Exploring the Usability of African-Inspired Wearable Cameras Co-designed Through a Conflict Sensitive Design Approach

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are widely promoted to improve accountability, trust, and transparency in community policing. However, most existing BWC designs and deployment models largely reflect assumptions from the Global North and often overlook the cultural, infrastructural, and socio-political realities of African contexts, where relationships between police and citizens are frequently adversarial. This has affected the use of BWCs in community policing engagements in Nigeria, as existing designs do not account for the power imbalance among stakeholders. In a preliminary study, a conflict-sensitive design approach was adopted to co-design BWCs with Nigerian police officers and citizens, resulting in African-inspired BWC prototypes, that reflected their locally grounded design choices. A one-week diary study with 12 participants wearing the prototypes, was conducted across five scenarios in this study, along with focus group interviews. Findings reveal diverse device preferences, usage practices, and behavioral responses, highlighting locally aligned design opportunities for community policing technology designers.