Body Cameras And Police Brutality

“There have been other high-profile instances of officers not turning on cameras. One officer involved in the shooting of a 22-year-old black man in the small city of Saratoga Springs, Utah, in September didn't turn on his body camera. A second officer involved in the incident had no camera” (Jackson). Body Cameras could help officers make their jobs easier by keeping civilians more civil. Body Cameras would help show if they unnecessary force against civilians. The more use of body cameras would help improve behaviors of officers who are using excessive force for no

Across the country a growing number of legislative departments have been debating about the pros and cons of police body cameras. This paper will further explore benefits, as well as the downfalls of using such devices. This paper will also look at specific cases and examine whether or not body cameras were helpful in various situations. It will examine if they were a deterrent in cases dealing with police brutality and domestic violence. It also looks at how they could be misused and assisting some officers in covering up their corrupt behavior.

To peep or not to peep, that is the question being asked by many regarding police body cameras in communities. The topic of police brutality is a rising issue in today’s society. Several questions have arose over the use of police body cameras and whether they are a good or bad idea. Police body cameras have has a variety of concern to many communities regarding their potential. Every city has a different trust and relationship for their police force and these concerns vary depending on the community. People have the concern regarding privacy, protection, and impact on the community and more. After researching the problems caused by Police body cameras as well as its background, the current state of the issue, and the potential solutions, it is clear that communities need to bring a solution to this situation.Such as laws, policies, rules, and more to control this new information.

Body cameras in policing are still new, but more and more agencies are beginning to implement this technology into their line of work. At first police officers were very hesitant to wear these body cameras because they were afraid they would infringe themselves and give away their own privacy. Later, as body cameras were beginning to see more use in the work place, officers began to realize that these very own body cameras that they once thought would only cause themselves harm would actual prove to be useful in a variety of situations. Some of these situations can be citizen complaints, to even backing up an officers use of force. Body cameras can be the one sole thing that can give

Body cameras are proven to make policemen act better while they’re are on duty. “Police officers "tend to behave a little better"(Kon, Body Cameras for Police Officers). if they know their behavior is being recorded on camera” stated author Tsin Yen Kon. Police will act better cause they know they are being “watched”. Just like when a student has a parent to sit in their class, they act very well, police do the same. Police will also act right, because they don’t want to lose their jobs or get fired because some careless mistake that they made while on camera. “When police officers are acutely aware that their behavior is being monitored (because they turn on the cameras), and when officers tell citizens that the cameras are recording their behavior, everyone behaves better” (Knickerbocker). Brad Knickerbocker, the author, explains how both sides of the camera, police, and criminal will have an effect on their behavior because they know that they are being watched, and recorded. When people know they are being watched, it is like they get scared, because they don't want anything to be used against them. Although cameras will make police act better, people will still think that police brutality will still happen.

In February 2012, the Rialto California police department started supplying their officers with cameras they could clip on to their uniforms. At any given time, about half of their active duty officers wore these cameras. They found, in a twelve month period, that the department overall "had an 88 percent decline in the number of complaints filed against the officers". (Stross, R. 2013, April 6). They also had a 60 percent decline in the use of force by officers. They also found that officers wearing a camera were half as likely to use force as oppose to officers not wearing one. This is clear evidence that police wearing body cameras is a good

Police brutality has become a major issue in the United States causing people to believe that officers do not protect and serve. There has been many questions of how we can solve this problem. One of the many questions people ask is “Should all police officers wear body cameras?” By police officers wearing body cameras it can make poor communities become safer and help communities have trust with the police. Also, body cameras can protect police officer when they get into bad confrontation.

Some of the ways that police abuse the law is by creating unneeded tickets, wrongfully taking others possessions and using excessive force, usually referred to as “police brutality.” In some cases, allegations of police brutality are false; however, some officers use unnecessary force and innocent people suffer. In America, there are numerous cases of law enforcers that harass innocent citizens physically, mentally or verbally. Police men and women are supposed to prevent crime, not create it. “One of the main reasons that police brutality occurs is due to the mental, as well as physical, health of the officer. One of the underlying causes of these syndromes or states of being is the lack of wages, which is brought on by less funding to the police” (Cao). Dashboard cameras are one attempt to help stop police abuse but they are easily able to be removed and turned off and are under the control of the officer. If the officer did abuse somebody he could erase the footage on the camera before he even got back to the department. A new, better, solution is mounting Point of View (P.O.V.) cameras on the officers with a live feed leading to one central computer in charge of monitoring these cameras. Daniel B Wood, a professor at the University of Texas A&M, stated in the article “Why The Police Are Hard To Police,” “Mounting cameras on a police officer through federal funding will lower the amount of criminals that were not convicted because of a lack of

