Policing in the Age of Modern Surveillance

More than 20 years ago, a training officer gave me some extremely prescient advice. "Do the job as if you're being recorded and as if someone's always watching you," he said. "Because if you do, if you keep that in mind, it's more likely that you'll do the right thing and won't push the envelope." I thought that was solid advice in my early years, and it still holds true today. What I didn't realize at the time was that he was predicting the future.

If you've been on the job for less than a decade, you might not recognize the difference. But the rest of us have lived through one of the biggest cultural shifts our profession has ever seen. What started as CCTV in casinos, hotels, and stores has evolved into an environment where everyone, from police officers to the public, is recording nearly every interaction.

Simply put: Everything you do as a police officer and everything you say as a police officer can be recorded and reviewed. To those of you with a few years on the job, this is just reality. For those of us who remember a different era, we are still adapting and learning to navigate an environment shaped by constant surveillance and understanding both the risks and protections that come with it.

Well before our department made body-worn cameras (BWCs) mandatory, the LVPPA saw the writing on the wall. We knew that if we didn't get ahead of it, BWCs would be implemented without any benefit to our members. Through negotiation, we secured a 1% pay increase tied to the implementation of BWCs in 2017. Since then, we've continued to adapt to an ever-evolving surveillance landscape.

In the years since BWCs became mandatory, we've seen dramatic improvements in cellphone video quality, the widespread adoption of home and business surveillance systems, license plate reader technology that can track officer movement, and even private security personnel equipped with their own BWCs. So what does this mean for us? Private moments on duty are no longer private.

Unfortunately, we've seen instances where officers, alone in their vehicles and using their mobile data terminals during a call, say something under their breath, only to later find themselves answering questions at the Internal Affairs Bureau about that very comment. Remember, turning off your BWC doesn't mean you're no longer being recorded. You should operate under the assumption that anything you do or say while on duty could be captured.

Members should always remember that it's not just what happens in the heat of a call that's being recorded. Every movement, from the time you receive the call to the moment it's resolved, can be reviewed. That's something we must keep in mind as we respond to help our communities.

I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that BWCs have clear benefits. They've exonerated officers in critical incidents, including officer-involved shootings, and have supported officers' accounts in citizen complaints. Unfortunately, those outcomes rarely result in recognition. Too often, the focus remains on the negative.

We are never going back to the days before BWCs, smartphones, and doorbell cameras. The digital footprint in 2026 is just too vast. Someone's always watching and listening, but if you do your job with that understanding front of mind, you'll do the right thing — just as my training officer advised many years ago.