Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Reports of excessive use of police force in the media have led to wide-scale adoption of body-worn cameras in police departments nationwide as a means to control such use of force and provide more transparency for the public. However, the relationship between body-worn cameras and excessive use of force is still somewhat unsubstantiated, and many policies have ignored the situational, psychological, and organizational theories that must be addressed to make body camera implementation and policy effective. The purpose of this paper is to examine the theoretical framework surrounding excessive use of force, to propose the use of big data analytics to uncover patterns that might indicate that excessive use of force is more likely in a given area or among certain individuals and to identify variables that might point to more successful adoption of body-worn cameras. This information can be used to make recommendations for use of force policies and policies regarding body-worn cameras.