An Investigation On American Civil Union

The main purpose of the law enforcement is to maintain order and enforcing the laws. The police are given one toughest tasks in the world, and that is with preservation wellbeing of the public. When dealing with people that those that violate the law and situations that creates, the police are authorized to use as much as force as necessary and within reason to protect themselves and others. It is sometimes quiet difficult for the public to understand what is reasonable when it comes to the use of force. It is very easy to watch a video and judge when you are not in the situation or do not have the level of training that officers are given.

Video Footage has the potential to expose officer misconduct and exonerate civilians whose actions have been falsely accused by officers. In the case of John Crawford III, going into his local Walmart, just wanting to spend quality time with his family roasting s’mores. Officers had over 200 video cameras showing he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but they refused to look at them. Even though he had an unloaded pellet gun that he picked up off the shelf. Why shoot, instead of tasering him. (Harvard Law Review N.A., 2015). Even with some witnesses around that still didn’t stop New York Police officers from using excessive force on Eric Garner. His death was recorded, and the officers were indicted. There are many cases where officers are accused of excessive force such as PEOPLE vs ATKINSON. In cases such as this, there are officers stating force was necessary and defendants saying that unnecessary force had been used. The use of cameras helps to determine without prejudice and protect all

A man walks down a road, and is confronted by a police officer wearing a body worn camera. The man and the officer exchange words, and soon after a physical altercation ensues. According to the man’s statement, the officer was out of line, assaulted him, and his privacy was violated by the use of the camera. The officer’s statement, however, said that he was trying to question the man about being intoxicated and the usage of vulgar language, when the subject then began threatening him and ultimately began the attack on him; the officer continued to state he used the minimum amount of force necessary to minimize the threat. The man was ultimately convicted by the video evidence. Police officers feel that wearing body worn cameras will provide all the necessary evidence in any given situation, and protect them from public scrutiny, while the public believes that their privacy is being violated, and at too high of a financial cost. Police officers and public citizens must each concede to find the truth.

Police have many roles to take on an everyday basis. The main goal for an officer is to keep criminals off the streets and to try and maintain a safe environment for people to live. Many people disagree with some of the decisions officers make to enforce these rules and causes a lot of controversy. Today many people don't respect our police officers because of actions made by others. A major issue today is police use of force, stop and frisk.

In the aftermath of the Rodney king beating a lot of things changed with police on the field. “In the wake of the Rodney king case; cameras became standard equipment in patrol cars all over the nation” (Marcou). In doing this police now cannot cover up an incident that they were a part of. “As far as citizens recording police, there is still much disagreement about how it should be handled” (Marcou). Nowhere in the constitution does it say the citizens cannot film stuff that is happening outside their house. “When it comes to training, officers are told “have your camera going at all times. A professional police officer has nothing to fear from being recorded and always act as if you are being recorded, because in today’s world you probably are” (Marcou). Thanks to cases like Rodney Kings, law enforcement is much more aware of misuse of force in the field.

There are a lot of incidents that happen between police, and criminals. Always a mix up, confusion, miscommunication, and sadly, police brutality, but police always get the benefit of the doubt because of lack of evidence. A incident happened way back in around 2009, it was actually on January 1st. A twenty-two year old young man named Oscar Grant was shot at Fruitvale Station, by an officer that “thought” he was using a taser, but actually used a gun. If that officer would have had a body camera on, he would’ve been more aware of what he was doing, and he would have been caught sooner because they would have been able to see, and tell that Grant wasn’t being defiant.

Historically speaking, authorities of the law were never in a position where their professional duties and their character as a public servant of the law were demeaned in a way that there needs to be constant surveillance of them and the people whom they come into contact with. There was never a need of documenting every encounter you had with a civilian before. In this day in age, things have certainly changed, and the past has always been something society likes to change and make better even if it raises concerns. Due to all the violent police stories that has surfaced in the past decade, the idea of having police officers wear video cameras as a part of their uniform while on duty has resulted in a radically divergent account of society’s future. The law may uphold cops to wear cameras while working, but is this really the best decision? This topic is very controversial and may create issues with cops and the civilians they try and protect in the future.

Police officers are held accountable for everything they do. The public is always watching. Police officers are members of the communities they work in. They are just paid to protect and serve their neighbors within that community.

