70% of Maine Police Departments Use Body-Worn Cameras, 21% Are Considering It: MSAC Report

Maine Statistical Analysis Center (MSAC) released a report Monday on the use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) among police departments throughout the state, revealing that the nearly all police departments throughout the state are either utilizing this technology or considering doing so.

The group did, however, expressly recommend against pursuing state-mandated BWC adoption, instead suggesting that law enforcement agencies ought to continue incorporating this technology at their own pace.

This study was launched by MSAC — of the Catherine Cutler Institute at the University of Southern Maine — late last year at the request of Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey as a followup to a 2021 report that had also been completed at the Attorney General’s request.

As of January 2024, 70 percent of Maine law enforcement agencies that responded to MSAC’s survey — representing 77 percent of all agencies statewide — reported using BWCs, while an additional 21 percent indicated that they were considering adding them to their equipment.

A majority of law enforcement agencies that responded employee fewer than twenty officers, with 31 percent employing less than ten officers and 36 percent employing between ten and twenty.

The proportion of respondents using BWCs is noticeably up from three years ago, when just 48 percent said they were currently using BWCs and a quarter were considering their adoption. At that time, 27 percent said they were neither using nor considering BWCs.

Despite this, MSAC cautions against drawing any firm conclusions from these figures alone because “those who opted out [of the survey] this year were not a random selection.” Those who indicated in 2021 that they were not considering the adoption of BWCs were far more likely to opt out of taking MSAC’s survey in 2024.

Among those who completed both years’ surveys, however, the number of departments reporting BWC usage increased 36 percent, while the share of law enforcement agencies not considering them dropped by 68 percent.

Consequently, MSAC suggests that despite the sampling differences, there is still strong evidence that BWC usage has increased significantly in the state since 2021.

Although nearly two-thirds of responding agencies reported the annual cost associated with BWCs at $10,000 or less, the study found that the devices place a significant financial burden on smaller departments and municipalities.

The report goes on to conclude, however, that “the benefits outweigh the cost in terms of greater public confidence/trust in law enforcement.”

Cost was cited as a primary consideration by 89 percent of those who are not currently utilizing BWC technology, followed by victim privacy at 29 percent.

While the costs associated with training, upgrades, and staff time associated with the BWCs were aligned with expectations, while nearly half of departments said that ongoing service costs (e.g., software updates or technical support), cloud storage costs, and hardware costs exceeded expectations.

Nearly all law enforcement agencies (93 percent) with BWCs cited “accountability and transparency when perceived misconduct” as a major benefit of the technology, as well as “impact on complaints filed” (84 percent), “trust and perception by constituency” (77 percent), and “impact on use of force incidents” (77 percent).

96 percent of BWC users also indicated that the footage has a positive evidentiary impact, with an additional 70 percent suggesting that the cameras improve officers’ physical and mental health.

Some “gaps and areas of inconsistency” in Maine with respect to BWCs were also highlighted in the report, such as “a lack of consistency and clarity” concerning how long videos should be retained and how they should be released in compliance with public records laws.

While 20 percent of departments said that BWC videos are stored for up to a year, 23 percent said they keep footage for over a year and the remaining 57 percent said that retention times vary, saying that “it depends.”

According to MSAC’s survey, law enforcement agencies have BWC policies with varying levels of detail, some of which provide no guidance on how to address requests for access to BWC footage. It was also revealed that recording policies differ significantly from department to department, resulting in a lack of consistency between municipalities as to when interactions are recorded.

MSAC expressly recommends against adopting a state mandate for BWCs because the “cost of such an unfunded mandate would be too burdensome.” Since this technology has “become the norm” in Maine — and departments are likely to “continue to adopt them at their own pace” — they suggest that “statewide guidance would be useful.”

The report also recommends encouraging the use of federal funding to assist in the adoption of BWCs and establishing “minimum standards” for the policies and training associated with BWCs to improve consistency statewide.

“Body-worn cameras are widely supported by the public and are being utilized at higher rates than ever by law enforcement agencies,” said Attorney General Frey in a statement Monday. “They are a critical tool in assessing equitable policing and ensuring public confidence in law enforcement.”

“This study gives us a Maine-specific baseline to continue important conversations with law enforcement agencies, policymakers and the public about improving our systems,” Frey concluded.

Click Here to Read the MSAC’s Full Report