Police brutality and police militarization have become a hot topic in the United States of America. There are many cases where police officers motives are being questioned, leading the public into an uproar. Just to name a few of these cases, we have Micheal Brown from Fegurson, Missouri, that started it all, which took place on Augest 19th, 2014. We also have Eric Garner from New York, taking place July of 2014. July of 2016, Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge and Walter Scott from South Carolina in April of 2015. Wheither the motive is racial, hatred, or if the officer is mentally unstable, there is a simple way to justify it all. There are many questions that we must ask ourself when speaking on a subject of this matter. When officers know that they are being recorded, does it change their behavior? How do we deal with these types of issues in terms of prosecuting police who use and have used brutal force? How do we prevent these cases from occurring? The answer to solving all of this is quite simple, every officer should be equipped with a body camera. Making sure that every officer has a body camera will cut down on brutality and excessive force, making it safer for the officer and the civilian or suspect. With proper tranning it will create more accountability and cost will also be cut from false accusations creating better edvidence. By wearing the body camera it should make the officer second guess any misconduct as well as protect the officer. These cameras will
This is an important debate to many people, because it can change crime rates and rate of police brutality dramatically. If a police officer is wearing a body camera it could save their life because the offender will know they are being watched and probably won’t try to attack the officer. As with any positives, there are negatives, like the expence of the cameras per officer as large. Also, don 't forget that they are an invasion of privacy.
Video Footage has the potential to expose officer misconduct and exonerate civilians whose actions have been falsely accused by officers. In the case of John Crawford III, going into his local Walmart, just wanting to spend quality time with his family roasting s’mores. Officers had over 200 video cameras showing he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but they refused to look at them. Even though he had an unloaded pellet gun that he picked up off the shelf. Why shoot, instead of tasering him. (Harvard Law Review N.A., 2015). Even with some witnesses around that still didn’t stop New York Police officers from using excessive force on Eric Garner. His death was recorded, and the officers were indicted. There are many cases where officers are accused of excessive force such as PEOPLE vs ATKINSON. In cases such as this, there are officers stating force was necessary and defendants saying that unnecessary force had been used. The use of cameras helps to determine without prejudice and protect all
In today 's society, one highly debatable topic is whether or not law enforcement agents should wear body cameras. Most cameras used by law enforcement agencies across the country record audio and video, therefore, the cameras see and hear nearly everything a law enforcement officer does. There are many advantages to law enforcement personnel using body cameras while on duty because it holds the officers accountable, is used to document the contact made between the officers and the victims and/or suspects, supports the “use of force” action, keeps the officers and citizens honest, and the videos can even be used for training for other officers.
There are a lot of incidents that happen between police, and criminals. Always a mix up, confusion, miscommunication, and sadly, police brutality, but police always get the benefit of the doubt because of lack of evidence. A incident happened way back in around 2009, it was actually on January 1st. A twenty-two year old young man named Oscar Grant was shot at Fruitvale Station, by an officer that “thought” he was using a taser, but actually used a gun. If that officer would have had a body camera on, he would’ve been more aware of what he was doing, and he would have been caught sooner because they would have been able to see, and tell that Grant wasn’t being defiant.
Police brutality and racial profiling have become one of the most common topics of discussion in the United States today. Both of these things have had a huge impact on the African American population’s everyday lifestyle. There have been many controversial examples of this in just the past two years. Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown and Walter Scott, were all killed during an encounter with a caucasian police officer. Was there a valid reason for the police encounter? Was the victim holding/carrying a weapon? Was the police officer threatened verbally or physically?
