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New Research: Body Cameras Have Little Impact On Police, Citizens

Published: Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - 12:43pm
Updated: Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - 2:18pm
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Last month, the Phoenix City Council voted to spend around $5 million on approximately 2,000 body-worn cameras for the city’s police department. New research, however, suggests the technology might not make much of a difference.

According to the report, although both law enforcement and citizens are generally supportive of body-worn cameras, they have not had “statistically significant or consistent effects on most measures of officer and citizen behavior or citizens’ views of police.”

Cynthia Lum is one of the researchers on this project and joined The Show to talk about the data. She’s a professor of criminology, law and society at George Mason University and director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy.

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