Open AccessPolice Use of Body-Worn Cameras: Challenges of Visibility, Procedural Justice, and Legitimacy
Author(s) -
Ermus St. Louis,
Alana Saulnier,
Kevin Walby
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
surveillance and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.781
H-Index - 46
ISSN - 1477-7487
DOI - 10.24908/ss.v17i3/4.8649
Subject(s) - visibility , accountability , legitimacy , political science , democracy , procedural justice , community policing , public relations , economic justice , public administration , psychology , law , perception , physics , neuroscience , politics , optics
Recent controversies over police use of force in the United States of America have placed a spotlight on police in Western nations. Concerns that police conduct is racist and procedurally unjust have generated public sentiments that accountability must be externally imposed on police. One such accountability mechanism is body-worn cameras (BWCs). Optimistic accounts of BWCs suggest that the technology will contribute to the improvement of community–police relations. However, BWCs address consequences, not causes, of poor community–police relations. We argue that the evolving visibility of police associated with BWCs is double-edged, and suggest that the adoption of surveillance technologies such as BWCs in the quest to improve community–police relations will fail without a simultaneous commitment to inclusionary policing practices (such as community policing strategies, community and social development, and local democracy). We outline two initiatives that optimize BWCs by promoting these simultaneous commitments.