4IR Meets Police Accountability

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is rapidly reshaping policing through technologies like body-worn cameras (BWCs), offering new ways to improve transparency and accountability in African law enforcement. This study explores how feasible and effective BWCs are in this context, with a focus on the South African Police Service (SAPS). Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Public Accountability Theory (PAT), strengthened by Lindberg’s framework, the research combines a qualitative literature review with comparative insights from South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. The findings show that BWCs can reduce misconduct, strengthen evidence, and improve police–community relations. However, their success is not guaranteed. Persistent challenges include high costs, weak data infrastructure, privacy risks, and uneven technological readiness. The study argues that implementation must be sensitive to Africa’s realities, especially historical mistrust in policing, governance weaknesses, and limited resources. To be effective, BWC programmes should prioritise pilot projects, strong legal frameworks, community engagement, and phased rollout strategies. BWCs can support more accountable and trusted policing, but only if they are carefully designed to balance technological innovation with democratic safeguards.