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Public Safety More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for Insight-Driven Police Solutions

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Page 1: More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for …...Title More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for Insight-Driven Police Solutions Author Accenture Subject Read the article

Public Safety

More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for Insight-Driven Police Solutions

Page 2: More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for …...Title More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for Insight-Driven Police Solutions Author Accenture Subject Read the article

Body-worn cameras are more than just another device in the wearable technologies revolution. These devices—worn on helmets, jackets and lapels—have the potential to be a powerful means of protecting both the citizen and the officer and delivering public service for the future through digital law enforcement.

Detailed and unbiased evidence collection, greater accountability for officers and more transparency of police/citizen interactions are just some of the benefits of these police solutions.

Adoption of body-worn cameras is likely to increase as law enforcement agencies start to see the positive results coming from pilot programs spanning the globe from New York to London to Sydney. What’s more, there may be new funding to back these programs. President Obama has also proposed a three-year, $263 million spending package to fund 50,000 body-worn cameras.1

A new police solution for gathering unbiased informationBody-worn cameras have the potential to support the gathering of evidence as police conduct day-to-day operations, and they could help create a true record of events—evidence that could later be used for criminal prosecution. They also can help deliver additional insight, especially when the data captured through body-worn cameras is combined with video analytics to transform raw information into valuable intelligence.

For the recordBody-worn cameras could create a real-time record that could ultimately reduce the number of complaints made against a law enforcement agency. With the help of body-worn cameras, an authentic first hand recording can be used as evidence. In the case of claims of unfair treatment or inappropriate behavior, the footage can be used to help establish the facts. The very wearing of the devices can have a modifying effect on both the behavior of the officer and citizen as both know their actions are being recorded.

Indeed, after the Rialto Police Department in California deployed a camera program pilot in 2012, they saw a 60 percent reduction in use-of-force incidents and an 88 percent reduction in number of citizen complaints.2

From the beat When officers activate their cameras, they can capture data about vehicles (make, model, color, license plate number) and people (physical features, gender, age, attire). Geocoded, time-stamped data on vehicles and persons is captured and fed into a central operations data index.

Take that video index and integrate it with analytics, and you have a police solution for fighting crime. For example, if an alert goes out about a robbery suspect wearing an orange t-shirt and glasses, analytics would run algorithms to comb through metadata on people captured on footage that day. If the suspect has passed an officer wearing a body-worn camera, the system could find a match. Officers in that area would be alerted that a potential suspect was recently identified in the area, allowing for quick action. Historically, officers would have to rely on their memory (“did I see someone wearing an orange shirt today?”). With body-worn cameras as police solutions, officers’ capabilities can be extended with near-perfect memory and unwavering attention.

For the futureAs these digital police solutions mature, they may include notification mechanisms such as audio alerts that signal officers without distracting them, or even Google Glass-type devices where officers “see” alerts or metadata in real time. The future could also include providing real-time alerts of known offenders seen by the camera, helping to increase officers’ safety by alerting them that they are dealing with someone who is potentially dangerous or has a certain behavioral history.

Storing and safeguarding data As law enforcement agencies begin to explore body-worn cameras as next-generation police solutions, important questions arise: where do you store these huge volumes of data, and for how long? How can we address citizen concerns over privacy? When and in what circumstances, should the cameras be on and recording and switched off? What protocols and policies should be in place to ensure that officers can easily access the footage to support their daily work, such as writing police statements?

