For the past couple years there has been many injustice cases involving poor accusations of innocent victims. These poor accusations of innocent victims include shootings of innocent African Americans. One way to avoid these problems is the use of body cams. These tiny cameras have saved a Police Officer 's job, justified an innocent victim, and even has saved a person 's life. Recently Police Departments have been using these such body cameras and have seen significant results. Although some people may not like body cams, their benefits are too important to ignore.
There has been many citizens that have complained about the use of body cameras. Police Officers have commented that these body cameras invade unwanted personal privacy. Some Police Officers believe that body cameras will not help decrease force by Police Officers because a
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A major benefit for having body cams is the fact that it will decrease the force used by Police Officers. For the past couple of years there has been many videos of Police Officers using excessive force against innocent victims, especially with African Americans. “The notion has been around for a while. But since August 's fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri -- for which witness accounts varied widely -- it 's gained traction to become part of the national conversation about police conduct.” (Brandon Griggs 1) People have been recently protesting against Police Officers because of the excessive force people have seen them use recently in viral videos. Some Departments have been using body cams and have seen some significant results. “A year-long study in Orlando found use-of-force incidents dropped by 53 percent among officers wearing bodycams and civilian complaints also dropped 65 percent.” ( Should 2) These statistics show that the force by Police Officers decreased significantly for this one city. Imagine how much this would decrease the force of Police Officers globally if they used body cams in all
In the Houston area, body cameras have showed that they produced good and positive results from officers who used them. It also helped exonerate officers who committed wrongful acts in the line of duty and were released from duty when the footage from the cameras was released. The police chief said 100 cameras were tested and the results have been mostly positive to show that the cameras are a big help to the community. The behavior and overall demeanor of the people was changed completely changed when they were aware of the camera’s presence. Body cameras should be used in police departments around the country because of the ongoing help they are providing to officers in the field.
Many agencies came together in order to pinpoint a solution to accommodate both the safety of law enforcement officers, and the citizens of the community. The “militarization” of the police force in Ferguson, and the excessive use of force claims by the public in these incidents, contributed to the solution of law enforcement officers wearing body cameras while on duty. Today, most if not all law enforcement agencies require their officers to sport body cameras, documenting both the citizen and officers every
The many positives of body cameras come with the downside that it would cost millions of dollars for all policemen to wear a camera on their uniform. The cost of these body cameras may seem like an issue in the beginning, but the way they will be utilized will defiantly pay off in the long run. In order for the cameras to get the proper use the police officer has to turn them on. The American Civil Liberties Union “wants law enforcement agencies to use technology that prevents videos from being deleted by police” (Hill, 2014). This is really important and so is having cameras that cannot be turned off by the police officers, because “ACLU has gotten reports of shenanigans where cameras are mysteriously turned off at crucial moments”
Debates regarding body cameras for police officers have come up frequently in the past years due to an increase of attention in the media of police officers killing black lives. I believe the use of body cameras for police officers can propose pros for the community; such as recording if an officer is not doing the right thing. Or if a citizen would want to make a complaint on an officer, internal affairs can pull the recording and investigate the matter to take care of the complaint appropriately. Another pro to having body cameras for officers is if an officer were to be killed on duty, evidence would be on film to identify who the suspect is and what had occurred on scene. “Fatal confrontations recorded by bystanders are now commonly used
The reason for this statement is body cams are an officer’s defense according to the passage “Body cams protect officers from deceitful reporting which can sway public reporting”. This is all the more to have body cams it works out for the community and law enforcement. The cams can also allow for officers to review footage if an incident would arise where the officers would have to defend themselves form public voice. Allowing them to do so can improve relation with the public. Most officers will see the cams as a threat but they are here for condemning the bad and parsing the good
In Fort Worth, an officer Sikes gave an anecdote that boils down to him having experiences where people would begin aggrandize their reactions and they would begin to calm down once they knew they were being recorded. Secondly, many police officers actually want body cameras to protect themselves against false accusations or brutality, discrimination, and many other things. In Denton County, there was a specific incident where a witness video just showed the perspective where the cop unjustly tases an African American at a NAACP protest. However, that police officers body cameras saved him in the lawsuit because it revealed that the had actually warned the person by saying “get back” multiple times before any actions were
Body Cameras on Police Officers There are pro and cons to police officers wearing body cameras. In light of all the recent killings caused by the law, concern of the safety of both the authority figures and the public have caused the issue of there being a mandatory law that officers should have to wear body cameras at all time and make sure they are turned on whenever they are to interact with the public. Most recently there has been a plethora of killings of unarmed young minorities just for the simple reasoning that they looked "suspicious" or "they seemed like they were up to no good". The reason many states would like to put the law that every officer should be mandated to wear body cameras into place will be for the purpose of being able to record any interaction that an officer has with a person of the public.
“Hands up! Hands up! Drop your weapon!” A voice screams out. You are confused.
So many lives could be saved and so many police officers’ careers could be saved through the utilization of this idea and the reaping of its benefits. Whether it captures a citizen attack on a police officer or whether it captures a case of police brutality, the great possibilities outweigh the potential cons of police body cameras and make them a risk worth taking. Whether one takes the side of the citizens and believe the police are typically irrational or one takes the side of the police and believe they are only doing their jobs to the best of their ability, the incorporation of body cameras to the controversial police force would be extremely beneficial for
Body-worn cameras are definitely the future of policing, however there is still a lot of work to be done in addressing the concerns of privacy. Body cameras alone will not solve the issues that have materialized over the history of policing, but they are a really good way to start showing that police departments want to be transparent and start holding themselves accountable for their actions. This is a huge step in improving police and minority
First, they shouldn’t wear body cameras because it raises high privacy concerns. For example, “Recordings raise high privacy concerns. In some states, anyone can access the video.” (Should Police Wear Body Cameras, pg.23) Also, “Study Reveals Police Officer Are More Likely To Be Assaulted.”
The use of previous videos can be detrimental to new cops because it can teach them how to deal with many different situations correctly that way they don’t put their career in jeopardy or the lives of their partners in danger. Everyone knows that there is always three sides to a story: what one individual says happens, what the other individual says happened, and what happened. With the execution of body-worn cameras, it would eliminate, the reduction seen in complaints filed and sustained against officers and videos can reduce the need for lengthy
Arizona State University 's Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety on body camera studies, Professor Michael D. White states “Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are perhaps the most debated topic in policing today. Advocates and critics have made numerous claims about the impact and consequences of the technology, but most of these claims are untested. BWCs have the potential to completely transform police-citizen encounters, and in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, adoption of the technology is likely to be exponential. This transformation, in the virtual absence of empirical evidence on BWCs, is profoundly troubling.” So although there are many pros and cons to body worn cameras by police officers, the benefits surely outweigh the negatives and more studies are being conducted to prove
These body cameras protect the truth with all officers. As the victims step on the court what many don’t know is the truth is carried by officers at all times. These will be supporting any court trail’s if other people have videos it does not have a chance to beat the body cameras. The point of these cameras is so that nothing really bad goes wrong and so officers won’t be accused of police brutality. All this is positive for any law enforcement, nobody will be lying about anything.
Speech Outline Title: Body Cameras I. Introduction Attention-getter: Body cameras were used because of Michael Brown’s death and police misconduct. B. Significance Body cameras may increase police accountability and protect them from accusations. C. Credibility: My interest in this topic is due to the latest deadly encounters with police officers and improving the communities’ safety.