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Body Cameras Research Paper

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Police and Body Cameras

Recently, there has been many arguments whether police should use body cameras as a part of their standard uniform. There are reasons on why the police should wear body cameras, while there are also numerous reasons on why they would not be useful. Obviously, there are some advantages to wearing body cameras. Before all else, it would reduce violence between the possible suspect and the police. According to the article, “Justice Department Allocates $20 Million for Body Cameras” by Christina Beck, when the camera are in use, everyone behaves better. Studies show that uses of force were decreased by officers and citizens when body cameras were in use. Additionally, the body cameras would minimize confusion to the public because on camera it would show exactly what happened. Also, if every police department invested …show more content…

There are also obvious disadvantages to arming police officers with cameras that are causing controversy within the community. For example, body cameras are costly. An article “Police Began Wider Body Camera Use After Months of Testing” confirms that in Los Angeles alone, would spend $58 million on body cameras over five years. Juan Seone, a Boston detective states that taxes would be raised in order to pay the expenses of body cameras. Even though every police department are planning to have cameras on each officer by the summer of 2017, it is a lofty goal. Another

disadvantage is that the cameras will show more than just facts. In the article, “Police Body Camera Show More Than Just the Facts” written by Eileen Sullivan, a Seattle man was arrested in January and though he has yet to be charged with an offence, his arrest was captured on the police officer's body camera along with his full name, phone number, and birthdate. Additionally, there is another issue that comes into question such as police officers failing to

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