Police Body-Worn Camera Perceptions Pre/post Deployment

Abstract

Cameras (BWCs) changed over the course of a six-month pilot program. Officers from a Midwest police department were surveyed prior to or shortly after receiving their BWCs (Pre-Test) and again approximately six months later (Post-Test). Once completed, independent samples t-tests, mean comparisons, and Pearson's correlations were used to analyze the data.This study did not produce many significant differences in officers' perceptions over the course of the study, according to t-test results. However, several significant differences were found after each shift was analyzed separately. Overall, less than 35% of officers felt negative about the deployment of BWCs. There were substantial deviations in officers' perspectives on the BWCs, mainly by shift. Further, experience was found to be more significantly correlated with positive feelings towards the BWCs, especially in their beliefs they would make officers safer, decrease or exonerate complaints, producing better evidence, and having less equipment difficulties.However, the majority of officers also believed the cameras could make them slower to respond to aggression.