ARANSAS PASS, Texas — Many police departments across the Coastal Bend and around the country have been using body cameras for quite a while now. They are being used to settle disputes on what exactly happened between an officer and the public to reduce complaints against police.
"Now the public wants them to solve problems of their own behavior," Social Scientist Dr. Wendi Pollock from TAMUCC said. "The public is demanding that the police look at themselves."
Dr. Pollock and other researchers teamed up to go through a random selection of body camera footage from the Aransas Pass Police Department.
"Released to them [AP Police] a very detailed report of not only real problems they were having with their officers, but any patterns of behavior that we see from the officers," Dr. Pollock said.
AP Police Chief Eric Blanchard told 3News that his officers didn't even know their interactions with the public were ever going to be used as part of a research study.
"From one person to the next, one sex to the next, there were no disparaging interactions," Dr. Blanchard said. "There was no differentiation from race to ethnicity or sex and I'm very proud of that."
Researchers said that AP PD is the first of what they hope will be many police departments who will allow them to use their scientific knowledge to help bridge the gap that sometimes exists between police and public.
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