Utah Investigative Journalism Project on Utah "Failures to Activate" BWCs

This investigate report (link) from the Utah Investigative Journalism Project is best understood as a "cherry-picked" records-based snapshot, not a verdict on statewide body-worn camera compliance.

Its strength is straightforward: the reporting relies on agency disciplinary records and written policies, obtained through formal records requests over a defined period. That matters. The findings are rooted in what agencies documented, sustained, and acted on—not speculation or anecdote.

At the same time, the conclusions need to be read carefully. Counting officers with documented violations is not the same as measuring a violation rate. Differences in agency size, call volume, supervision models, and documentation practices make direct comparisons difficult without normalization. That limitation doesn’t undermine the reporting—it simply defines what the data can reasonably support.

Where the report is most useful is in what it highlights about governance. Repeated failures to activate cameras are rarely about the technology itself. They point to supervision, auditing, follow-through, and how consistently policies are enforced in practice. That gap, between what policy says and what actually happens, is where organizational risk accumulates.

From that perspective, the reporting raises the right question. Not whether agencies have cameras or policies, but whether they have systems in place to ensure expectations are clear, review is consistent, and accountability is predictable.

Principis Group helps agencies address those issues by working with leadership to strengthen BWC governance, supervisory review processes, and training frameworks. The objective isn’t perfect compliance on paper, but programs that operate consistently, defensibly, and sustainably over time.