Bielefeld

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_{Our Team in
Universität Bielefeld:}

_{Dr. Simon Egbert}

_{Jasper Janssen M.A.}

_{Nele Dörl}

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_{The research team of the Bodycams sub-project, based at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University, is empirically investigating the increasing implementation of body-worn recording devices (so-called bodycams) in German police authorities, as well as their influence on police work and police training.}

_{In the context of the new visibility of the police, bodycam footage potentially opens up a new approach to police action and interacts closely with bystander videos on smartphones. Against this background, the sub-project focuses on two interwoven strands of research: On the one hand, it looks at the effects of increased visual documentation on police work and the social relationship between police and society. Secondly, the potential of the resulting video recordings for the training and further education of police officers will be investigated.}

_{Visual technologies in everyday police work}

_{Bodycams create a new form of visibility that enables both retrospective evaluations and systematic reflection on police actions. In this context, we are interested in how video-based materials are used in police training.}

_{The questions we are addressing in this project include:}

• _{To what extent does the increased visual documentation change the police’s self-image and operational procedures?}
• _{What significance do the videos have for the training and further education of police officers? What potential is seen here?}
• _{What teaching and learning methods are created through the integration of visual technologies?}
• _{How are videos used to train police actions in interaction with citizens?}

_{Research methods}

_{In order to investigate these questions, we conduct participant observations, including observations at police schools. In addition, we are interviewing police students, trainers and experts from police practice and related professions (forensics, courts, etc.). We also want to accompany and interview police officers about their use and perception of bodycams.}

_{International cooperation for further technological development}

_{The aim of the project is not only to understand the effects of the new visibility on police practice, but also to contribute to the development of innovative tools for analyzing and reflecting on video-based police work. In cooperation with our project partners from Cardiff University, video analysis and simulation tools will be developed to enrich police training pedagogically and promote international best practices. To this end, software solutions will be jointly developed for the annotation and didactic use of video recordings, which will enable in-depth reflection on police actions.}

_{Relevant publications}

• _{Egbert, Simon (i.E.): Police, Politics and the New Technologies. In: Terpstra, Jan B.; de Maillard, Jacques (Hrsg.): Handbook Politics of Policing. Cheltenham: Edward Edgar Publishing.}
• _{Egbert, Simon; Janssen, Jasper (i.E.): Polizeiliche Bodycams als videoanalytischer Gegenstand. In: Wilke, René; Knoblauch, Hubert (Hrsg.): Audio-visuelle Daten in der empirischen qualitativen Sozialforschung: Erhebung – Analyse – Nutzung – Transkription. Weinheim/Basel: Beltz Juventa.}
• _{Berger, Tom; Egbert, Simon (i.E.): Bodycams – Neue (Un-)Sichtbarkeit und polizeiliche Fehlerkultur. In: Seidensticker, Kai (Hrsg.): Fehlerkultur in der Polizei. Ausprägung, Einflussfaktoren und Möglichkeitsräume.}
• _{von der Burg, León, Janssen, Jasper, Ebenau, Johannes (2024): Training Beyond Boundaries? Virtual Reality Scenario Training as Worldmaking for Complex, Life-Threatening Situations. In: Morawski, Michael, Wolff-Seidel, Sebastian (Hrsg.) Gaming and Geography. Key Challenges in Geography. Springer, Cham.}
• _{Janssen, Jasper; Ebenau, Johannes; von der Burg, León (2023): Training der Zukunft? Virtual Reality Trainings bei Deutschen Polizeibehörden. In: Bürgerrechte und Polizei/CILIP (131). Institut für Bürgerrechte und öffentliche Sicherheit e.V.. Berlin, S. 76-87.}
• _{Tuma, René; Egbert, Simon; Reichertz, Jo (2022): Videobilder und die Mediatisierung des Polizierens: Praktiken, Aneignung und Folgen. In: Feltes, Thomas; Klaas, Katrin; Thüne, Martin (Hrsg.): Digitale Polizei. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, S. 263-280.}