Pros And Cons Of Police Body Worn 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.

Across the country a growing number of legislative departments have been debating about the pros and cons of police body cameras. This paper will further explore benefits, as well as the downfalls of using such devices. This paper will also look at specific cases and examine whether or not body cameras were helpful in various situations. It will examine if they were a deterrent in cases dealing with police brutality and domestic violence. It also looks at how they could be misused and assisting some officers in covering up their corrupt behavior.

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.

There has been a lot of talk lately in the news about police body cameras. Some people agree that body cameras should be used by all police officers, while others disagree and believe that they shouldn’t be used at all. There are some cons to having body cameras but all of the pros outweigh it. Police body cameras should be used in all towns no matter how small because the people will act less aggressive towards officers, they provide truthful evidence that cannot be altered with, and the videos can be stored so if something were to happen, they could be brought up and checked as sort of like a surveillance device.

Today, law enforcement agencies, or more specifically police officers, are under constant scrutiny from their peers as well as outside sources. Many of these problems arise from how the police treat and deal with these citizens. There is however a solution to these problems, which can not only improve officer safety, but can also protect anyone else that the officer encounters. The solution to this problem is officer mounted camera systems, or better known as body cameras. These body cameras capture almost everything an officer see’s as well as hears. This allows for protection against a police officer as well as protection for a citizen who was scrutinized for something he or she might have done or not. Body cameras are ever increasing in policing and have many benefit’s as well as draw backs.

I selected an article about police body cameras. The article cited several studies, as well as the authors’ ideas and thoughts. The article, titled Police Body Cameras, is part of the CATO Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, and prepared by Matthew Feeney in 2015. The theme throughout the article is that the use of body cameras will reduce police misconduct. Although we all hope this is the case, we must also look at the other issues involved with the wearing of body cameras. In an effort to gain citizen buy-in and obtain their opinions, they conducted surveys. Interestingly enough, most people did not want the officers to record them, unless it was during an enforcement encounter, such as a traffic stop or arrest situation.

One widely accepted idea is that body cameras for police to wear will help to observe what actually happens in traffic stops with police and serve justice to civilians and police officers. According to the article, “Should Police Wear Body Cameras?”, in May of 2015 the Obama administration started a $75 million dollar program to test how effective body cameras are, with hopes to give out 50,000 body cameras in 2018 to police officers (Majerol 6). Body cameras is a solution that is extremely considered and is already taking some effect. Moreover, research shows that body cameras can keep tense police encounters calm, help behavior of both the officer and civilian, and the footage that comes from the cameras can serve as evidence ( “Should Police Wear” 7). Research proves that body cameras can have an effect on police brutality and will help fix the issue. However, there are other techniques that can possibly help fix the issue such as training. “An officer also needs training on dealing with community members in nonthreatening ways and better communication skills” ( “Police Need Better” 1). Training will help officers work on making police encounters less tense and make sure excessive force is not a go to. Lastly, according to analysts, changing hiring practices in the law enforcement could make sure that unbiased officers that are focused on being close to all communities could help lower the amount of police brutality cases (“Police Need Better” 2). If police departments really focused on an officer’s beliefs involving the topics of race or religion, officers that are not willing to be fair to all would not be hired and in turn prevent more police brutality cases from happening. To conclude, officers wearing body cameras and police departments changing hiring practices could help stop more police brutality cases from

    The United States criminal justice system has been having major issues with police brutality recently. According to The Washington Post, In 2015 alone almost one thousand people were shot and killed by the police. This statistic is staggering as it shows how much deadly force is being inflicted on the public. The police brutality is not only shootings as in many cases the police actions are justified in court, however, there has been recent outrage over police being overly aggressive and abusive towards the public; specifically with the African American community. This has sparked mass protest and in extreme cases riot have broken out. The public has become fed up with the police getting off with little to not punishment for their crimes due to most of the evidence being testimonies. Body cameras are the glaring solution to this problem. The give insight into what really happened during an altercation where there was an officer related shooting that left a young man dead. An example of this is a recent event in Baltimore saw a man arrested on drug charges and got held in jail for months. However the arresting officer was wearing a body camera. Police body cameras start to record for the previous thirty seconds prior to activation. When the footage was reviewed it saw the officer plant evidence at the scene to incriminate the suspect. This led to the release of the accused suspect and the officers are under review (Hendry, E. R., & Barajas, J., 2017, para. 4). Now if the arresting officer did not have that body camera an innocent man would be in jail on drug charges that he had nothing to do with. These are situations that could be happening more than the

Moreover, to stop the crime and police brutality, body cameras would not be a bad idea if they were to be taken a step forward. Nancy La Vigne writer of “Body Cameras for Police Could Be One Smart Step” talks about supervisors monitoring the cameras in case an altercation were to happen (6). Nancy also talks about body cameras invading constitutional rights of the citizens. Vigne writes, “Body cameras will capture not just an officers actions, but also those of the citizens with whom they interact – or even individuals walking by or in the background” (Vigne). Nancy’s point is that with the body cameras and civilians being recorded, should the citizens know they are being recorded. Another solution for the body cameras to be able to work would be for the cops to have no access to the cameras.

In the past couple years, racial profiling has made many people fear the thought of getting pulled over, especially people of color. Law enforcement is supposed to make society feel safer when they are around them but they changed that thought real quick. Racial profiling has also led to the hate of law enforcement which caused people to say “f*** the police”, or even resulted in certain individuals attacking law enforcement officers out of anger. It has also led to the beginning of protests in certain cities for the young blacks that have died and some of the protests turned awry when police arrived and shut everything down. In one article concerning racial profiling, it says “Contreras said LULAC has received a complaint alleging a St. John police officer was racial-profiling Latinos. She cited a town police messenger log in which the officer allegedly said he was conducting a "Mexican hunt"(Carlson). This evidence proves that certain officers if not all have horrible mind sets for their specific job. And if they do have a bad mindset for their specific job, then they need to find a new profession so they do not end up injuring or even killing someone. Another way racial profiling is showed in an article is when the article says “On February 18th, a black Elizabethtown police officer has filed a lawsuit that accuses the Fayetteville Police Department of racially profiling and

Law enforcement has faced a lot of criticism regarding the relationship between the people with the inner communities. The change in law enforcement is now taking place in most departments across the country. In the next ten years the criminal justice system with implement body cameras for every officer. These cameras will change the face of law enforcement. First it will protect the officer from malicious prosecution for miss use of force. For example, the Michael Brown case in Ferguson Missouri involved a police shooting of an unarmed black male. In this case the officer use of deadly force was called into question, because some witnesses believed that the shooting was unlawful. Due to the lack of supportive evidence, it created an uproar

T Topic: Making police body cameras mandatory Opening/Attention: (2min) “3 gun shots” – Sound (powerpoint) That’s the only sound you heard as you were approaching the corner down the street. Your heart is beating so fast you can feel it popping out of your chest. All you are thinking about is, “what is going on?” Police must wear body cameras as part of their equipment in order to prevent wrongful actions, in order to protect their lives and others and in order to rebuild security in our communities.

Once the Project of Police body-worn video camera is successfully rollout, the potential business impact and benefit is enormous, especially in this generation of law enforcement agencies and general public interaction which is scrutinized quite often. Both the police department and general public are the main stakeholders here. These BWV devices have the potential to enhance public safety and elevate relations between police and public by minimizing misconduct, facilitating the resolution of incidents that arise. For the District government, it is also advantageous to enhance public confidence in the criminal justice system, thereby reducing the city's exposure to civil liability (Kurt Vorndran, Chief Patrick et al. 2014). The main points