What Police Wear and Why It Matters: Tasers, Cameras, Uniforms and Experimental Criminology

Dr Barak Ariel The uniforms and equipment of contemporary police officers have dramatically changed since the turn of the millennium. Frontline officers in western democracies carry and use technology at increasing rates. WiFi-trackers, airwave radios, DNA kits, tablets, tasers, drones, body-worn cameras and augmented reality headsets are becoming standard parts of the gear. This seminar reviews the evidence from a series of randomised controlled trials on police technologies, and how they changed the ways in which the police and the public interact.