Linking body worn camera activation with complaints: The promise of metadata
Open accessAbstract
With the introduction of body worn cameras, new data types have emerged, including activation metadata, which is information on the extent of the implementation of body worn cameras, by whom, and under what conditions. In this paper, we propose an avenue of methodological interest: linking activation metadata with police-recorded behaviour. We take the case of complaints to examine the use of these data for investigations of officers’ misconduct. We used an observational approach, analysing 1.73 million body worn camera activations by more than 3900 frontline officers, juxtaposed with professional conduct data. We find a heterogeneous distribution of implementation, despite a ‘blanket’ body worn camera policy requiring activation. Specifically, distinct types of officers disproportionally under-activate body worn cameras. We show that body worn cameras activation rates are inversely correlated with complaints, although minimally when observed at the population level. We discuss the use of metadata for research as well as for policy.
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An officer's failure to activate a BWC can undermine all the benefits generated by BWCs.
“An officer's failure to activate can undermine all the benefits generated by BWCs (Martain et al., 2021).”
From An Officer-Level Examination of the Prevalence and Correlates of Police Body-Worn Camera Activation (2025) · cites this paper as Martain et al., 2021
The Discussion and conclusion (p. 12) says chronic or low activation compliance can fundamentally undermine an agency’s BWC program, and the passage labelled Keywords (p. 2) says activation failure diluted program effectiveness. These passages support the risk of undermining BWC benefits, but do not establish that an officer’s failure to activate can undermine *all* benefits. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredFemale and older or more experienced officers were less likely to activate their BWC in Montreal, Canada and Queensland, Australia.
“Two studies conducted in Montreal, Canada, and Queensland, Australia, reported that female and older or more experienced officers were less likely to activate their BWC (Boivin & Gendron, 2022;Martain et al., 2021).”
From An Officer-Level Examination of the Prevalence and Correlates of Police Body-Worn Camera Activation (2025) · cites this paper as Martain et al., 2021
In “Compliance by gender, rank and age group” (pp. 9–10), the Queensland study reports fewer mean activations for female officers and significant differences among age groups. It does not establish a general pattern that more experienced officers activate less: senior constables had the highest mean among the non-commissioned ranks examined. This paper studies Queensland, not Montreal; the sentence also cites a separate study for Montreal. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Cites
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Fan, M. D. (2018) · Law & Social Inquiry · doi:10.1111/lsi.12354 · Cited by 24 · cited 1× · see citing works
“With the emergence of big data, due to in part to exponential advances in cloud storage, vast quantities of data can be recorded and catalogued (Fan, 2018).”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
An Officer-Level Examination of the Prevalence and Correlates of Police Body-Worn Camera Activation
Huff, J., White, M. D., Malm, A. E., & Katz, C. M. (2025) · Police Quarterly · doi:10.1177/10986111241241751 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Martain, B. R., Harinam, V., & Ariel, B.
- Affiliations
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Ariel, Barak
- ORCID
- Ariel, Barak
- Venue
- Journal of Criminology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-12-01
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 143-159
- ISSN
- 2633-8076 (ISSN-L)
- 2633-8084
- OpenAlex
- W3110624705
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 8.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Criminology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion)
- Apollo
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
- Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Law and Evidence
- Social Sciences › Education › Education Discipline and Inequality
- Keywords
- body-worn cameras, police misconduct, citizen complaints against police, police accountability
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