Is Body-Worn Camera Video the Next “AI Target”?

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 be undermined. This could reduce the perceived legitimacy of police transparency initiatives.

• Exploitation by bad actors: Advocacy groups, criminal organizations, or politically motivated actors could weaponize deep fakes to frame officers, departments, or entire cities in ways that inflame public sentiment.

• Community relations: Viral fake videos showing fabricated misconduct could damage hard-earned trust between agencies and their communities, especially in jurisdictions with existing tensions.

Legal and Judicial Challenges

• Evidentiary reliability: Defense attorneys could challenge the admissibility of genuine BWC evidence in court, claiming it could have been fabricated or altered. This “deep fake defense” could complicate prosecutions.

• Burden of proof: Departments may be forced to adopt digital authentication measures (hashing, blockchain, secure metadata logging) to prove video integrity in legal proceedings.

• Civil liability: Departments might face lawsuits or reputational harm even when a deep fake is later disproven, due to public misperceptions or hasty reactions.

Operational and Investigative Impact

• Resource diversion: Agencies would need specialized personnel and technology to detect and debunk deep fakes, shifting resources away from core policing.

• Delayed investigations: Sorting out what’s real versus fake could slow internal reviews, misconduct investigations, or external inquiries.

• Officer safety: Circulation of fabricated videos showing officers in compromising or violent roles could endanger them or their families.

Policy, Training, and Technology

• Authentication systems: Body camera manufacturers may have to enhance their already stringent hardware and software protections. Departments may need to implement digital watermarking, cryptographic signatures, or third-party validation at the time of recording to establish provenance.

• Policy updates: Clear policies on BWC data handling, public release, and rebuttal of disinformation campaigns will be essential.

• Training: Officers, PIOs (Public Information Officers), and legal teams will need training to respond to misinformation, both technically and in media communication.

Strategic and Societal Implications

• Information warfare: Deep fakes could become part of larger disinformation campaigns targeting democratic institutions and public safety agencies.

• Legislative responses: Pressure may mount for federal or state legislation to criminalize malicious use of deep fakes targeting law enforcement or judicial processes.

• Public education: Departments may need to engage in campaigns teaching communities how to evaluate the credibility of digital content.

I would strongly recommend agency leadership and legal teams take a look at this issue now and develop strategies to handle possible future occurances. Preparing now will minimize the challenges of inadequately addressing it if/when it happens to your department.