A Critical Evaluation of the Pilot Program Regarding Body Worn Video Cameras by South Korean Police

Despite the widespread adoption of body worn video cameras by law enforcement agencies globally, very few research has been carried out to evaluate the effects of the use of those cameras. The South Korean police ran a pilot program of using body worn video cameras in Seoul for five months and found that frontline police officers were reluctant to use the cameras. This paper aims to explore the reasons behind this unpopularity and evaluate the efficacy of the use of the cameras in the South Korean context. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine police officers who have used the body worn video cameras during the pilot program. The findings suggested key restricting factors: (1) BWV cameras relative to smartphones were cumbersome to use, (2) BWV recordings did not reduce the paperwork load, and (3) BWV recordings could be accessed by the Inspection Division. Findings reveal that relevant policies need to be examined in a comprehensive manner and that it is of importance to prioritize the problems and set out to solve those problems accordingly.