The Auburn Police Division may be introducing additional body cameras to their patrol officers.
As part of a new federal program initiative increased government funding has been put aside for police forces to use toward outfitting their officers with body cameras.
According to Capt. Will Mathews, the Auburn Police Division is looking into the program and may purchase more body cameras for patrol officers. Bicycle officers around campus have already been wearing body cameras for the past six years. Officers are not required to keep the cameras on.
Purchasing more body cameras and having some cameras already in use shows wonderful initiative and our officers should be commended for looking into the program and wearing the cameras.
Keeping the cameras on, however, should be encouraged.
In California, the Police Foundation conducted a randomized, controlled study, entitled "Self awareness to being watched and socially desirable behavior: a field experiment on the effect of body-worn cameras on police use-of-force," for 12 months to study the effects of wearing the cameras.
All officers of the Rialto California Police Department were required to keep their cameras on during the study. According to their research, officers' use-of-force fell by 60 percent and complaints against officers dropped 88 percent.
The United Kingdom has introduced body cameras to their forces as well. According to the Hampshire, UK, police website, some officers began trials of wearing body cameras during patrols in 2006, and their departments have also found decreased complaints and use-of-force.
The findings from trials on the effects of the cameras are encouraging. The cameras act as an independent, third-party witness, supporting incident reports filed by police that can be used in trials as definitive proof of what happened.
These cameras can cut down on paperwork needed to be filed during officers' reports, allowing for more time for officers to respond to a greater number of emergency calls.
Wrongful incident reports filed against officers can be easily dismissed by watching a few minutes of footage.
The cameras the police force have been using cost approximately $800.
The investment is entirely justified, but if that much money is going to be spent on them, they should be used as much as possible.
Members of the public already closely scrutinize police officers, and using the cameras could increase public trust and decrease regular public scrutiny.
As a condition of using the cameras, the footage should be taken seriously and not be used for petty incidents that don't constitute crimes.
We applaud the APD for their initiative on using body cameras during patrols. Now we encourage them to take another step forward and require officers to keep the cameras on.
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