order, domestic peace, and the rule of law.
