More law enforcement agencies are implementing police body-worn cameras to increase safety and accountability; however, many agencies have not received the proper training let alone obtained these cameras. Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice is playing a major role in not only the distribution of body-worn cameras but by providing training so agencies are prepared for how to use them.
Jeff Rojek, associate professor in the College of Social Science is MSU’s lead on this effort, in partnership with Justice and Security Strategies. The $11 million in grants from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance includes $8 million in grant support, including technical and training assistance, for small, rural and tribal agencies (many of which do not yet have these cameras) and $3 million to provide technical and training assistance for larger agencies that have been separately funded to receive or upgrade cameras, or to implement practices to improve their use.
Rojek, whose research focuses on policing, started these three-year projects in January. He will be most involved in developing training for agencies across the United States and their officers on the complexities and applications of these cameras.
“The goal of these two projects is to support the implementation of body-worn cameras in law enforcement across the United States, along with working with agencies who are developing creative solutions in order to identify model approaches others can follow,” Rojek said.
There are around 12,000 agencies in the U.S. with under 50 officers or deputies, accounting for roughly 85% of all agencies in the country. As these agencies have smaller budgets, they often do not have funds to access tools like police body-worn cameras.
Of the $8 million going to small, rural and tribal agencies, just over $5 million will support the purchase and distribution of these cameras. The remaining funds will support the administration of the grant process, along with technical and training assistance to ensure proper implementation.
The remaining $3 million in grant funding will allow larger agencies to upgrade or apply for cameras and to develop their capacity to use the cameras and resulting video footage. These agencies include both law enforcement and corrections.
Rojek and his team will provide assistance with many aspects of these cameras, including technical help with file management, as these cameras store large amounts of data. There are important steps for both managing data and keeping footage secure.
Another area of assistance is building the capacity of video evidence-sharing between law enforcement and prosecution. The increasing deployment of body-worn cameras has created more evidence documenting criminal violations, which has resulted in an increased expectation from prosecutors, defense attorneys and jurors of seeing captured footage. This also applies when there are allegations of officer misconduct.
Rojek will also address how to use footage for in-person or virtual training to improve officer performance in the field.
Previously, in 2014 and 2018, Rojek was a recipient of grant funding that enabled him to examine the use of body-worn camera footage for training in law enforcement. That research included having officers watch interactions recorded on body-worn cameras with periodic pauses throughout key stages of interactions to discuss what the most appropriate next steps would be in each situation. Officers’ performance following the training was then evaluated using simulators and established measures of field performance.
“The acquisition of body-worn cameras and the establishment of related policies allows creates the infrastructure in agencies to capture video evidence, and developing of practices for video management, including sharing footage and building out training programs. use for training build out the capacity of this technology,” Rojek said.
“The goal of our efforts over the next three years is to work with agencies across these dimensions to improve the effective use of body-worn cameras.”