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    Body-Worn Cameras

    By 2016, nearly half of the 12,267 local police forces in the United States were using body-worn cameras, including 70 percent of those with more than 500 officers. These cameras, when used in accordance with comprehensive and transparent, can encourage appropriate behavior, increase accountability, and improve public trust in law enforcement. But body-worn cameras cannot, by themselves, ensure accountability and mend the rift between police departments and policed communities, particularly minority and other marginalized communities, and they should not inspire false confidence. Absent transparent and effective policies, the use of body-worn cameras can instead heighten the divide between law enforcement and communities. Transparent and effective policies are also necessary to address potential downsides to widespread adoption of these cameras, including a vast expansion of video surveillance of civilians, particularly communities of color and low-income communities with a disproportionate police presence, plus the cost of equipping police.

    In 2020, the ABA's Working Group on Building Public Trust in the American Justice System convened a group of diverse stakeholders to review the literature on body-worn cameras, discuss the experience of different jurisdictions, and develop an appropriate ABA policy. The resulting policy, the ABA Principles on Law Enforcement Body-Worn Camera Policies provide practice direction for government officials in jurisdictions where law enforcement use or are seeking to use body-worn cameras. The Principles were adopted by the ABA House of Delegates in August, 2021.

    Reference Materials on Body-Worn Cameras: