What are the benefits? Body worn cameras can be used for safety measures and used to display possible evidence in court. Also, in any incident that may occur when an officer is dealing with a possible suspect. According to NIJ (2012), body-worn cameras “offers significant advantages in keeping officers safe, enabling situational awareness and providing evidence for trial” (p. 1). Nonetheless, there are some major concerns about these body-worn cameras such as proper usage. NIJ (2012) stated that “a major issue with the use of BWCs is a lack of technical standards and operational standards for protocols and procedures. Without such standards in place, practitioners lack adequate information to select the proper system that meets their requirements” (p. 1). With that being said, police agencies must place “policies, procedures, training and feedback mechanisms in place and used prior to even a pilot deployment is exceedingly important. If an agency considers all aspects of deployment, the project will be effective, efficient, and maintain the agency’s and officer’s integrity”. Again, privacy is a concern, yet it is imperative that privacy rights are researched before a police agency invest in body worn camera systems (NIJ, 2013, p. 8,11). In addition, privacy acts are not the only thing that can jeopardize a case, however, misuse of body worn cameras can bring consequences to the police officer, the department, and the case. Before adapting to this type of technology, departments should mandate rules and regulations when dealing with body worn cameras and how not to damage evidence. According to NIJ (2012), “the best policy, as with any physical evidence, is to always guard the integrity of the evidence, and ensure policies and procedures maintaining a strict chain-of- custody are followed” (p. 10). Furthermore, this product can be
What are the benefits? Body worn cameras can be used for safety measures and used to display possible evidence in court. Also, in any incident that may occur when an officer is dealing with a possible suspect. According to NIJ (2012), body-worn cameras “offers significant advantages in keeping officers safe, enabling situational awareness and providing evidence for trial” (p. 1). Nonetheless, there are some major concerns about these body-worn cameras such as proper usage. NIJ (2012) stated that “a major issue with the use of BWCs is a lack of technical standards and operational standards for protocols and procedures. Without such standards in place, practitioners lack adequate information to select the proper system that meets their requirements” (p. 1). With that being said, police agencies must place “policies, procedures, training and feedback mechanisms in place and used prior to even a pilot deployment is exceedingly important. If an agency considers all aspects of deployment, the project will be effective, efficient, and maintain the agency’s and officer’s integrity”. Again, privacy is a concern, yet it is imperative that privacy rights are researched before a police agency invest in body worn camera systems (NIJ, 2013, p. 8,11). In addition, privacy acts are not the only thing that can jeopardize a case, however, misuse of body worn cameras can bring consequences to the police officer, the department, and the case. Before adapting to this type of technology, departments should mandate rules and regulations when dealing with body worn cameras and how not to damage evidence. According to NIJ (2012), “the best policy, as with any physical evidence, is to always guard the integrity of the evidence, and ensure policies and procedures maintaining a strict chain-of- custody are followed” (p. 10). Furthermore, this product can be