HESPERIA, Calif. — (VVNG.com) — On September 12, 2023, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department rolled out body-worn cameras for deputies at the Hesperia sheriff’s station.
“Body-worn cameras are an additional tool our deputies will be able to use to maintain high standards of policing, accountability, and transparency within the communities we serve,” stated the department in a news release.
Sheriff’s officials said they expect a department-wide deployment to be complete by the end of the year. For now, deputies at Central and Hesperia Stations are the only ones equipped with body-worn cameras.
According to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), despite their widespread and growing adoption, the current evidence regarding the effectiveness of body-worn cameras is mixed.
“Some studies suggest that body-worn cameras may offer benefits while others show either no impact or possible negative effects,’ stated the NIJ. Due to the mixed results, the NIJ suggests more research is needed and provided the following statistics from a report published in November 2018 by the Bureau of Justice (BJS).
- 47% of general-purpose law enforcement agencies had acquired body-worn cameras; for large police departments, that number is 80%.
- Among agencies that had acquired body-worn cameras, 60% of local police departments and 49% of sheriffs’ offices had fully deployed their body-worn cameras.
- Overall, in agencies that had acquired body-worn cameras there were 29 body-worn cameras in service per 100 full time officers (expected to increase to 50/100 by late 2017 based on the 2016 data).
- About 86% of general-purpose law enforcement agencies that had acquired body-worn cameras had a formal body-worn camera policy.
- Agencies not using body-worn cameras stated cost (hardware acquisition, video storage, system maintenance) to be the primary disincentive.
According to the 2018 BJS report, the main reasons (about 80% each) that local police and sheriffs’ offices had acquired body-worn cameras were to improve officer safety, increase evidence quality, reduce civilian complaints, and reduce agency liability. Read more of the report here.
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