Well would ya look at that: over yonder across the pond, a study of British and U.S. police by Cambridge University found a 93 percent decrease in complaints against cops who wore body cameras. Ninety-three percent. As in, close to 100.
The idea behind the study is simple: people who are being observed — and know it — change their behavior. Researchers suggested that cameras encourage best behavior on the part of both the officers and the public.
"Everyone is recording the police except themselves," said Barak Ariel, a criminologist from Cambridge University who led the research. "Now we have something from the officer's point of view from the very beginning of the interaction."
The study says using body cameras could lead to a "sea change in modern policing."
The study, which utilized 2,000 officers and “1.4 million working hours,” covered the following areas:
“ … West Midlands Police, West Yorkshire Police, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Police Service of Northern Ireland and police departments in the California cities of Ventura and Rialto.”
While this sort of thing is ALWAYS welcome news, it ain’t exactly new. A study put out last year by the University of South Florida found that “use of force” incidents by Orlando officers “dropped 53 percent among officers with the cameras. Civilian complaints against those officers also saw a 65 percent decline.” And prior to the findings in Florida in the city of Rialto, which is mentioned in the Cambridge report, “use of force” reports fell by 58 percent and citizen complaints fell by 88 percent due to the presence of body cameras worn in that city. Those findings—and others—come from an 18-month study that was published in February 2015.
Again the Cambridge study, as all other studies, are welcome news. But the problem is not so much that it’s not “new” or that it’s not already known that body cameras can be a deterrent. The problem lies in the recalcitrant, obstinate, and plain old asshole-like behavior of police officers and their unions—more so than chiefs of police or commanding officers—who are against any sort of accountability or transparency. The types of shenanigans these folks have pulled in Cincinnati and Boston, just to name a few, as well as cities like Seattle, make it clear that terms like “common sense” and “common good” and “public benefit” will continue to be fighting words with these people.
So be it.