A six-month case study was conducted by the Denver Police Department, “one of the largest state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States”. One district, referred to as the “treatment district”, was given body-worn cameras and the outcomes were compared to the other five districts. During the six-month experiment in Denver, a large city full of crime, the results suggested a 38% increase in the overall number of complaints towards officers, which represents a limitation in the evidence supporting the benefits of body cameras. However, the randomized controlled trial with the 650,000 residents of Denver, also demonstrated a 50% reduction in the use of force by officers with cameras, and a 90% decrease in the number of citizen complaints, in comparison to the complaints twelve months prior to the six-month experiment. The experiments, therefore, suggest an increase in efficiency of an area with the use of body cameras because they may reduce unwarranted complaints, the use of force, and provide objective evidence of encounters
A six-month case study was conducted by the Denver Police Department, “one of the largest state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States”. One district, referred to as the “treatment district”, was given body-worn cameras and the outcomes were compared to the other five districts. During the six-month experiment in Denver, a large city full of crime, the results suggested a 38% increase in the overall number of complaints towards officers, which represents a limitation in the evidence supporting the benefits of body cameras. However, the randomized controlled trial with the 650,000 residents of Denver, also demonstrated a 50% reduction in the use of force by officers with cameras, and a 90% decrease in the number of citizen complaints, in comparison to the complaints twelve months prior to the six-month experiment. The experiments, therefore, suggest an increase in efficiency of an area with the use of body cameras because they may reduce unwarranted complaints, the use of force, and provide objective evidence of encounters