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their jobs or interact with the public? How <br />are they being used to monitor officer <br />performance? Has the added scrutiny <br />encouraged de -policing? How are trainers <br />using them? <br />DISCUSSION <br />Sean Smoot: In policing, when new <br />technology comes out, agencies tend <br />to lean on it, sometimes more than <br />they should. We saw this phenomenon <br />when less than lethal technology was <br />first adopted. Rather than deploy other <br />options, like de-escalation techniques <br />or soft hands-on techniques, officers <br />defaulted to the newest tool on their <br />belt. The result was overuse and over <br />reliance on conducted electrical weapon <br />use. Body cameras are a great tool <br />and, if used properly, likely one of the <br />best advances in policing. But cameras <br />should not be a replacement for good <br />first-line supervision that occurs in- <br />person in realtime. If sergeants substitute <br />retroactive reviews of camera footage <br />for proactive monitoring of officers in <br />the field, there are a host of opportunity <br />costs, including lost opportunities for <br />"on-the-job" "off the job" counseling, <br />training, and mentorship—things that <br />line officers desperately want and need. <br />Wendy Koslicki: Implementing BWCs <br />may not fundamentally change the field <br />of policing absent deeper changes at the <br />hiring and training levels. Body cameras <br />will likely become replicative technology, <br />meaning that their primary effects will be <br />to increase the efficiency of pre-existing <br />patterns of police behavior, rather than <br />transform the fundamental practices <br />and values of policing towards increased <br />transparency and accountability. <br />Body cameras are a great tool and, if <br />used properly, likely one of the best <br />advances in policing. But cameras <br />should not be a replacement for good <br />first-line supervision that occurs in- <br />person in real time, <br />Police Body Cameras: What Have We Learned Over Ten Years of Deployment? 1 13 <br />