One of the most high-profile use cases for body worn cameras is within law enforcement. As many members of the police force are faced with often adverse situations where the public's and their own safety can be at risk, it is clear to see where the need to spontaneously capture reliable evidence comes from.
Police body worn cameras can help to increase the safety of the public and law enforcement personnel in a number of ways. One of the key elements here is that people act differently if they know they are being filmed or recorded. This can, in turn, help to encourage positive behaviour from members of the public towards police officers and lead to a decrease in aggression, violence and antisocial behaviour. In fact a Californian study found that there was over a 50% reduction in the total number of use-of-force incidents when body cameras were worn.
Along with acting as a deterrent, police body worn cameras can improve accountability and protect police officers from false accusations. Body cameras can provide law enforcement personnel with high quality visual and audio evidence that can be relied upon to verify what happened in a given situation. This gives both the law enforcement professionals and members of the public both a fair advantage in cases where reliable footage may be called upon as evidence.
Body worn cameras are also an extremely useful tool for training and education within law enforcement. Past cases can be reviewed and used to demonstrate correct or incorrect policing practice. Law enforcement staff can review the performance of officers and further improve the overall quality of policing throughout the organisation.