provide insight to tough issues. One of the great things about the BJA/BWC Toolkit is that it continues to improve as agencies that are using BWC provide additional information.
Involve Stakeholders Identify the interested parties or stakeholders that will have an impact on your program. For most agencies, it’s good to think of two general groups: internal and external. The in- ternal group will essentially include personnel within your organization or that directly support your organization (such as the IT department of your city or county if separate from your agency). The external group is a bit more com- plicated and will likely include community leaders, legal advisors, civil liberties advocates, media.
You are embarking on a high-profile and complex ven- ture that has a very high level of expectation and interest among all of these groups. Ignore them at your peril. There should be a degree of overlap between your internal and external groups. Both will affect your decision process and it would be foolish to create the proverbial problem of the left hand having no awareness of what the right hand is doing. Begin engagement with these groups before any firm decisions regarding implementation are made.
Determine Priorities Define the purpose of your BWC implementation as well as the priorities and expectations. What do you need or want to accomplish? Your purpose will determine your priori- ties. This process will also help you begin identifying key elements that should be included in your policy. You will definitely need a BWC policy. The good news is that there are model policies available to help you get started. Links are available on the BJA/BWC Toolkit site that will take you to model policies from the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Police Executive Research Forum. These should be considered the beginning of your policy effort, not the end.
Pick a Company
Choosing a BWC vendor is a critical step. The process may be impacted by whether you have an existing in-car video pro- gram. If so, objectively assess your current operation. Is your in-car video meeting your expectations and general need? If so, you may want to go to your current vendor and ask for information on expanding to include BWC operations. This may not necessarily be your best option, but it should definitely be considered because the ‘back-end’ op- eration of police video is a major component of any pro- gram. It is usually not in your best interest to have two separate systems that must be learned and supported when it comes to storage and management of police video. If you currently have in-car video capability but were planning on phasing it out because of BWC, stop and re- consider. In-car video and BWC video should be considered complementary, not exclusionary. Think of them as two very different tools with different capabilities. Ideally, an agency should have both if possible. If this isn’t practical, then you will have to decide between the two and there is
no an easy answer. In general, in-car video provides much more context as an event unfolds while BWC usually pro- vides a more narrowed scope of activity but with a greater level of detail at the individual officer level.
IT Support
Assess your level of IT capability and support. While the general concept of BWC—recording an officer’s activities— is pretty straightforward, this is only the beginning of the process. Where the resulting video is stored and how it is accessed and managed are some of the most important and costly factors in any BWC program. There are two basic op- tions: cloud or on-site storage.
Cloud storage may appear quite attractive because someone else is bearing the IT responsibilities, but it can come with a level of significant ongoing expense that some agencies will find unacceptable. It also invites questions of data security at a time when hacking has become all too frequent. Keep in mind that cloud storage requires signifi- cant bandwidth to get the information to the cloud because video is so memory-intensive.
On-site storage may appear preferable since it is under your control, but it’s probably not the best option if you have limited IT support and/or you are uncomfortable with your ability to properly store the data. Remember that video demands a huge amount of space and if you are stor- ing your own data, you also have to plan on a bullet-proof backup plan. One other consideration relevant to the cloud or on-site storage decision is the level of security required to transmit BWC data. This is an area of active discussion and some disagreement among the experts.
Networking
Check with agencies in your surrounding area to see what they are doing in regard to BWC. This tried-and-true method of law enforcement due diligence could prove in- valuable to your efforts. Talk to both the person responsible for rolling out the program (many agencies assign a project manager) and a person who is involved in the day-to-day operation of the program who can give you a realistic as- sessment of where the challenges have been. Ask both if they are satisfied with their chosen vendor,
the capability of the equipment, and the level of support provided. Ask if they would recommend the vendor and the equipment. Also ask if they would have done anything differently in their program’s rollout. Listen carefully to the responses in regard to rollout lessons because it’s incred- ibly beneficial when you can learn from someone else’s mis- takes. Ask about issues that will be relevant to your rollout such as dealing with the prosecutor’s office, public informa- tion requests, and whether they have a BWC policy. If you find an agency that has a system and program that
you like, ask about their procurement process. You may find there is an option to ‘piggyback’ on their contract and their procurement efforts will meet your jurisdiction’s pur- chasing requirements. If this is the case, it can save you a huge amount of time and paperwork. If you have already identified a specific vendor and equipment, ask if there is
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