This issue needs to be attended to now because this problem is growing across the U.S. and no justice is being served for most excessive force cases due to the lack of evidence and the rights that police officers have. This issue needs to be addressed because it is starting to cause problems within the communities and for the police. Officers gets bashed on due to the view everybody have on them, and this is affecting the fair officers as well. They don’t get looked upon as friendly anymore, but enemies which causes citizens to retaliate. The communities are not at rest with police officers and riots have broken out due to unsolved excessive force cases and there are a large amount of people protesting for justice to be served.

Therefore, law enforcement has begun to place cameras on cops to observe and seek justice to officers as well as citizens. According to, Cops and Body Worn Cameras by Vivian Elliott and Mike Kurtenbach, complaints against officers with a body camera have dropped 23% versus cops without cameras which has increased by 10%. The percentages show the impacts on the community which has lowered demonstrating behaviors in cops and individuals improved due to the camera recording. In recent years, police brutality has been recorded for the world to view and judge. There are thousands of protesters against police brutality. This has cause immense distrust in the communities in the United States, with the help of body cameras, officers may gain back the trust that was lost due to the fact that people feel secure by the cameras because can prove justices of victims affected by

Ariel, Farrar, and Sutherland’s (2015) article, commonly referred to as the Rialto experiment, is one such landmark study concerning the effects of police body-worn cameras relating to police use of force incidents and citizen complaints against officers. This study took place at the Rialto Police Department in California, and was conducted over a 12-month period (Ariel, Farrar, & Sutherland, 2015). The results indicated that use of force incidents were twice as likely to occur in situations where body-worn cameras were not deployed (Ariel et al.,

So far experiences with the cameras have mainly been positive. Stated by Schiff, "The department experienced an 88 percent reduction in complaints against officers" (Schiff 2). The public likes how things are working out now with the cameras. Along with this positive reaction is another was found in a study in Rialto, California. Over a 12-month period in Rialto, California, officers found that wearing cameras resulted in them involved in 60 percent fewer incidents of force and received fewer citizen complaints than without cameras ("Police Body"2). One can conclude that if things are working out the way they are, there is no reason to change it. With all the evidence presented it makes sense for police to wear cameras because all that is coming from them is

Excessive force from police officers has been a concern for many areas in the U.S. in recent years, resulting in protests and unnecessary deaths. A handful of incidents in places such as Ferguson and Baltimore have left many in America distrustful of law enforcement procedures and how some officers handle potentially dangerous situations. One solution proposed to this issue is to equip police officers with body cameras to record the actions of officers. Frank Scalise, author of his book on police body cameras, explains, “Body worn video in a police environment is a relatively new technology. Because of the great potential value in its use, both police agencies and communities are exploring implementing programs.” This idea can seem perfect at first, but others have concerns. Some argue that there are no formal policies for these cameras, and many are concerned with how expensive they are. However, if these challenges can be overcome, the potential benefits of police body cameras are significant in the areas of gathering accurate evidence at crime scenes, resolving the expenses of public complaints, improving officer training, and reforming the way officers act towards citizens.

Communities expect officers to honor their oath by protecting and serving the neighborhoods they work in, treating everyone fairly, and most importantly to not abuse the powers granted to them by the citizens that reside in the jurisdiction they serve. Police excessive use of force and other official misconduct is a major emerging issue that tremendously plagued the relationship between law enforcement officials and the public the last several years (Ariel et al., 2015). Police misconduct translates into continuous complaints against the police by citizens, which is the reason why various departments around the United States have implemented the use of body cameras. The purpose of police body cameras is to reduce

Police bodied mounted cameras has been a crucial topic in regards to civil and human rights about excessive use of force. Not to mention, excessive use of force has been on the rise lately which has caught tons of attention from multiple range of communities such as the African American community. The encounter of excessive use of force has grabbed many police department’s attention to change their way of reducing such act. By all means, most agencies around the world had already implemented the use of mounted cameras on their officers because it has proven to reduce use of force and fewer complaints from the community. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “body cams are small, pager-sized cameras that clip on to an officer’s uniform or sunglasses or are worn as a headset, and record audio and video of the officer’s interactions with the public.” Police bodied mounted cameras is a tool crucial to whether or not this technology serves its fundamental purpose of deterring police misconduct.