Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Police brutality is a problem in the United States. In 2016, police officers fatally shot at least 963 people, 140 of whom were unarmed. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates the rate of citizen complaints against police officers for excessive use of force is about 6.6 complaints per 100 officers. When citizen complaints are investigated, the process usually favors protecting the police officer, creating a public perception of a lack of transparency and accountability.

Police officers’ use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) is a policy solution aimed at addressing issues of police brutality and accountability. Use of BWCs has expanded rapidly; all of America’s major cities, including New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have either already integrated BWCs into their police departments or are working to do so. Here in DC, all police officers are now required to wear BWCs when responding to an incident. As of December 2016, the police department had deployed more than 2,800 BWCs, making it the largest deployment of BWCs in the country to date.

Deployment of BWCs is a significant investment of public resources. The most expensive capital cost associated with BWCs are the data storage systems to house video footage. Officers must spend time attending BWC trainings and uploading video files. Because the public can gain access to BWC footage by submitting FOIA requests, the department must also commit resources to reviewing and redacting video footage to address privacy concerns. Costs are only expected to increase as more BWCs are deployed and more video footage is produced.

The expensive price tag of DC’s BWC program could be justified if BWCs are achieving their goals. Researchers at the Lab@DC conducted an RCT in 2016, randomly assigning half of DC’s police officers to wear BWCs. Researchers found that BWCs had no detectable effect on the number of incidents of use of force, the number of civilian complaints filed against police, nor on the number of arrests for disorderly conduct. These findings conflict with research conducted in other cities, where researchers have found a small, but significant effect of BWCs on police behavior outcomes.

To assess the value of DC’s BWC program, we conduct a cost-benefit analysis. We find that the costs of DC’s BWC program over the next decade are likely to drastically outweigh the limited benefits. We estimate the net social benefit of DC’s BWC program to be -$66 million. Even when we assume BWCs reduce incidents of use of force and save lives, we still find that the costs of the program outweigh the benefits. However, our results are sensitive to the value of a statistical life chosen. Using a VSL of $5 million, we estimate that BWCs must save 14 lives over the next 10 years for the benefits of the program to outweigh the costs. To conclude, we reflect on whether BWCs are an appropriate policy solution to address America’s police brutality problem and offer some recommendations as to the future of DC’s BWC program.