Currently, the trend is when being approached by an officer or seeing someone being harassed the average person will pull out their cell phone to record the situation taking place. The social climate has shifted to one where much of the historic trust that has been put in police officers has become questioned following the events in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York (shah, 2016). For example the case of the shooting of Walter Scott. Walter Scott was pulled over for a broken tail light but ran from officer Michael Slager. The officer ran after him, and they had a small scuffle over the officer 's taser, but the victim continued to run away when the officer pulled out his gun and shot Walter Scott eight times. Once Scott was lying face down the officer called for backup and picked up an item from the ground which was found to be the taser and placed it next to Mr.Scott 's body. He planted his taser next to me.scott who was lying on the ground. The District Court for the District of Connecticut identified that the Circuit Courts of Appeals had been split as to whether or not the right to record police activity is a constitutional right that is clearly established such that it can defeat a claim of qualified immunity when an officer inhibits those actions (shah, 2016). When a video is recorded by a staff member during an active investigation that clearly shows the officer violating the victim 's

Police officers continue to put their lives on the line to protect others. They don’t even know you and everyday they wake up, put on their uniforms, and set out to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. It is not their fault you or someone you know broke the law and got a ticket or was arrested – it's your own fault; you chose to break the law, that police officer was only doing his job. "Police officers take risks and suffer inconveniences to protect the lives, defend civil liberties, secure the safety of fellow citizens, and they endure such risks and tolerate such inconveniences on behalf of strangers."

Second, the use of camera footage can help to train officers in handling future interactions with citizens (Lights, Camera, Action: The age of body cameras in law enforcement). The purpose of it is to show someone’s experience with the public so that other officers will make less mistakes. This creates officers that are better trained and aware of different circumstances that may occur. The public can benefit from this because situations will be handled with less force and deadly actions by the police. It is important that the police maintain the safety of

Awhile ago I watched this video where there was a camera recording in a interrogation room, the officer was being very rough with the victim. She was trying to get her one phone call and the officer kept pushing her into a chair. After this happening, the officer turned off the camera. When it got turned back on, the victim was on the floor with two black eyes, swollen lips and lying in a puddle of her own blood. Paramedics came in and took her out of the room. I believe this video was a complete and great example of officers abusing their power. I think that even if camera's have to be around for criminal reasons, that officers should not be able to have the power to turn them off or on. This is not fair to the people, officers shouldn't even think of abusing their power the way this officer

Police departments, at times, refuse to release the police cam footage to the public. In 2014, Laquan McDonald was shot and killed by police for the possession of a knife. This was captured on dash cam footage, however, the Chicago Police Department refused to release the tape to the public. Therefore, protests emitted and hate was thrown at the CPD for accusations that they were trying to hide something from the public. After a long battle with the public, first and foremost, the CPD finally gave in and released the footage. Issues concerning the police cam being turned off have also risen in the news. Recently, a St. Louis officer shut off the dash cam and choked a civilian after reports of a fight at a local bar. Afterwards, the civilian was led to a hospital and the officer on a brief criminal investigation. The officer was put back on duty, though. Based off of my opinion, the police officer should not be a police officer. We need to know what is going on and what this officer did was unethical and wrong to shut down a cam, showing that the government is trying to hide to avoid community backlash. Aren’t police officers supposed to keep us safe? Adding on to all this controversy, it is almost impossible to tell if a footage has been altered by police. Sarah Bland, who was stopped, was a victim for an allegedly fake dash cam video of her arrest released by police in 2015. The big problem with the footage

The article, Accountability Vs. Privacy, written by the senior policy analyst of ACLU, Jay Stanley, talks about the police carrying body cameras and the guidelines that police should go by when using them. Stanley’s first guideline that officers should follow is to let the citizen know they are being recorded. He states that due to the fact that the body camera is attached to the police officer it may record places where privacy is expected like in someone’s home or apartment. The American civil liberties union of Illinois suggests that the police officer should notify the citizen that they are being reordered. The next guideline Stanley suggests is police officers should not be able to control what is recorded. According to the article, the

Seeing the side of those who think differently can be very difficult, therefore think with an open mind when trying to be unbiased. For those who believe that police are only doing their jobs look at why they would be certain of that. Police lock up criminals and if that involves using force to get them hand cuffed or in custody then that is what will happen.