Agencies that treat body-worn cameras primarily as transparency tools usually miss their real value. BWC programs succeed or fail based on how well they function as risk-management systems —not recording devices. The questions leadership should be asking are not: Did we capture video? Did we release it on time? They should be: Are we reviewing consistently at scale? Are decisions defensible across hundreds or thousands of incidents? Are we reducing institutional risk—or simpl

There’s a persistent myth in policing that cameras alone drive better outcomes. They don’t. What changes behavior is what happens after the recording: How footage is reviewed How patterns are identified How lessons are fed back into training How leadership responds consistently over time Without a system, BWCs become an archive. With a system, they become feedback. The agencies seeing real value aren’t watching more video. They’re making better decisions with the video they

A New Hampshire man is facing charges for allegedly creating a “deepfake” body camera video. See the story here . While this case involves an individual who was publicly associated with the fake content, what are the implications for law enforcement agencies if this becomes a wide-spread trend by unknown perpetrators? Public trust and legitimacy issues: Erosion of credibility: If the public cannot distinguish authentic footage from fakes, confidence in actual BWC evidence may

A new audit in Philadelphia’s 24th District sampled 119 interactions from January 2025 and found that officers properly activated, categorized, and recorded footage in just over half (54 %) of the stops. Here are some key takeaways: Non-use or incorrect use of BWCs undermines policy credibility — if officers routinely skip or delay activation, the value of the system is diminished. Audits should not be one-and-done — regular, random checks help reinforce accountability.

Two officers were suspended — one for failing to report a use of force, and the other for punching a restrained individual and delaying medical care. Both incidents were captured on body-worn camera. Read about it here . The “bad news” is that these incidents happened at all. The “good news” is that the agency identified them and took corrective action. But the larger, unanswered question in the article is this: how were these incidents identified? When misconduct is caught.

Scot Haug, Post Falls, ID, Police Department Chief of Police (retired), and myself, presented on the topic of BWC program compliance and...

July 6, 2016 This is first in a series of articles I’ve written for “In View” on the CNA Body-Worn Camera Training and Technical...