The added value of bodycam footage for police reports

The results of the Bodycams research project, financed by the Police & Science programme, have recently been published in a comprehensive report. It describes a literature review, a field experiment and a legal analysis. In the field experiment, 102 police officers took part in a training incident and then wrote a police report about it, either before or after seeing the bodycam footage of the incident. The researchers, Dr. Annelies Vredeveldt, Linda Kesteloo LL.M., and Alieke Hildebrandt, found that when police officers first wrote their report and then used the bodycam footage to make corrections and additions, their police reports were more complete and more accurate. So, in practice, bodycam footage could be of added value to police investigations and evidence in court. However, it is essential that police officers record their own findings before they watch the bodycam footage, so the source of their findings remains clear.

The publication is only available in Dutch, and can be found here on the website of Police & Science. The researchers plan on writing a journal article in English about the findings as well – stay tuned!