Robert Riggs:
If Minneapolis police officers had been wearing body cameras, would it have prevented the excessive force that led to the murder of 46-year-old George Floyd?
Dr. Jennifer Matthews says Body-Worn Cameras are reshaping Police-Citizen Interactions, and she believes that it could have made a life-saving difference.
Matthews has implemented, managed, and trained more than 3,000 Chicago area law enforcement officers in Body-Worn Camera programs.
Matthews shares insights from her PhD dissertation for Walden University on Body-Worn Camera Use and Citizen Behavior During Police- Citizen Encounters.
Robert Riggs:
Do you think George Floyd would have been murdered? If any of those officers had been wearing body cams?
Jennifer Matthews:
I think it definitely could have been prevented. I don't think I definitely don't like to say it's a end all be all like a sure thing. I never like to say that because we can't predict the future. And we can't go back and change history. But I definitely think that it could have been prevented, it would have been less likely. If they were wearing body cameras, it was good that the person that did record did record because the story was able to be told in a different light, because had they not recorded, then it will just been told from the officers perspective. And maybe the truth would have never came to light and George Floyd would have died in vain.
Robert Riggs:
Body-Worn Cameras have become a pivotal tool in modern law enforcement.
The technology provides a means to enhance transparency, accountability, and trust between police officers and the communities they serve.
Dr. Matthews' dissertation focused on citizens' experiences during police encounters involving body-worn cameras.
She found that the presence of a body-worn camera put citizens more at ease, so they felt the need to comply with police officers during encounters.
Jennifer Matthews:
The theory is that my dissertation was based off of was self-awareness, deterrence, and then procedural justice. So self-awareness comes in when the citizen knows that they are being watched on by the camera. And of course, the officer knows that they are being watched on body camera because why they're wearing the body camera. So that's the self awareness theory, then the deterrence theory. So the deterrence theory is nobody wants to be caught. So you're going to do what you know is right, because you don't want to be caught in you know, there are consequences if you are caught doing the wrong thing. What is the wrong thing, the wrong thing is breaking the law. So if you're caught doing something wrong on body camera, the likelihood of you being caught and put in jail or face the consequences for that is more likely because of the deterrence theory. And then procedural justice is how the officer is treating the citizen that they are coming in counter with on body worn camera.
Robert Riggs:
But in your research, you do show that it alters people's reactions, they don't want to get in trouble. Yes. Most of the officers are not telling people, you're on Candid Camera here. What do you think that is? Because it seems like it would just de escalate at the very beginning.
Jennifer Matthews:
Okay, and this is something that I preach, and I feel like I'm preaching to myself instead of to the choir. So I think that they do not tell the citizens that they come in contact with that they are being recorded, because it's not required in their policies and procedures. A lot of times, police officers are not going to go out of their way to do above and beyond their job above and beyond their job description. A lot of times some will, but a lot of them will not. So their policies and procedures say to activate the camera, but a lot of them do not say you must tell the citizen that you are recording why they don't say that. It's up to each different police department to put that in their policies and procedures, and they simply do not. But I always tell the officers that I trained to one narrate your video and to to tell the citizen or whomever you're coming in contact with that you are recording, because why then the body camera can have its intended effect, which is determined.
Robert Riggs:
The How does it work? Do they? Do the policies dictate when they turn it on? Does it turn on automatically? How does that work?
So the policies do dictate when they turn it on. So there's a few ways that it works. So one, the officer can activate the camera to some departments have it where if the lights and sirens turn on, it will activate the body camera. Some departments have it where if the officer pulls their service weapon out of the holster, it will activate their body camera. Some departments have it where if the officer pulls their taser to use that it will activate their body camera. So it just depends on what that department's policies are, which will activate their body camera. But let's say the officer is recording already. And then they pull their service weapon, they pull their taser, they activate their lights and sirens it will not turn off their body camera. It will just still be like a continuation you won't have any effect on that body camera because they’re already recording.
Robert Riggs:
If the officer will reveal the camera, do you think that'll set a more positive tone immediately in the interaction?
