Police Body Cameras

The social media and the public might want police body cam footage release but sometimes it might be to graphic or controversial. Police body cameras have been a topic since the incident with Michael Brown in august of 2014. Police shot and killed an unarmed individual in ferguson, MO, leading to many people wanting cameras on police. Whether the cameras are a good idea or not this paper will explore the facts and sides of police body cameras. Overall body cameras should be required Because they can save the lives of the innocent, keep innocent people from going to jail, and can help a case as more evidence.

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.

Police body cameras are becoming more common in major cities around the us, and are meant to lower aggression and complaints brought upon the department's. Though the cameras are only becoming a big topic there have been many studies and debates in whether or not the cameras should be mandatory for all departments. The main and most talked about disadvantage of the cameras is the questions it raises about privacy of cops and the public. On the other hand one of the upsides are how much they will help in court cases by lowering costs and time spent. When in court the cameras can either show is it is a case of police brutality or if the cop handled the situation properly.

Everyone is entitled to privacy, especially when it comes to law enforcement. To make the public, and the officers protecting them, feel protected the implementation of body-worn-cameras in the police force is occurring. Sometimes, this equipment malfunctions and ends up doing more harm than the good it promised. When this occurs, a reevaluation of how the cameras are being used should happen to make sure improvements occur. As shown by the recent privacy violations to the Round Lake Police Department regarding body-worn cameras, officers need to become more familiar with the technology they are using and stricter policies about their usage are necessary.

These cameras are good for police officers because it protects them individually but also as a whole group from unjustified accusations of misusing their power of authority. Plus, officers can use footage from their recording to properly fill out their written police report (Gillett). In the perspective of citizens, body cameras are suitable because they know if there is anything dishonest that occurs, they know it has been recorded on the police’s

The advancement of technology has made it to where the common everyday person(s) can record anything. This may sound pleasing, however, may cause conflict with the word of the officers on duty or altered by the victim/district attorneys (Purdy, Rholetter, Popan, Elena, MA 2016). The uses of BWVs prevents this occurrence by sorting and storing the video surveillance on the computers during or after the recording. The constant documentation of the officers keeps them and individuals encountering them under control. While this seems very beneficial ,some American privacy advocates like to claim that this breaches the victims/offenders’ privacy by recording without permission or

For this week’s topic on technology in law enforcement, I chose to write about body-worn cameras for police officers. Many law enforcement agencies have already implemented the use of body-worn cameras due to the controversial discussions about police officers recently. A large majority of the citizens believe these cameras are a good idea, while some argue against it. One of the benefits of requiring officers to have these cameras on while on duty is that it assists in supporting police accountability by providing an actual recording of the interaction between officers and the public. This is evidence that is usually unattainable in situations and shows what the officer said or done and what the person ( criminal, suspect, etc.) has said or

Next, let’s talk about body worn camera these are very important. This could help put a lot of people in jail or even corrupt officers. In a sample of police departments surveyed in 2013, approximately 75 percent of them reported that they did not use body-worn cameras. The survey was funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum PERF’s report about the survey notes a number of perceived benefits for using body-worn cameras, including better evidence documentation and increased accountability and transparency. But the report also notes many other factors that law

Pollock points out that “The nation has seemingly become enamored with the idea of all police officers wearing body cameras that would record every interaction with the citizen” (pp. 211, 2017). The ability of body cameras to provide an unbiased account of interactions is an invaluable asset when trying to reconstruct a truthful, chronological interpretation of events. The camera never lies and provides evidence for a case provided from the point-of-view officers involved. As with every topic, several pros and cons are involved with the use of body cameras by law enforcement.

This paper will be discussing the reasons that make it safer and the statistics behind it. The advancement of technology has made it to where the common everyday person(s) can record anything. Which may sound pleasing but may cause conflict with the word of the officers on duty or can be altered by the victim/district attorneys (Purdy, Rholetter, Popan, Elena, MA 2016). The uses

Allegations, deaths, and misconduct transpire constantly. Who was really in the wrong in a police, citizen interaction? Sometimes citizens accuse an officer of misconduct; they go against the rules and regulations which go against how they should handle a certain situation. On the other hand, a citizen may wrongly accuse the police officer doing something that they never did. It could go either way. The government has begun to carry out the use of body-worn cameras in police forces due to the outbreaks of accusations to try to make it clear who was in the wrong. Body-worn cameras are a suitable way to begin lowering the number of these accusations.

Recently, using advanced technologies in law enforcement agencies is becoming a current trend, because the police accountability has been a hot topic among the general public. It’s a relatively difficult choice for some police executives to decide whether to implement the policy of using the body-worn cameras. The main idea to using the advanced technologies in law enforcement agencies is to help investigate crimes and communicate with the public. Body-worn cameras are considered as one of the most popular solutions proposed to deal with the racial inequalities and inappropriate use of force among police. At the meantime, using body-worn cameras can also help the police department to avoid the false claims against the police force as well.

While police are utilizing body cameras, it is vital to ensure privacy and confidentiality for any information or person videotaped. That is why it is necessary for police departments to have detailed guidelines in place. “Washington D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier recently cautioned that the video footage will capture a broad range of information -- including police communications, passwords and interiors of private residences -- that would need to be redacted before releasing video” (Vega, 2015, par. 7). This will take a good deal of time and resources as millions of hours of video recordings will need to be stored and analyzed (Vega, 2015). Also, body cams worn by police could result in a great deal of mass surveillance

According to Katz, Choate, Ready, Nuno (2014) “complaints against the police declined significantly. Complaints against the officers who wore the cameras declined by 23% compared to 10.6% increase among comparison officers and 45.1% increase among patrol officers in other precincts. The need to record each planned exertion with inhabitants will point of fact restrict challenges about cop lead and the superfluous utilization of vitality, since trades are found for the audit delight of anyone cruising by. Officers and subjects tend to be more compelled, understanding that their words and activities are being gotten. Utilization of the cameras while on-responsibility gives hard video attestation of choices made by officers in high power conditions. On the off chance that a complaint is made against an officer and BWV film is accessible, Video recorded by body cameras ensure any false attestations, dreadful lead, or batter against officers. Builds straightforwardness and obligation of officers. May help give basic affirmation in securing precise witness and misfortune verbalization. Video film got help to animate court frameworks by giving certain evidence of conditions. This may incite a lessening in court costs in perspective of an augmentation in pretrial request deals or possibly a broadened rate of

Keeping these limitations in mind, reminds all who use video recordings in making judgments, to not based the verdicts solely on footage from the video but from the person who wore the camera and handled the case themselves. The problems brought up by the opposition should be taken into consideration. However, in time these issues found in a relatively new system will be ironed out as the use of body cameras becomes more common, and an understanding of how to best manage them is