Photo Enforced-Red Light Camera Controversy Essay

The cameras are very small portable devices, it’s the size and length of a cigarette stick. The camera is attached to the police officers uniform and sits in a pocket. Usually police officers are required to wear this body camera while they are on duty. The cameras record everything that happens between officers and civilians. The Rialto Police Department was the first to actually use and wear the body cameras in 2012. They did a yearlong study to see the impact of police relations by wearing body cameras. One officer wasn’t feeling too good about this idea because he thought the cameras would be to punish them instead of helping them out. “During the first year after the cameras were introduced, the use of force by police officers reportedly declined 60% and complaints from citizens against law enforcement officers decreased 88%.” This was a yearlong study in which 54 officers had to

Rialto, California is an example of a city with positive results from the use of body-cameras. In Rialto, police began wearing body-cameras a little less than three years ago. As a result of officers wearing body-cameras, citizens’ complaints against police officers dropped 88 percent and use of force by police officers dropped 60 percent from the previous 12 month period when body-cameras were not in use. Rialto’s police chief said, “When you put a camera on a police officer, they tend to behave a little better, follow the rules a little better. And if the citizen knows the officer is wearing a camera, chances are the citizen will behave a little better” (Lovett).

Each year numerous lives are lost due to careless and irrational driving. The disregard for safe driving has been a predicament to the United States of America for years. Many years Police have relied heavily on speed cameras, breathalyzer tests and heavy fines as a deterrent against unlawful drivers. Over the years fatality rates have increased, so the Department of Transportation and Highway Safety has composed a series of safe driving campaigns. On many occasions the Transportation Department informs and advises the public about the importance of responsible driving. They propagate safe driving through the various channels of the media and

An increased attention on fatal police encounters and citizen’s complains of improper use of force have led to calls for law-enforcement officers to wear body cameras when on duty. In order to improve policing and police oversight the following recommendations are suggested: 1) Body cameras should record at all times to increase accountability, 2) Monitoring should be done with a “fire alarm” approach to incur effective oversight, 3) Footage must remain private to not decrease police productivity by over monitoring. The cameras must be required to be on recording mode when police officers are on duty and when they respond to calls for service.

Let’s face it; police officer’s can’t make an arrest for every law violation, so that’s where discretion comes into play. Ways in which an officer can use police discretion in positive ways are : An officer clocks a driver who is driving 10 mph over the set speed limit while it is raining , which can be very dangerous given the current weather conditions. The officer pulls the car over and asks the driver for their driver’s license as well as their registration. The officer then conducts a check on the driver’s information, checking for any warrants or issues that the driver may have. The driver of the vehicle comes back with a clean record. It is now up to the officer to use their discretion as to whether or not they should give the driver of the vehicle a ticket for driving 10 mph over the speed limit while it was raining or let them go with a warning. The officer decides not to ticket the driver and instead decides to educate the driver on the hazards of driving too fast during rainy conditions and lets them off with a warning. Another example of a police discretion would be an officer letting someone who has illegal tint on their windows off with a warning, instead of issuing a citation. In most states like Hawaii for example. Having tint on your windows that allows less than 35% of light in can cost a person $1,000

RLCs utilize different triggering methods. According to the Redflex Traffic Systems website, their system uses radar activated cameras to observe intersections. The radar device mounts on poles at each corner near the traffic signals. This configuration provides coverage of the

Although there is an enormous amount of controversy concerning the use of red-light-running cameras, the bottom line is with proper implementation, this technology shows promise in reducing fatality rates and increasing public safety.

Overall I would recommend them for the city because overall it will make the streets of Durham safer for the officers and the citizens. And it leaves the officers accountable for their actions and it will cut out the he said she said because the video will tell the truth about what really happen in whatever incident that occurs. Yes there are some cons to having the cameras but I feel like overall the pros outweigh the cons because our main job is to keep the streets safe for our

Surveillance cameras are needed for public places in order to ensure safety of all individuals. The government, for the most part, is on Americans side and wants to ensure Americans protection. Safety in shopping centers, in traffic, and on the streets is a huge issue in America today. Despite what the majority of Americans believe, officers do care about the people in the cars and want to ensure their safety at all times. Privacy is not dead in America, people have violated the trust of others and as a result have lost complete privacy.

