Flutterby™! : Body Cameras & Use of Force

The Benefits of Body-Worn Cameras: new findings from a randomized controlled trial at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. No surprise that the cohort with the cameras used less force and generated fewer complaints.

In examining the costs and benefits of BWCs we estimated that BWCs cost between $828 and $1,097 per user per year, and generate net annual savings of between $2,909 and $3,178 per user. BWCs generate savings mainly through significantly faster investigation of complaints. We have assumed that there would be 0.84 complaints per officer each year in the absence of BWCs (the average during the preimplementation period of the BWC study). The “break-even” level of complaints occurs between 0.23 and 0.27 complaints per officer per year.85 At the break-even level, the costs avoided by BWCs would just offset the costs to implement BWCs.