Statistics show that the number of overall complaints about officers went down 22.5 percent during the pilot period, and that officers with the cameras experience a 47.7 percent decline in excessive-use-of-force complaints, and a 35 percent decrease in verbal-misconduct complaints. In the report, lead author and professor Charles Katz writes that the “findings suggest that officer worn body cameras may increase officer productivity, reduce the number of complaints against officers, decrease the number of founded complaints against them, and increase the effectiveness in which criminal cases are processed in the courts." The results have been “fruitful,” he adds, mentioning a report published earlier this year by ASU called Evaluating the Impact of Officer Worn Body Cameras in the Phoenix Police Department. The PPD teamed up with ASU’s Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety to “evaluate the effectiveness of officers wearing cameras,” Crump explains. And in the years since, the department has added nearly 100 more to the study. Sergeant Trent Crump says the PPD will put city grant money into continuing a research pilot program it launched with Arizona State University in 2011: the study then adhered 56 body cameras to officers in the Maryvale precinct - a part of the city with a large immigrant population and high levels of violent crime and police activity. Locally, the issue of excessive force was front and center when not too long after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, Rumain Brisbane and Michelle Cusseaux each were fatally shot by Phoenix officers. It was announced by the Obama administration earlier this year at a time when much of the country was actively discussing alleged police brutality and civilian-officer relations, and wondering if body cameras would be a panacea. The money is part of a $19 million federal Department of Justice initiative to use body cameras as a means of “improving public safety, reducing crime, and improving public trust between police and the citizens they serve. Three other places in Arizona received grants: the cities of Glendale and Peoria and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa County Indian Community, netting the state a cumulative $1.3 million in funds to initiate or expand body-camera programs. The PPD applied for the grant earlier this year, as did 285 other state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, and it was one of 73 to receive funding. The Phoenix Police Department received more than $600,000 in federal grant money this week to double the number body cameras on officers - there are currently about 150 cops wearing cameras in the Maryvale precinct, and with the new money, 150 more cameras will be distributed throughout the city, bringing the total to about 300.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |