The use of body cameras by police has become a topic of widespread interest and debate, particularly against the backdrop of increased scrutiny of law enforcement practices. Amid calls for greater transparency and accountability, body cameras have emerged as a practical tool promising a constructive solution. However, one question remains relatively unanswered in public discourse: "When did police start wearing body cameras?". This in-depth review aims to shed light on the shifts in policy and practice.

A Visible Shift towards Accountability

The journey towards adopting body cameras within police departments has not been a linear process. Instead, it has been punctuated by individual department policies, state laws, federal initiatives, and public consultation.

The first notable use of body cameras in law enforcement began in the United Kingdom in 2005. However, it wasn＊t until 2014 that body cameras became an increasingly common aspect of the American police uniform. This shift was largely in response to public outcry following several high-profile incidents involving police force use.

National Momentum and the American Landscape

The national momentum for police body cameras truly kicked off in December 2014, when then-President Barack Obama responded to the growing public unrest by announcing a three-year $263 million spending package aimed at increasing the use of body-worn cameras among police departments nationwide. This initiative formed a cornerstone in the drive to rebuild trust between police and community members.

The earmarked funds provided incentives for police departments not already using body cameras to begin investing in and deploying this technology. As of now, however, there isn't a national directive mandating the use of body cameras across all US police departments. This decision is typically handled at the state, city, or department level, making the implementation timeframes and requirements vary greatly.

State-Level Camera Adoption

Several states started implementing laws requiring police officers to wear body cameras following the announcement of the federal initiative. South Carolina became the first to enact such a law in June 2015. Numerous other states have since established their own laws regarding the use of body-worn cameras within their police departments, including Nevada, New Jersey, and New Mexico.

However, the move toward the required wearing of body cameras hasn't been uniformly embraced or uniformly required across all states. Instead, the decision to adopt body cameras often falls to individual law enforcement agencies, sometimes guided by state legislation that might recommend but not mandate their use.

This decentralization has impacted the wider adoption of body cameras and has led to a fragmented landscape in terms of both the rate of adoption and the specific guidelines for body camera use.

The Current State of Play

In the current context, although thousands of police departments now have body camera programs, this use is not universal, and there are considerable variations in policies guiding when and how these cameras should be used.

Moreover, although body cameras have been widely touted as a panacea for many policing challenges, their impact is still being assessed. Questions around privacy, data management and usage, the costs associated with the cameras and subsequent data storage, and the impact on police-community relations continue to frame the conversation on body camera usage.

As this review has documented, the adoption of body cameras by police departments is not a simple historical point. Instead, it is an ongoing process characterized by key moments of progress and a patchwork of policies across departments and jurisdictions. While we can note 2014 as a pivotal year on a national scale in the United States, the evolution is continuous, with policy change and equipment upgrades as departments endlessly strive to balance accountability, operative efficiency, and community trust.