Program Profile: Police Body-Worn Video (Australia)

Profile Updated: January 03, 2023

Summary: This program involves police use of body-worn video in Australia to improve evidence gathering, court processing, and police and citizen behavior. The program is rated Effective for increasing rates of field interviews; Ineffective for increasing convictions, sanction rates, guilty pleas, and for reducing assaults on officers; and Negative Effects for reducing police use of force and citizen complaints against police. (Review the full program description).

Title Rating Details Outcome Category Study(ies)

Assault on officer

Ineffective | One Study

There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of assaults on officers on days in which officers wore and used cameras and days they did not wear cameras.

Crime and Delinquency; Violent offenses ; Assault on officer

Clare, Joseph, Darren Henstock, Christine McComb, Roy Newland, and Geoffrey C. Barnes. 2021a. “The Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Police Body-Worn Video in Australia.” Journal of Experimental Criminology 17:43–54. See evaluation methods.

Use of force by police

Negative Effects | One Study

The police use-of-force rate was higher on days in which officers wore and used cameras, compared with days they did not wear cameras. This difference was statistically significant.

Justice Systems or Processes; Use of force by police

Field interviews

Effective | One Study

The rate of field interviews with victims or witnesses was higher on days in which officers wore and used cameras, compared with days they did not wear cameras. This difference was statistically significant.

Justice Systems or Processes ; Self-initiated activities of officers

Citizen complaints against police

Negative Effects | One Study

Citizen complaints were more frequent on days in which officers wore and used cameras, compared with days they did not wear cameras. This difference was statistically significant.

Justice Systems or Processes; Citizen complaints

Guilty pleas

Ineffective | One Study

There were no statistically significant differences in rates of guilty pleas from cases on days in which officers wore and used cameras and days they did not wear cameras.

Justice Systems or Processes ; Disposition outcomes; Guilty rates/pleas

Convictions

Ineffective | One Study

There were no statistically significant differences in conviction rates between days in which officers wore and used cameras and days they did not wear cameras.

Crime and Delinquency; Multiple crime/offense types/recidivism; Conviction/reconviction

Sanction rates

Ineffective | One Study

Overall, there was no statistically significant difference in sanction rates on days in which officers wore and used cameras and days they did not wear cameras, based on multiple measures from the study.

Justice Systems or Processes; Behaviors of criminal justice personnel towards offenders or the public

Program Goals

The use of body-worn video cameras by police is a rapidly emerging area of interest for public policy and police practice (Clare et al. 2021a). Body-worn videos may produce cost and time efficiencies for police, influence police operational decisions, and help prevent problems between citizens and police. A goal of police body-worn video cameras is to enhance police evidence gathering and improve both police and citizen behavior.

Program Components

The Western Australia Police Force is responsible for policing Western Australia’s 2.5 million square kilometers with more than 150 police stations across eight metropolitan and seven regional districts. Over a 6-month period beginning in April 2016, the Police Force began exploring the potential utility of body-worn video cameras (Clare et al. 2019). As of 2022, it has equipped all frontline police officers with body-worn video cameras, and there have been more than 1.4 million evidence-uploads from use of the video cameras (Western Australia Police Force 2022a).

Officers use the body-worn videos under the following guidelines:

Wear cameras overtly and warn members of the public that they are being recorded, as soon as practicable.
Ask permission to film in private situations (such as inside homes) and abide by any request to cease filming in such situations.
Use mobile telephones linked to body-worn videos to record evidence of incidents and interactions with witnesses or victims of crime in the field (Clare et al. 2021a, 46).

Western Australia Police Force officers are directed to record interviews associated with all domestic violence incidents, all incidents involving aggression or violence, all incidents where evidence capture is possible, and all incidents involving use of force. When interviewing victims or witnesses, officers are directed to capture an audio record of interviews using a body-worn video-linked mobile phone, rather than a traditional, signed, written interview (or statement) wherever possible.

Officers are allowed to review their own body-worn video footage, but not that of other officers, unless shared. Non-evidentiary footage is retained for 90 days and then deleted, whereas footage that an officer marks as relevant to an offense or potential offense is stored and retained for 7 years (Clare et al. 2021a, 2021b; Clare et al. 2019).

As of June 2022, the Western Australia Police Force began the rollout of upgraded camera technology that is capable of live-streaming video footage to command centers and other staff (Western Australia Police Force, 2022b).

