In the wake of in-custody deaths of civilians at the hands of police officers, body-worn cameras (BWCs) have entered the national conversation as a possible tool to increase officer accountability, build trust, and potentially prevent these incidents. Current research looks promising, as rates of complaints filed against officers tend to drop after BWCs are implemented; however, any research surrounding the subject is still new and there are few existing empirical studies that focus on BWCs. The success or failure of BWC pilot programs going forward will have a large influence on future law enforcement policy and officer-citizen interactions. In this study, surveys were administered to officers from the Spokane, WA Police Department throughout 2015 and the Tempe, AZ Police Department from 2015 to 2016. The surveys gathered officer opinions on a range of issues, such as how they believe citizens and officers will act in the presence of a BWC, their use in completing incident reports, and their role in collecting and presenting evidence. This paper examines current police officers' views on BWCs, their possible benefits and setbacks, and how their implementation might factor into law enforcement practices.

Despite disciplinary actions by police departments, the use of force continues to be a prevalent aspect of police misconduct. High-profile cases reported by the media have put police departments under intense pressure to find a solution for this issue. One of the highly publicized potential solutions is the implementation of body-worn camera. The question this paper attempts to answer is: does the implementation of a body-worn camera program have a significant effect on the number of use of force incidents?

Body-worn camera technology is a relatively new player in the field of criminal justice. As much as they are being reported on or discussed, in reality, body-worn cameras have not been in use long enough to have strong empirical support. Recent studies outlined some of the perceived benefits and costs of the body-worn cameras. Research has been done on both officer and citizen perceptions of the cameras, but little has been done in regards to other stakeholders, especially those in the criminal justice system. This study takes 13 interviews of community and criminal justice stakeholders in Tempe, Arizona and examines trends to identify unifying themes. The study found that 11 out of 13 stakeholders believed that the positives of the body-worn cameras outweighed the negatives. There was agreement among the parties that the strongest benefit of the cameras would be the transparency that it provides police departments, while most regarded the largest negative to be a lack of available resources to deal with the amount of data produced. As this is a small qualitative dataset, further research should be conducted about stakeholder perceptions in other cities, as well as solutions to some of the concerns raised by Tempe interviewees.