Smart Policing and the Use of Body Camera Technology: Unpacking South Africa’s Tenuous Commitment to Transparency

Abstract

In 2014, the Western Cape Department of Community Safety in South Africa launched the first pilot of the Smart Policing Project, which sought to reduce incidents of violence between private citizens and law enforcement officials by attaching body-worn cameras (BWCs) to a small group of traffic officers throughout the province. In light of rising allegations of police brutality and deep-seated tensions between citizens and law enforcement officials, the Smart Policing Project received widespread support across the country. However, despite the appearance of a strengthening in police oversight, the ability of BWCs to hold police officers to account for acts of misconduct or criminality depends largely upon the existence of institutional policies governing usage, and a robust legislative framework for accessing information held by the state. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to unpack South Africa’s tenuous commitment to transparency by juxtaposing the reactions of law enforcement officials to wearing BWCs owned and operated by the state, versus being recorded by cell phones owned and operated by private citizens. The article begins by examining the context of police oversight in South Africa in an effort to demonstrate the rationale for introducing BWCs 20 years post-Apartheid. It then moves on to highlight inconsistencies in South Africa’s right of access to information regime by exploring differences in the levels of protection afforded to records held by public bodies versus those held by private bodies under the country’s access to information legislation. The article concludes by discussing the impact of those protections on the utility of BWCs in South Africa, and making recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness of BWCs in strengthening openness and transparency in policing.