IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/juecon/v141y2024ics0094119023000086.html

Monitoring Police with Body-Worn Cameras: Evidence from Chicago

Author

Listed:
  • Ferrazares, Toshio

Abstract

Using data from the Chicago Police Department on complaints filed by civilians and reports of force filed by officers, this paper estimates the effect of body-worn cameras (BWCs) of officer and civilian behavior. Using a two-way fixed effects design, I find BWCs are associated with a 29% reduction in use-of-force complaints, driven by white officer-black civilian complaints. Additionally, I find a 34% reduction in officers reporting striking civilians and a large though less significant reduction in officer firearm usage, potential mechanisms for the reduction in complaints. Importantly, I find no change in officer injury or force from civilians. However, I find evidence of de-policing as officers make fewer drug-related arrests following BWC adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferrazares, Toshio, 2024. "Monitoring Police with Body-Worn Cameras: Evidence from Chicago," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:141:y:2024:i:c:s0094119023000086
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2023.103539
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119023000086
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103539?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    2. Mark Hoekstra & CarlyWill Sloan, 2022. "Does Race Matter for Police Use of Force? Evidence from 911 Calls," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(3), pages 827-860, March.
    3. Christopher A. Parsons & Johan Sulaeman & Michael C. Yates & Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2011. "Strike Three: Discrimination, Incentives, and Evaluation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1410-1435, June.
    4. Aaron Chalfin & Justin McCrary, 2018. "Are U.S. Cities Underpoliced? Theory and Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(1), pages 167-186, March.
    5. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    6. Kyle Rozema & Max Schanzenbach, 2019. "Good Cop, Bad Cop: Using Civilian Allegations to Predict Police Misconduct," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 225-268, May.
    7. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    8. Emily K. Weisburst, 2019. "Police Use of Force as an Extension of Arrests: Examining Disparities across Civilian and Officer Race," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 152-156, May.
    9. Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2019. "An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(3), pages 1210-1261.
    10. Morgan C. Williams Jr. & Nathan Weil & Elizabeth A. Rasich & Jens Ludwig & Hye Chang & Sophia Egrari, 2021. "Body-Worn Cameras in Policing: Benefits and Costs," NBER Working Papers 28622, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Suat Çubukçu & Nusret M. Sahin & Erdal Tekin & Volkan Topalli, 2021. "Body-Worn Cameras and Adjudication of Citizen Complaints of Police Misconduct," NBER Working Papers 29019, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sunny R. Karim & Morten {O}rregaard Nielsen & James G. MacKinnon & Matthew D. Webb, 2026. "Improved Inference for CSDID Using the Cluster Jackknife," Papers 2602.12043, arXiv.org.
    2. Roth, Jonathan & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Bilinski, Alyssa & Poe, John, 2023. "What’s trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 2218-2244.
    3. Bruno Ferman, 2023. "Inference in difference‐in‐differences: How much should we trust in independent clusters?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(3), pages 358-369, April.
    4. Roxanne Kovacs & Maurice Dunaiski & Janne Tukiainen, 2023. "The effect of compulsory face mask policies on community mobility in Germany," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 125(4), pages 1027-1055, October.
    5. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Churchill, Brandyn F. & Marcus, Michelle, 2023. "Bad lighting: Effects of youth indoor tanning prohibitions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Jack (Peiyao) Ma & Andrea Mantovani & Carlo Reggiani & Annette Broocks & Néstor Duch-Brown, 2024. "The Price Effects of Prohibiting Price Parity Clauses: Evidence from International Hotel Groups," Economics Series Working Papers 1043, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    7. Blesse, Sebastian & Diegmann, André, 2022. "The place-based effects of police stations on crime: Evidence from station closures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    8. Dong, Zhanyu & Cai, Jiayi & Li, Xuchao & Luan, Mengna, 2025. "Firm-level impacts and recovery dynamics following a public health crisis: Lessons from China’s SARS experience," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    9. Meinhofer, Angélica & Witman, Allison E. & Hinde, Jesse M. & Simon, Kosali, 2021. "Marijuana liberalization policies and perinatal health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Kai Fischer & J. James Reade & W. Benedikt Schmal, 2021. "The Long Shadow of an Infection: COVID-19 and Performance at Work," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2021-17, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    11. Alexander Karaivanov & Dongwoo Kim & Shih En Lu & Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2022. "COVID-19 vaccination mandates and vaccine uptake," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(12), pages 1615-1624, December.
    12. Balmford, Ben & Collins, Joseph & Day, Brett & Lindsay, Luke & Peacock, James, 2023. "Pricing rules for PES auctions: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    13. Makofske, Matthew, 2020. "Pretextual Traffic Stops and Racial Disparities in their Use," MPRA Paper 100792, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Karaivanov, Alexander & Lu, Shih En & Shigeoka, Hitoshi & Chen, Cong & Pamplona, Stephanie, 2021. "Face masks, public policies and slowing the spread of COVID-19: Evidence from Canada," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Yuji Mizushima & Christopher Whaley & Hao Yu, 2025. "The Repeal of Noneconomic Damage Caps and Medical Malpractice Insurance Premiums," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(12), pages 2223-2237, December.
    16. Cardinali, Rebecca & Lusher, Lester & Taylor, Rebecca L.C. & Villas-Boas, Sofia B., 2025. "Does automation reduce stigma? The effect of self-checkout register adoption on purchasing decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    17. Midgette, Greg & Spreen, Thomas Luke & Porter, Lauren C. & Reuter, Peter & Hitchens, Brooklynn K., 2024. "A Model to Assess the Feasibility of 911 Call Diversion Programs," SocArXiv kct4y_v1, Center for Open Science.
    18. Omberg, Tucker, 2024. "The labor market impacts of ridesharing on American Cities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Damian Clarke & Kathya Tapia-Schythe, 2021. "Implementing the panel event study," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 21(4), pages 853-884, December.
    20. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • H0 - Public Economics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:141:y:2024:i:c:s0094119023000086. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622905 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.