The body cameras will record of what occurred and this camera will be the tool which will make it clear whether the officer was justified in using force and also it will prove the fact that the officer was correct. Everyone has a right to act in self defense. The video from the body camera presents an unbiased account of the events. This is a very important fact because nowadays when police officers make an assert of a criminal we see that most of the criminals are African American which makes them biased. The body cameras has no motive to lie and it has no stake in the outcome. It merely records the event as it happens. If a police officer acts lawfully, then he should not be blamed and accused wrongfully. The officers have the right to defend themselves and not suffer the punishment which they do not deserve. The usage of the body camera will not only provide the officers defense but it will be this strongest witness which will not be argued with. There are some drawbacks to the use of body cameras such as privacy concerns for both officers and the citizens when they encounter each other. The storage of data capturing images of innocent people, the possible tampering with the images, and the
With today’s advanced technology, police body cameras have proven to be very useful. They are crucial in putting an end to unnecessary police misconduct. In 2012, the Rialto Police Department in California implemented police body cameras and recorded the outcome. The results showed that “the number of complaints filed against officers fell by 88 percent compared with the previous 12 months. Use of force by officers fell by almost 60 percent over the same period” (Lovett). Without a doubt, police body cameras do the trick to prevent potentially dangerous situations from occurring. As William A. Farrar, the Rialto police chief once stated, “When you put a camera on a police officer, they tend to behave a little better, follow the rules a little better. And if a citizen knows the officer is wearing a camera, chances are the citizen will behave a little better.” I strongly agree with this statement because if the interaction between the officer and the citizen is being recorded, neither of the two will want to behave badly. The citizen knows that their bad behavior could result in consequences and the officer knows that their misconduct could result in punishment or even the loss of their job. The cameras record every detail that can be looked back on if there was a complaint filed against the officer that was wearing it. Clearly, police body
First, police officers should be required to wear body cameras because of increased police brutality. According to several websites, police brutality has gone up 25% since 2001.That number is staggering considering the number of violent crimes dropped 4% in the past year alone, bringing the number of crimes to the lowest it's been in forty years. Some people claim that police brutality hasn't gone up, and the media just started covering it more. Those claims, however, become smothered by hard facts. Some people just can’t seem to face the truth. The media must be covering more because of more frequent occurances.
In today’s society no one is safe from everyday peril. Situations arise daily that may present either a law enforcement official or civilian that could warrant the need for extra protection. In some cases it is a matter of he said, she said. For those faced with such situations, documentation that could be provided by body cameras worn by police officials could be of great use. Body cameras have been tested in a small group of police departments and have provided an overwhelming positive effect. Police officers wearing body cameras not only provide the officers with extra peace o mind but give civilians documentation to back up their sides of the story. Not everyone is in favor of police
There are stats that show police misconduct is reduced when the officers are wearing body mounted cameras. On CATO Institute 's webpage of National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, they show stats of an experiment that was conducted in Rialto, California over a year long period. Over this year, officers were randomly assigned to wear these body cameras. The stats that were taken show that the number of times these officers used unneeded force dropped by a considerable amount compared to previous years when these officers were not wearing these cameras. Since these stats show that police misconduct dropped when officers were wearing the body mounted cameras, it shows that police officers behaved better
Cops wearing cameras might seem like the perfect idea, for all the logical reasons: The cameras have the potential to increase accountability, reduce complaints, and increase positive police and citizen interactions. However a lot of the assumptions about body-worn cameras are not true and there are some negative unattended side effects of body-worn cameras. Academics of Criminal Justice, at various universities and government organizations have recently studied body cameras, and have identified the misconceptions and potential consequences of having police use body-cams. If police departments in the United States are going to adopt the technology, then both law enforcement, government, citizens
Police officers should wear the body camera because they can view the video of footage of their encounters before writing their incidents reports. Police officers have been killing innocent people these days mostly black/African Americans, if they wear or use there body camera it can and will show what the police officer really have done. Judges and also lawyers can use the body camera video
I strongly agree that police officers should wear body cameras.The use of body cameras should reduce the force by police officers and lessen the complaints by citizens against the police.In general body camera footage should reduce dishonesty in incident reports.For too long, illegal use of force by police officers has been shrouded from public view by means of dishonest reporting. The use of body cameras should also make police officers want to carry themselves better.It should provide officers with a platform for reflection, self criticism and self improvement.Video footage will provide police officers with a potent tool for reliable supervision.Exposure to the video footage will almost certainly enable them to provide richer and more
To begin with i think police officers should be required to wear body cameras because watching the body cam footage will reduce the dishonesty in accidents or incident reports.Another reason is because the footage can provide a more richer and accurate details on the incident. Finally with body cams it will encourage both citizens and officers to behave.
Cops deserve to be accountable for their actions, but they should be protected too. If cops wore body cameras, we could all see what happened and if the cop took the correct steps and if he was protecting himself or if he was