Police Body Worn Cameras in Rio's Favelas: Can Technology Reduce Violence?

In 2016, a team of three researchers based at Stanford University —Beatriz Magaloni, Vanessa Melo, and Gustavo Robles— conducted a groundbreaking experiment in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro's largest favela (informal settlement), to test whether body-worn cameras (BWC) could reduce police violence and improve community relations. The findings reveal that body cameras hold great promise, but they also come with serious challenges. Before the experiment started, one police unit commander ominously told the researchers: “If you give body cameras to my officers, this will stop them from doing their job.”