Using Body-Worn Camera Footage as Data to Study Police Training
Does officer training improve police-community interactions? In a new study, Faculty Affiliates Nick Camp and Rob Voigt, Executive Director MarYam Hamedani, Faculty Affiliate Dan Jurafsky, and Co-Director Jennifer Eberhardt use body-worn camera footage to compare officer interactions with drivers during routine traffic stops before and after training. By applying natural language processing (NLP) to traffic stop recordings, they found that officers post-training were more likely to express concern for drivers’ safety, offer reassurance, and provide explicit reasons for the stop.
This study shows how body-cam footage can be used to observe and assess the impact of changes to policing policies and practices, including officer behaviors, that are difficult to measure by other means. A key question facing efforts to improve policing and address long-standing racial disparities is how to measure their efficacy.
“This work shows how police departments can use body camera footage as data, not just to affect change, but to measure it as well,” Camp says.
