Candid Cameras: The Impact of Body Cameras on Privacy, Law Enforcement, and Community Policing

The Brennan Center for Justice will hold an event to discuss the use of body cameras for law enforcement officers.  In the midst of a national conversation about police violence and racial profiling, many have pinned their hopes on body cameras. President Obama has called for $75 million in funding, and a growing number of police departments have implemented pilot programs to see if body cameras can increase civility and good behavior on both sides of the badge. But the cameras are still a highly contested technology, with little consensus on their effectiveness, their impact on relations with highly-policed communities, and their contributions to an expanding network of surveillance technologies. Can body cameras help combat police violence without spawning more problems than they solve?