Abstract

While body-worn cameras (BWCs) are increasingly becoming commonplace in police organizations, researchers and policymakers still know little about their implementation in the field and the factors related to their actual use. Using data collected from 146,601 incidents in Phoenix, Arizona, the present study examines the prevalence and correlates of BWC activation. In doing so, we examine the impact of incident-level factors, officer characteristics, neighborhood context, and changes in BWC activation policy on whether an officer who is assigned to wear a BWC activates their camera during a police-citizen contact. Cross-classified models are used to simultaneously assess the influence of factors at multiple levels of explanation. Our analysis suggests that a wide variety of individual, situational, organizational, and neighborhood factors are related to an officer’s decision to activate their camera. BWC policy that confines, structures, and checks officer activation has a robust impact on an officer’s decision to activate their BWC.

摘要

虽然随身摄像头 (BWC) 在警察组织中越来越普遍，但研究人员和决策者仍然对其在现场的实施以及与其实际使用相关的因素知之甚少。本研究使用从亚利桑那州凤凰城的 146,601 起事件中收集的数据，检查了 BWC 激活的普遍性和相关性。在此过程中，我们研究了事件级别因素、警官特征、社区环境以及 BWC 激活政策变化对被分配佩戴 BWC 的警官在警民接触期间是否激活相机的影响。交叉分类模型用于在多个解释层次上同时评估因素的影响。我们的分析表明，各种各样的个人、情境、组织、和邻里因素与官员决定启动他们的相机有关。限制、组织和检查官员激活的 BWC 政策对官员激活其 BWC 的决定具有强大影响。