Will Body Cameras Improve Policing?

The Florida Bar Journal, explored whether the growing use of police body cameras, a practice with a variety of impacts on officers’ employment, would be the subject of mandatory collective bargaining in Florida. I now address the broader question of whether such devices would improve the delivery and cost of policing services in Florida from a legal perspective.

As to the central question raised in the title, while many would respond with a “yes,” as an attorney with experience representing a large police union, I believe the answer is a sound “maybe.” What follows is my assessment of the legal impacts of the use of police body cameras on officer discipline, agency risk management considerations, and law enforcement-community relations, among other factors.

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