Jennifer Matthews:
100%. I think if they reveal that they are recording, it will help initially, immediately, because now that citizen knows what to expect. They knows what they know what's going on. And they know that no matter what, whether this officer is treating them by the color of the law, whether this officer is treating them harshly, that there is an impartial witness on the scene right now. And that they can go back and refer to that footage, they can request that footage via FOIA. Or if they need to get a lawyer, that lawyer can subpoena that footage. So if they're announcing, hey, I'm recording, that citizen knows, immediately, hey, this can go one way or the other. But I have some recourse at the end of the day, when with my interaction with this officer.
Robert Riggs:
You do see on YouTube, these body worn camera videos of all the time. Oh, yeah. Drivers refusing to follow the officers instructions
all the time.
What's what is going on there, what's behind those emotions?
Jennifer Matthews:
Again,
lack of respect, that is lack of respect right there. They do not respect authority anymore. That's what that is. And I teach classes to young people, whether it be high schoolers, whether it be young adults in college, and I teach them how to interact with police when they come into contact with them. Because I tell them all the time, you come into contact with the police officers or police, law enforcement, whoever they may be, and you escalate the situation to a level where they're not even trying to raise it to win, all you have to do is listen to them. And I'll give you a prime example. And this is an example I give to all of my classes. And it makes them think every time. So let's say you're driving in a car, and the officer pulls you over, and they say hey, can I have your license and registration? And the person that they stopped? The driver is irate. Why did you pull me over there yelling? Why did you pull me over? I didn't do anything wrong. And you're the person is just irate. And they're yelling at the officer. And they're doing all of this and all that. Well, now the officer is like, Why is this person so irate? Maybe they're doing something that is causing for alarm, maybe they're hiding something, maybe I need to look at this car a little bit longer. Maybe I need to inspect this car, maybe I need to inspect this person, when Guess what? The officer only wanted to let you know that your tail light was out. That's it. That's it? And they're like, oh my gosh, they do that? I'm like, yes, they do that. That's all they wanted to tell you.
Robert Riggs:
You’re experienced training officers and out of the community deep? Do you have any sense of what has happened? Because everybody I run into teachers, and I believe that there's that we've got a crisis In lack of respect?
Jennifer Matthews:
Yes, yes, that's that's exactly what it is, is very much. So a crisis and lack of respect. And I feel like it's my duty to go out to the public and train the citizens. And I'm training them on what the body cameras can do. Because when I go to the classroom, and I tell them, it can do this, it can do that. It cannot do this, it cannot do that. They're astonished. They're like, Well, I heard it can do this. And I heard that. And I'm like, No, we can do that. Well, I heard the police officers can do this. Well, no, they can't do that. And they're like, they have this picture in their mind. And they're doing all these things because they're these myths exist. So when I'm training them on what the truth is, now, the respect level is slowly but surely coming back because they had their own idea in their head. So it's no respect, yes. But to train the citizens to train the public or what is true, will only is the only way I feel like the police and citizens can get aligned again.
Robert Riggs:
So what are some of the major myths that you have to pop?
Jennifer Matthews:
Okay, that's a really, really, really great question. One major myth that I get all the time is that officer can record an incident and then go back to the station and change it. That's the first one I get majority of the time. I'm like, it does not work like that. They cannot change that video from what just happened. It does not work like that. It takes takes a trained professional to, let's say, manipulate that video footage. And then at that point, there's only so many things that can be changed in that video. What can be changed, blurring faces. blurring of faces mean, a juvenile means a person who was not the intended target of the video. So let's say you're stopped by the police and Joe Blow walks past we're going to blur Joe blur Joe Balt. Blows face because he's not a part of this incident. So that's what I mean by blurring of the faces. Were can we can mute audio? Why would you mute audio, let's say you're giving out your birth certificate, I'm sorry, your birth date or you give out your driver's license number? Well, you don't want that out in the public. So you will blur that audio. So just certain things can be manipulated on the video. However, even if those things are manipulated in the video footage, the original is still always intact. People don't realize that they do not realize that they think, oh my gosh, this person has manipulated the video they changed, it is gone forever. It does not work like that original remains intact. And you manipulate the copy, if you will. But original is always there and never changes.
Robert Riggs:
Now, I know, from your background, you've trained at least 3000 officers on learning, when you first come in contact with them to start the training. Yeah, what's the what what do you tell them first, to get them to buy in and understand how important it is.