A lot of departments claim that the cost is huge factor, which is understandable for cities like LA or Chicago or even Fort Wayne. A lot of people don’t realize how many officers some cities have, for example, Fort Wayne has approximately 1,800 officers (Garry Hamilton, FWPD Chief). If a camera is $300, that’s $540,000; that’s fourteen brand new 2016 Dodge Chargers (standard issued patrol car). In reality, who wouldn’t go with the new patrol cars? Some cities, like Fort Wayne, still have the basic 2002 Ford Interceptors, which are starting to get outran by newer faster cars. So it makes sense to go with the squad car, it all depends on how many more stops they’ll make with the new cars, or how much more money they’ll save from lawsuits with the cameras. But if they can set aside extra money it would be great idea to issue some officers body cameras, due to Fort Wayne being ranked nationally in murders per year. But nationally, every state has had a murder, some more often than others. 15% of those have been directed towards officers (Governingdata.com). Having the evidence could be game changer for officers around the

The City of Chicago has put speeding camera's all around to surveillance drivers, or to watch drivers with the purpose of forcing people to obey driving laws. The book SuperVision defines surveillance as “ … watched by others who aren’t physically present, who are unknown to us, who may be studying us at a later time, and whose motives are diverse, changing, or unclear” (Gilliom and Monahan, 18). By placing speeding cameras around the city, the City of Chicago has used its governing power or authority on drivers. Authority is also defined as “ the justifiable right to exercise power” (Conley, 574). The way these speeding cameras work is that if caught speeding the camera takes a picture of your license and mails a ticket to your house. The thought behind this is that the speeding ticket will prevent further speeding on Chicago Streets and implement fear into drivers, which is an example of deterrence theory.

There is a huge controversy in Elmwood Place, Ohio, whether or not they should install cameras to record traffic violations and mail out citations. Many argue that having these cameras installed is necessary due to the short amount of police officers in the village and the fear of dangerous drivers. People explain how this village had a limited amount of resources for this solution and installing these traffic cameras can help keep the village as a whole. Supports say that the cameras stretch a town’s ability to enforce the law, which then results in safer driving and a safer environment for others. Opponents argue that these traffic cameras cause an “atmosphere of distrust and uneasiness” hung over the village. They also believe that traffic

However, for the intended purpose of this discussion, according to the most recent studies they would not be a solution to police abuse of authority. Unfortunately, it is an idea that sounds like perfect response on paper but is not supported by statistics after implementation. While the original smaller case studies supported the concept, a researcher on the largest study to date on the subject claims “We found essentially that we could not detect any statistically significant effect of the body-worn cameras” (Durkheimer, 2017). With the newest study arriving at an unexpected conclusion, the cost does not justify the use for a majority of departments. Privacy concerns, like supported by the ACLU and Brennan Center for Justice, can be disputed by acknowledging that any instance that requires interaction with police cannot be considered private. Police interactions are either in the form of direct response for intervention or in the form of as a community caretaker, in both roles privacy cannot be expected. Especially when accounting for the rise in use of cellphone videos, no one can have a reasonable expectation of anonymity or privacy in public. Furthermore, an officer would not have before-hand knowledge of what should be recorded or not. Thus, body cameras that are only activated when necessary due

Juleyka Lantigua-Williams just published an article titled “Using a Green Light to Bring Crime to a Stop” where she talks about the both positive and negative effects on police officers patrolling using surveillance cameras. Although this program has a positive effect on public safety, I think this program should come to a stop due to the overwhelming amount of negative aspects. Granted, Project Green Light will help deter crime and help prosecute criminals. Juleyka Lantigua-Williams says "For Abro [store owner and Project Green Light participant], there’s an improved efficacy and immediacy to Project Green Light that gives him a lot of peace of mind." But is it worth giving up your fourth amendment right? I don't think so. As I read the

A red light camera is a type of traffic enforcement camera that captures an image of a vehicle, which has entered an intersection in spite of the traffic signal indicating red. Since they automatically photograph vehicles that run red lights, the photo is evidence that helps authorities in their enforcement of traffic laws. Generally the camera is triggered when a vehicle enters the intersection after the traffic signal has turned red. Typically, a law enforcement official will review the photographic evidence and determine whether a violation occurred. A citation is then usually mailed to the owner of the vehicle found to be in violation of the law. These cameras are used worldwide, in countries including: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom,