Body-worn camera footage analysis of use-of-force encounters–a closer look at the paradoxical effect of visual warnings

This note seeks to clarify the mechanisms underlying a prior randomised controlled trial (Assaraf et al., 2024) showing that officers wearing body-worn cameras (BWCs) with a visual warning (yellow stickers) used force more often than officers without such a visual warning. We examine whether this effect resulted from lower procedural justice exhibited by officers with the yellow stickers. All recorded BWC footage of use-of-force encounters (n = 48) was analysed. Comparisons and regression analyses were conducted on four procedural justice components (neutrality, voice, trustworthy motives, and respect), and situational opportunities for procedural justice. Application of procedural justice was observed in approximately 53% of all use-of-force cases, with no significant differences between the groups. However, officers with a visual warning on their BWCs encountered significantly more opportunities to use procedural justice than in control conditions but failed to act on them. The mismatch between increased opportunities to enact procedural justice and officers’ failure to capitalise on those opportunities helps explain the higher rates of force when intensified visual cues from BWCs are present in police–public encounters.