1 Pickler, Nedra; Associated Press; “Obama proposes body-worn cameras for police;” December 1, 2014; http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/obama-proposes-body-worn-cameras-police/2 Johnson, Kevin; USA Today; “Police body cameras offer benefits, require training” September 12, 2014;http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/12/police-body-cameras/15522059/

Page 3: More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for …...Title More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for Insight-Driven Police Solutions Author Accenture Subject Read the article

StorageThe body-worn camera and its video footage offer large sets of data for analysis. But how can departments store it all? When PERF asked more than 40 departments using body-worn cameras about video storage, they found that all stored their body-worn camera footage on an in-house server or an online cloud database (managed by a third-party vendor).3

There are ways to shrink the amount of footage stored, thus decreasing cost and complexity of storage. Most US states carry legal requirements that define mandatory timeframes for which departments need to keep hold of data. Departments may decide to discard data after the legal period expires, or they may opt to drastically reduce the data to only what’s interesting. For instance, retain the five facial photos associated with an officer’s interaction.

Video analytics can help by filtering out footage that has no information, for example, does not include faces, movement or sound. This “removal of blanks” will minimize storage requirements. Furthermore, analytics can help in locating required footage, e.g., you can search for any police interaction with a certain individual using a face photo, rather than locating that it was officer “X” on day “Y.” There are also new technologies, such as cloud-based video surveillance as a service, which offer additional storage options for departments considering body-worn cameras.

PrivacyToday, the public often witnesses compromising footage of celebrities interacting with police. This fuels privacy concerns among citizens—especially those interacting with police about sensitive matters or in their own homes. In the United States, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws govern when footage captured from body-worn cameras must be released.

However, thought and consideration must be given to other data storage concerns, such as how long to store footage, when to allow officers to deactivate cameras, and how to ensure integrity and security of data.

To address data privacy issues, law enforcement agencies must develop their own policies that clearly outline how the department plans to be transparent and accountable, but also protect the civil liberties and privacy interests of citizens—all while reflecting the laws of the given country. Of the 254 law enforcement agencies participating in the PERF survey, nearly a third of the agencies using body-worn cameras had no written policy on the devices.

SecurityPolicies must include guidelines for digital rights management—delineating access control for viewing and copying images. The infrastructure that stores the footage collected via the cameras must have security controls embedded in it to authenticate identities, create a chain of custody and secure evidence against tampering or disclosure. Other measures, such as embedding a watermark in footage captured via body-worn cameras, might also help to prevent footage from being duplicated. Watermarks can also be applied to videos being downloaded from body-worn camera storage, so these downloads can be traced if leaked.

Analytics Solutions

Storage

Integration Points

Video Management System

Records Management System

Video storage type, capability and policy

Computer Aided Dispatch

Extended video capabilities transforming raw information into valuable intelligence both in real-time (e.g. ANPR video analytics) and post incident analysisManaging and controlling

content including redaction, and FOIL request preparation

Body-WornCamera

“From the beat”

“For

the r

ecor

d”

“For the Future”

Record

ingReal time

streaming

Maximising the Value from Body Worn CameraSetting the overall department level governance and rules of engagement - including device

protocols (e.g when to turn camera on/off), and privacy and data protection policies

Greater accountabilityIncreased transparencyDetailed and unbiased

evidence collection

Device type, management and maintenance

3 Miller, Lindsay, Jessica Toliver, and Police Executive Research Forum. 2014. Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned. Page 15. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Maximising the Value from Body Worn CamerasSetting the overall department level governance and rules of engagement - including device protocols (e.g when to turn camera on/off), and privacy and data protection policies

Page 4: More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for …...Title More Facts, Less Friction: Body-Worn Cameras for Insight-Driven Police Solutions Author Accenture Subject Read the article

An eye on the futureBody-worn cameras have the potential to help law enforcement agencies protect their reputations and fight crime. Rather than just acquiring body-worn cameras for evidence police can turn them into tools to deliver insight, intelligence and improve operational effectiveness. And with the proper procedures and policies in place, these police solutions can deliver tremendous benefit without a significant financial or storage burden.

Connect with us to learn more on delivering public service for the future on Twitter @AccenturePubSvc

For more information, please contact:

James Slessor [email protected]

Wai [email protected]

Jody [email protected]

Cyrille [email protected]

About AccentureAccenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 319,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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