About The Project

Police body-worn camera (BWC) programs are rapidly spreading across the United States. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded over $23 million in funding to support the implementation of BWC programs throughout the country,1 and a nationwide survey found that 95% of police departments either have already or intend to implement a BWC program.2

BWCs may provide a number of benefits. One is that both officers and civilians on the street may behave differently if under the lens of a camera. It might encourage officer adherence to departmental protocols and influence everyone at the scene, civilians included, to act more peacefully. A second is that the video footage may provide evidentiary value—documentation that helps resolve complaints and court cases.

But what are, in fact, the impacts of body-worn cameras in the District? We designed a rigorous field experiment to begin answering this question.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) partnered with The Lab @ DC, a team of applied scientists based out of the Office of the City Administrator, to study the BWC program.

We worked closely together to design the most rigorous evaluation methodology possible given operational requirements. The end result is a highly powered, randomized field experiment. We leverage existing resources and administrative data in order to complete the study at marginally low cost.

Our study is built on a foundation of scientific rigor and transparency. Before seeing the data, we created a detailed write-up of the methodology and planned statistical analyses—what scientists call a pre-analysis plan—and publicly shared it on the Open Science Framework. Writing this plan before we have the data ensures we do not, intentionally or unintentionally, have discretion to conduct the analyses merely to fit preconceived expectations.

We also hosted eleven events between October 2016 and May 2017 to discuss the BWC program and the study. This included three conference presentations and eight briefings for diverse audiences, including the criminal justice community, high school and college students, advocacy groups, and the general public. Additionally, we developed a video briefing on the study to be shared with all MPD sworn members.

The posted pre-analysis plan and public briefings allowed us to obtain feedback from the community and sharpen the design of the study.

Timeline

Date	Audience
October 2016	International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Meeting
November 2016	Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management Fall Research Conference
January 2017	Experiments in the Public Interest
March 2017	Stakeholder Engagement Briefing (with DC government partners and advocacy groups) Law Enforcement Executive Task Force MPD Civilian Engagement Session (for MPD civilian employees)
April 2017	MPD Youth Advisory Council (DC high school students) Public Defenders Service Engagement Session City and County Performance Summit Military Chiefs of Police University of the District of Columbia (students from all universities in DC invited)
May 2017	Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR) - Law Enforcement Working Group LCCHR - Civil Rights Roundtable
June 2017	Video briefing distributed to all MPD sworn members

Project Team

David Yokum, JD, PhD

Director

The Lab @ DC

Anita Ravishankar

The Lab @ DC Research Fellow