Using Body-Worn Camera Data to Improve Your Agency
I had the pleasure of hosting a webinar with Daniel Zehnder who is the founder and president of Principis Group, a BWC training and consulting firm, and a retired Captain with Las Vegas Metro PD. Daniel has assisted departments across the country navigate
the complex issues related to implementing, managing, sustaining and supporting an effective body-worn camera program.
We had a great discussion about how valuable BWC data can be to an organization, how to extract that data, and how to use the information gleaned to improve a law enforcement organization.
Police agencies, regardless of their size, own everything that is on every BWC video it captures, and there is an unstated expectation from the public that someone inside the agency is looking at those videos to identify problems.
Why using BWC Data is Important?
Officer performance: Gain visibility into officer performance in the field
Training: Identifying trainings needs
Policy and Procedures: Identify if policies are being followed, and measure outcomes of policy implementation
Quality of Supervision: Compare and contrast teams’ performances (positive and negative trends)
Organizational Culture: Executive level view of overall organizational trends and how their officers are interacting with the community
Lead Risk Management from the Top of Your Agency
Reviewing BWC data manually is difficult, especially for larger agencies. It requires dedicated staff, a clearly identified process that is documented and defensible, and direction from leadership on what risks the reviewer should be looking for.
Key Steps for an Effective BWC program
CAPTURE - Ensure there’s a clear policy on when BWC should be activated
STORE - Maintain a reliable data management system that is accessible and secure
ANALYZE - Extract meaningful intelligence that is specific and actionable to identify strengths and shortcomings
ACTION - Convert intelligence into executable initiatives which will improve organizational performance
MEASURE - Evaluate effectiveness of action towards achieving desired outcomes
Additional Considerations
Agencies can’t afford to have a bad incident happen and then someone outside the organization discovers that similar conduct had been happening for years but no one knew about it.
Technology for monitoring officer performance must be used to better the organization and support individual development – not as a hammer to bludgeon line staff.
Risk management can be overwhelming, but it needs to come from the top down and be focused on the top areas of risk for the organization.
Reference Links
Full-length Webinar
https://www.truleo.co/how-to-use-body-worn-camera-data-to-improve-your-agency
Download Webinar Recap PDF
https://docsend.com/view/358xr5qi5r4gjq2s
Daniel Zehnder
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielzehnder/
Principis Group, Inc.
https://www.principisgroup.com/
Chris Sansone
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherjsansone/
Body-Worn Camera Training & Technical Assistance
About Truleo
Truleo is an Automated Body Camera Review and Analysis platform.
Police across the U.S. wear body cameras every day, but only 0.1% of the footage is reviewed.
Truleo provides agencies with an audio analytics platform that cuts review time, and provides important insights to improve policing.
We improve quality of service metrics.