Police Brutality Is A Big Problem, Not Only In The Usa,

Within recent years there has been much controversy surrounding police officers and whether or not they should be wearing body cameras to document their everyday interactions with the public. While the use of body cameras may seem to invade the public or police privacy. Police-worn body cameras will be beneficial to law enforcement and civilians all over the world. Police must be equipped with body cameras to alleviate any doubt in the effectiveness of officers. Law enforcement worn body cameras would enhance the trust of the public by keeping both the officers and the citizens accountable for their actions, providing evidence, and helping protect them from false accusations, while protecting privacy

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.

First advantage in law enforcement agents wearing body cameras is to hold the officers accountable. “Holding the officers accountable, will ensure the officer adheres to policies and procedures during an encounter with victims and suspects.” Body-worn cameras are poised to help boost accountability for law enforcement and citizens and, unlike many new police technologies, the cameras share preliminary support from both law enforcement and social justice groups. Successful implementation of the cameras will require careful policies that respect and protect both the police and the public.

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.

I feel that the use of dash-cams, body-cams, and cell phone video can have both a positive and a negative effect on the control of police use of force. A problem encountered when attempting to investigate most use of force complaints is the “code of silence” commonly found in police culture where it is deemed unacceptable to “rat out” a fellow officer. When an officer is wearing a body-cam or his patrol car has a dash cam, this helps to alleviate the need for one officer to turn in a fellow officer for excessive use of force. The use of body and dash cams forces an officer to be accountable for his actions, or in some cases inaction. In 2016 The Huffington Post published an article “Study Shows Less Violence, Fewer Complaints When Cops

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

Furthermore, as opposed to popular belief, body cameras can not only lead citizens to act lawfully, they can also provide amenity for both officers and citizens. Throughout history, times have arisen where an officer has acted out of the law. Body cameras can ensure that officers acting unlawful are punished for their wrongdoings. (The Police Foundation) A a result, this can assure citizens that they are not the only ones being punished for acting out of the law. Officers and citizens will also be more likely to act within the law, knowing that they are on camera. (Weisburg) In response, studies have shown, that citizens have developed comfort towards officers equipped with body cameras. (Fullerton Police Department) This new found trust has the ability to change the mentality of a community in an affirmative manner. (Mims) This alone could help revive a community such as Ferguson, that has been in shambles ever since Michael Brown was killed. In addition, Officer Drumond a highly respected officer at Sherwood said “I support body cameras and find it very comforting that everything I do is on camera”. (Weisburg) If body cameras can give officers a sense of comfort it can help improve their work ethic as well as keep them relaxed while on shift. This can lead to trust between officers and the community. Ultimately, body cameras have the ability to restore trust in a community as well as keeping both citizens and officers safe and acting within the law.

In the aftermath of the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York by police officers, many people are calling for officers to be required to wear body cameras (Santora and Nikita). While some may disagree, body cameras are useful and should be worn by all police officers. This is because they prevent violence with both cops and respondents, and provide evidence for certain cases. Body cameras can prevent violence among police officers and respondents (Baum), and is one reason why all police officers should wear body cameras. Recently, police brutality has become a major concern for communities.

First, the officers generally reported considerably high rates of agreement to questions such as they believe that their agency should adopt body-worn cameras for all of their police officers, and that they would feel comfortable wearing body-worn cameras. Second, the officers demonstrated fairly high levels of agreement that they felt that citizen behavior would improve if they (the officers) were wearing body-worn cameras. Third, while the ratings were more mixed toward the officers’ perception that wearing body-worn cameras would improve their own behavior and increase their likelihood of behaving “by-the-book”, they reported resoundingly more agreement that wearing body-worn cameras would not reduce their willingness to respond to calls for service. Fourth, much of the same sentiment was

Throughout the pass 100 years America has experienced an ample amount of growth pertaining to its maturity, both socially and technologically. Even though we are a rapidly developing country that is becoming greater every day; we still have some major flaws that need attention. As cellphones and cameras become more prevalent in today’s society, so do people being exposed through these devices. Most notable being controversial activity and retaliations by police officers. These powerful people that were once considered the protector of the common citizen are now being criticized for doing the exact opposite of protecting. Often there are videos of potential police brutality that go viral and cause riots and eruption throughout the country. The only problem is we’re not seeing both parties’ perspectives and what better way to fix than adding body cameras to police officers?

In a case highlighted by The police staff an Arizona police officer had a confrontation one day on the job that ended up in a fight with the individual that he confronted. The bystanders videoed the fight but not the whole confrontation. Later on the video taken by the bystanders became viral and put the officer in a bad light with the public for using force with the person he confronted, but luckily for him he was wearing a body-worn camera that was issued to him. The video on his camera showed the whole confrontation and cleared up all the questions and false judgments of the police officer that the public had put on him. This was just one of many instances that body cameras have helped recently since they have only been in use in some areas for a short period of time now. Body worn cameras are small, compact, as well as lightweight so they do not inconvenience the user. They have been used for many reasons by many different realms of people throughout the short time they have been in production. A few police departments around the country have started implementing the use of body cameras. The idea of having all police officers wearing body cameras is up in the air without any decision set in stone as of now. There are many different organizations doing research on the use of body cameras, and the effects they have both in the positive aspects and how they help and some of the negative properties that might be brought up by both police

In order to decrease police brutality and stop abuse of power there is a solution that can be set for both the Law Enforcement and the community. Wearing body cameras is ideal, for example, in Rialto, California, the police department has set an experiment to wear these body cameras and the results were rather shocking. The abuse of “force” or power by police went down by 59% and police complaints down to 88%. ("If Ferguson Officer Wore a Camera: Our View.")

One of the newest technological topics that is being discussed is that of the office Body Worn Camera (BWC). This device is worn on the body and records the interactions between police and the citizenry. This increases both officer and citizen accountability. BWC’s have already been in use by law enforcement, as a pilot program, since 2012. The cities of Mesa, Arizona, Rialto, California, and Phoenix, Arizona, have piloted programs and conducted studies on their effectiveness. There is not much of empirical studies on the impact of BWCs. The City of Rialto, California conducted a randomized study in 2013, and found that the use of BWCs reduced citizens’ complaints and use of force by 59% and 87.5% (Farrar & Ariel, 2014). This was one

Although law enforcement agencies were dabbling in the use of cameras during officer encounters, incidents like Eric Garner, Walter Scott, and Tamir Rice increased the political and public pressure for the usage of body-worn cameras. The touted advantages are reductions of unprofessional behavior, alteration of individual’s behaviors during interactions, providing evidence to deal with citizen complaints, evidence for court, and the ability to review incidents for future training (White, 2014). From the administration's standpoint these advantages pushed their implementation almost nationwide; furthermore, from the public perception, it repeals officers’ abilities to lie about their misconduct. Even though these advantages do provide merit for body-worn camera use, there are also specific concerns related to their implementation.