Jennifer Matthews:
So my buy in is always that this will help you rather than hurt you. And I can say, from experience, that the officers by the time I'll say, by the time they've used it for the camera for I would say six months, they agree with me. Because when it comes to officers, citizens complaints, when it comes to Officer incidents at all, anything that that can come back and bite them, and they see that that camera was there, and they can go back to refer to it and say, No, it didn't happen this way. It happened that way. And then they have that camera footage to back them up. They are in agreement with me that this will hurt this will help them more than no harm them. So that's always my buy in.
Robert Riggs:
Police officers have taken on a stern business-like approach when dealing with the public.
In the bygone days of Texas, the conversation during a traffic stop usually started with Hiddy How Ya’ll doing today?
Now it is more likely a strict-toned request for license and registration.
Jennifer Matthews:
13;21
So I would say there is less friendliness, only because the in the the tension between officers and citizens, how changed is no longer, like the respect factor is so low, the the citizens are no longer respecting the police the way they once did. So I would definitely say that there is a change there. So I feel like maybe they can seem roboticle Because they want to do their job. They want to do it the right way. They want to follow the rules. And they don't want to maybe perhaps be seen as going outside the color of the law or giving way to interpretation for impropriety. So they might want to say, you know, I did everything by the book, if this person, you know, felt like I was overstepping or was too friendly, they might draw that a different conclusion for what I was trying to garner. So I could see them seeming, you know, like almost like a robot for that reason. And I would just say they they're doing that to try and cover themselves, because if they're too friendly, then the citizen might say, Oh, they did this or they were too maybe they might say they're flirty when all the officer was trying to do is light hearted. Or if they're too strict, then the citizen can accuse them of being too I'm harsh, and now they get a complaint for that. So I can go from each spectrum, if you will.
Robert Riggs:
Dr. Matthews says the public perception that abusive police officers are the rule, not the exception is the result of the amplification of social media bias.
Jennifer Matthews Interview 2
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The citizens are saying their opinions about police officers and police, law enforcement in general, are coming from social media. They're coming from watching the news. They're coming from friends are coming from family. So whatever these opinions are, they're adopting them. They're not coming from real-life interactions, because it's rare that law-abiding citizens come into interactions with the police.
Robert Riggs:
And so do you think that the opinions about police get exaggerated to the negative?
Jennifer Matthews:
100% 100%. So unless you have a friend or family member or somebody that you know, by association, is a law enforcement officer, you're going to take what you see what you hear as the truth. So if the media is saying all police officers use excessive force, you're going to be like, You know what, all police officers use excessive force. So if I get stopped by the police, I'm going to yell at them, I'm going to not listen to what they say. They're not trustworthy, that kind of thing. That's when you get this lack of respect for the police. That's when you get this escalation of stops and that kind of thing for the police. That's where that comes from. And then just continues on like a snowball, because of all of the negative publicity that police officers and law enforcement get.
Robert Riggs:
Body worn cameras originated in the United Kingdom during the early 2000s.
A landmark study by the University of Cambridge involving nearly 2,000 officers found that the introduction of body cameras resulted in a 93% reduction in complaints against police officers.
A 2014 study funded by the U.S. Office of Justice Programs Diagnostic Center found that body-worn cameras increased arrests, prosecutions, and guilty pleas while also enabling officers to resolve criminal cases more swiftly and efficiently.
But, the $750 cost of outfitting a single officer, as well as maintaining and storing video data, can be substantial, especially for smaller police departments with limited budgets.
Providing an objective record of interactions in an era of growing distrust has prompted the adoption of body cameras by emergency medical services (EMS), firefighters, corrections officers in prison, some sports arenas, and hospitals.
This signals the potential for widespread adoption across commercial enterprises.
Jennifer Matthews:
So the good part about it is that they can be used in other industries to increase transparency and accountability in these other industries who need them. Because there are, you know, allegations and other industries, not just in law enforcement. So I think that is really good that they're able to use that to help other industries who may need them, because we know that there are allegations and emergency medical personnel, industries that are like, oh, so and so did this, or so and so did that. Well, now there's a record. So we don't have to speculate. We don't have to guess anymore. We know exactly what's happening. So I would definitely say, given when they were initiated to now that is a huge change. And it's a change for the better.
Robert Riggs:
Dr. Matthews’ research, along with government and university studies, concludes that body-worn cameras have a calming effect on citizens and can reduce use-of-force incidents and citizen complaints against officers. This is Robert Riggs reporting.
