On April 8, 2013, the Rialto Police department released the
results of a study on the impact of on-officer video cameras, specially
utilising the AXON flex system from TASER. The 3.2 inch camera helps to reduce
force and defend against lawsuits regarding police brutality.
The experiment began on began on February 13, 2012 and ran for a full 12-month period.
It included random
assignment of all police shifts to either experimental (with camera) or control
(without camera) conditions.
Key findings:
Officer worn cameras
reduced the rate of use-of-force incidents by 59 percent. In other words,
before the cameras, the rate of use of force incidents was 2.5 times higher
than with cameras. Utilization of the cameras led to an 87.5 percent reduction
in complaints. At the end of each shift the officers’ videos were uploaded to
EVIDENCE.COM.
"These results carry
significant implications for the future of the law enforcement
profession," said Chief Tony Farrar, the principle investigator who led
the study as his graduate degree thesis at Cambridge University.
At the conclusion of the
experimental period, the Rialto Police Department implemented 3-year Evidence.com service plan and integrated AXON Flex video
cameras into standard operations going forward. agencies that deploy TASER Flex
on-officer cameras have also seen reduction in use of force and reduction in
complaints," said Jason Droege, general manager of EVIDENCE.COM
Rialto has been a thought
leader: this rigorous study scientifically proves the benefits of on-officer
video
source:investor.taser.com
