ABSTRACT
The futuristic film RoboCop may have seemed improbable at the time of its 1987 release, but the film’s prediction that the cyborg cop was the “future of law enforcement” now feels eerily accurate (Verhoeven 1987). The contemporary widespread adoption of body-worn video (BWV) devices among police organizations across North America is moving officers a step closer to RoboCop’s fictional Murphy. BWV devices are attached directly to the officer’s body and are designed to record their interactions from a first-person perspective, representing a transition toward technologically extended officers.
Following several very public instances of police use of force, particularly in the United States, BWV technologies have been presented as the solution to police misconduct and the answer to public outcry for more oversight and accountability in policing. Caught up in context where officers and their actions are increasingly visible, these cameras are an attempt by police organizations to regain control over the narratives surrounding their officers. Having historically occupied a privileged position mostly outside of the surveillant gaze, citizens wielding camera-equipped mobile phones have pulled police, and their actions, into public view. The adoption of these wearables turns officers into mobile cameras, ensuring an official record of events from their perspective. BWV devices represent the embodiment of the surveillant assemblage and risk mentality, pushing officers to become the camera in an attempt to mitigate future scrutiny. As a result, the contemporary officer is not simply a cyborg – their embodiment, and subsequent agency within the assemblage, is deeply political and motivated.
