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Police departments around the region have sunk big money into body cameras for their officers: $200,000 in Hanover, $400,000 in Henrico in 2015, and so on. The cameras also have imposed non-fiscal costs. In Chesterfield, they have generated so much footage — thousands upon thousands of hours — that the prosecutor’s office has been overwhelmed.

But cameras might redeem their costs if they offer substantial benefits. Advocates around the country contend that recording police interactions with residents would improve behavior on both sides of the lens: Officers and civilians would treat each other with more restraint and respect if they knew their behavior was being watched.