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Body Cameras Controversy

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Due to the events in Ferguson Missouri that happened on August 9th 2014, a new controversy has swept the nation. The question seems to be, should American police officers be required to wear body cameras? A petition was started on the website “We the People” to instate a new law, called the "Mike Brown Law", that requires all police officers to wear body cameras. The petition has acquired over 150,000 signatures and a good deal of news coverage. If this law were to be put into fruition, it will help restore citizens’ faith in the police force. For another thing, citizens would no longer have to worry about the police using unnecessary force. On the other hand, this is not a punishment for police. It will also be helpful for the police when …show more content…

One such petition, has reached that mark. It asks the government to create a law that to require all “state, county, and local police, to wear a camera”, on duty (Mike Brown Law 2014, August 13). The petition argues that forcing officers to record their interactions with the public will deter things like police brutality, racial profiling, and abuse of power. They also argue that it will hold all parties accountable for their actions. Eliminating the he said/she said type of questions that can come out of police investigations. The cameras, which records both video and audio, will benefit citizens and the police force alike. On the citizen side of things, police tend to be less aggressive and more subdued when they know they are being watched. While police also benefit because they can prove that excessive force complaints are inaccurate and false. The benefits of body cameras include but are not limited to, less police related lawsuits, less unnecessary police violence, and more trust in police, these benefits far outweigh the …show more content…

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

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