Accountability or Efficiency? Body-Worn Cameras as Replicative Technology

Abstract

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been implemented and studied at an unprecedented rate since their emergence in the mid-2000s, largely due to their touted benefits of increasing police accountability. As current empirical research is largely inconclusive regarding BWC effects on police organizational change, the present study approaches the question of whether BWCs will fundamentally change occupational and organizational police culture by applying the theories of Manning’s and Chan’s interpretation of Bourdieu regarding police culture and technology. The findings of the theoretical application conclude that BWCs will likely become replicative technology, meaning that their primary effects will be to increase the efficiency of current police tactics rather than change the fundamental practices and values of policing. BWCs may also become symbolic in that their use may represent increased accountability and legitimacy while the core of police culture remains largely unchanged. Due to the limits of technology in achieving greater police accountability, police practitioners and scholars are encouraged to refocus on the fundamental processes of recruiting, selection, hiring, and training, and ways to improve these practices to encourage a culture of greater accountability.