040219 Aransas Pass Police Department (APPD) Body Cams Study Press Kit
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Releases Results from Aransas Pass Police Body Camera Footage Study
While research shows that a majority of law enforcement action does not involved force, there is a nationwide push to confront perceptions that police are abusing their power. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researchers have joined this ongoing conversation in an impactful way by studying 12 months of body camera footage from the Aransas Pass Police Department (APPD). The goal was twofold – first, to chronicle and classify the police-citizen interactions, and second, to determine whether specific factors (race/ethnicity, gender, who initiated initial contact, etc.) were correlated with the nature and outcomes of the interactions. For APPD, an additional goal was to use the results to create training programs for their officers. Ultimately, researchers found that force of any kind was exceedingly rare and police and citizen interactions in Aransas Pass were not influenced by gender or race. Instead, the likelihood of a citizen receiving a citation or getting arrested was most strongly tied with whether they were intoxicated or pulled over for a traffic violation. Of the 600 videos reviewed by researchers, an overwhelming majority ended in a positive outcome, such as a conversation.
Read MoreWhile research shows that a majority of law enforcement action does not involved force, there is a nationwide push to confront perceptions that police are abusing their power. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researchers have joined this ongoing conversation in an impactful way by studying 12 months of body camera footage from the Aransas Pass Police Department (APPD). The goal was twofold – first, to chronicle and classify the police-citizen interactions, and second, to determine whether specific factors (race/ethnicity, gender, who initiated initial contact, etc.) were correlated with the nature and outcomes of the interactions. For APPD, an additional goal was to use the results to create training programs for their officers. Ultimately, researchers found that force of any kind was exceedingly rare and police and citizen interactions in Aransas Pass were not influenced by gender or race. Instead, the likelihood of a citizen receiving a citation or getting arrested was most strongly tied with whether they were intoxicated or pulled over for a traffic violation. Of the 600 videos reviewed by researchers, an overwhelming majority ended in a positive outcome, such as a conversation.