Study Title: The Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Police Body-Worn Video in Australia (which is associated with Outcome 1, Outcome 2, Outcome 3, Outcome 4, Outcome 5, Outcome 6, and Outcome 7)

Research Design/Sample

Clare and colleagues (2021a) conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of body-worn video on evidence gathering, court outcomes, and police-public behavior during a 6-month period in two Western Australian locations: Perth (the capital) and the regional town of Bunbury. The trial ran from June 13 to December 16, 2016, and involved 498 officers who were 80 percent male, had an average age of 36 years, and had on average 8.3 years of service.

Days were randomly designated by a random number generator as either treatment days (when all participating officers starting the shift wore and used body-worn video) or control days (when no officers used body-worn video). Before 6:00 a.m. each day, all officers, supervisors, and district office hierarchy involved in the trial received emails advising them about the treatment or control status of the day. Any matter occurring between midnight and 6:00 a.m. was included in the treatment or control status of the previous day. During the 6-month period there were 86 treatment days and 101 control days.

Data Collection

Outcome data were obtained from numerous operational datasets. The Incident Management System contained data on criminal and noncriminal incidents. Incident reports recorded individuals who had committed offenses, police actions taken, and other entities such as locations, interviews, and property. Incident Management System data also were used to measure charges laid (including assaults against police, which in Australia may involve on- or off-duty officers), sanction rates, other enforcement activities, and information related to recorded interviews. Criminal Code Infringement Notices contained all notices issued for discretionary, proactive policing action issued to individuals ages 17 and older for prescribed minor criminal offenses such as antisocial behavior or liquor infringements. The Computer-Aided Dispatch database recorded public calls for service and internally generated tasking. These data were used to record participating officers’ attendance at calls for service, and to identify opportunities to record body-worn video, for a total of incidents that could have led to officers’ generating recordings on treatment days. All court records with an offense date within the scope of the trial where the arresting officer’s unit was participating in the trial were examined. The use-of-force dataset contained officer-generated use-of-force reports in line with Operational Safety and Tactical Training Unit policy; use of force included drawing and pointing or discharging a taser or firearm, or use of baton, handcuffs, police dog/horse, other weapons, or empty-hand tactics that resulted in bodily injury. Finally, Professional Standards Complaints included anonymized data about complaints against police, excluding low-level complaints that may have been resolved at the police station level without reporting to the Professional Standards Division.

Outcome Measures

Outcomes included field interview rates (per 1,000 Computer-Aided Dispatch jobs), sanction rates (which included measures of Criminal Code Infringement Notices and police-issued restraining orders), court processes (guilty pleas and conviction rates), police use of force, assaults against police, and citizen complaints against police.

Statistical Analysis

A range of parametric and nonparametric tests were conducted to examine the effect of body-worn videos on the outcomes of interest. Subgroup analysis was conducted with officers who had high engagement with the trial, compared with officers who had low engagement with the trial.

Citation: Clare, Joseph, Darren Henstock, Christine McComb, Roy Newland, and Geoffrey C. Barnes. 2021a. “The Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Police Body-Worn Video in Australia.” Journal of Experimental Criminology 17:43–54.

This study is a high-quality randomized controlled trial.

Date Modified: August 29, 2025

This program was originally rated Ineffective. It has been re-reviewed based on the change in the program rating instrument. Under the new instrument, CrimeSolutions ow now rates individual program outcomes and no longer assigns an overall rating.

Date Created: July 17, 2024

Rating Process

Learn how this and other practices are rated

Program Status

This program is Active.

	Justice Systems or Processes - Use of force
	Crime & Delinquency - Assault on officer/officer injuries/resistance
	Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types
	Justice Systems or Processes - Officer-initiated calls for service
	Crime & Delinquency - Traffic stops/traffic tickets
	Justice Systems or Processes - Field interviews/stop and frisk

Program Profile: Police Body-Worn Video (Australia)

Program Goals

Program Components

Study Title: The Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Police Body-Worn Video in Australia (which is associated with Outcome 1, Outcome 2, Outcome 3, Outcome 4, Outcome 5, Outcome 6, and Outcome 7)

Research Design/Sample

Data Collection

Outcome Measures

Statistical Analysis

Rating Process

Program Status

Target Population

Setting

Program Types

Program Profile: Police Body-Worn Video (Australia)

Program Description

Program Goals

Program Components

Evaluation Methods of Evidence Base

Study Title: The Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Police Body-Worn Video in Australia (which is associated with Outcome 1, Outcome 2, Outcome 3, Outcome 4, Outcome 5, Outcome 6, and Outcome 7)

Research Design/Sample

Data Collection

Outcome Measures

Statistical Analysis

Additional Findings

Cost

Additional References

Related Practices

Rating Process

Program Status

Program Details

Target Population

Setting

Program Types

Program Contacts