Police Body Cameras:
Truth is a matter of perspective and perception. For example, when a crime occurs, witnesses can give starkly different statements on what took place. Sometimes the best teller of the truth can be video footage from a camera. Therefore, when police officers wear body cameras it is beneficial to the suspect, as well as the officer, because they provide an unbiased account of what truly happened.
The American people have been pushing the issue of body cameras because there have been multiple instances where unarmed African-American men and others have been shot and killed as a result of police brutality. The media has played a significant role in the introduction of body cameras. Civilians have used their cell phones …show more content…
Police reports are becoming more accurate. Officers gain the ability to go back and review video evidence they collected, which has helped with writing out reports after an incident and providing more accurate information in the report ("A Forceful"). A promising result police officers receive while using body-worn cameras is a significant reduction of complaints made against them. Also, police officers using body camera footage could provide video evidence to exonerate officers falsely accused of a crime. For instance, four Cleveland police officers’ jobs were saved by body camera footage. Video footage submitted to the grand jury as evidence to support their statements, justified their use of lethal force (Gass). Therefore, body cameras and the video footage they obtain are a major asset in protecting police officers. Body cameras record every interaction civilians have with a police officer, thus there is only one truth. According to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, "Now almost half of substantiated force allegations are possible because of video evidence" this provides evidence that the officers were following proper protocol. Body cameras have declined statements of complaints over something believed to be wrong and or unfair by community members (Morales). A major gain officer 's experience while wearing body cameras is a decline in attitude they receive from …show more content…
For example, there has been a major decline in incidents resulting in use-of-force following the use of police body cameras. There was also an 88% reduction of complaints made by citizens compared to years without police using body cameras (Johnson). One advantage civilians have received in result of body-worn cameras is a significant reduction of police using excessive force. A great aspect of body cameras is the ability to have hard video evidence to back up a civilian 's story, and a high percentage of the time they show the public, officers demonstrating proper protocol. Records show that the public’s trust in the police is at an all time low; therefore departments using body cameras have a greater advantage of increasing trust and improving relationships with the general public. Police body cameras benefit all parties, they provide documented objective video evidence that can be used to prosecute or exonerate a suspect (Gass). All in all, the launch of police body cameras protects civilians, and provides a record of the interactions between police officers and
Truth is a matter of perspective and perception. For example, when a crime occurs, witnesses can give starkly different statements on what took place. Sometimes the best teller of the truth can be video footage from a camera. Therefore, when police officers wear body cameras it is beneficial to the suspect, as well as the officer, because they provide an unbiased account of what truly happened.
The American people have been pushing the issue of body cameras because there have been multiple instances where unarmed African-American men and others have been shot and killed as a result of police brutality. The media has played a significant role in the introduction of body cameras. Civilians have used their cell phones …show more content…
Police reports are becoming more accurate. Officers gain the ability to go back and review video evidence they collected, which has helped with writing out reports after an incident and providing more accurate information in the report ("A Forceful"). A promising result police officers receive while using body-worn cameras is a significant reduction of complaints made against them. Also, police officers using body camera footage could provide video evidence to exonerate officers falsely accused of a crime. For instance, four Cleveland police officers’ jobs were saved by body camera footage. Video footage submitted to the grand jury as evidence to support their statements, justified their use of lethal force (Gass). Therefore, body cameras and the video footage they obtain are a major asset in protecting police officers. Body cameras record every interaction civilians have with a police officer, thus there is only one truth. According to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, "Now almost half of substantiated force allegations are possible because of video evidence" this provides evidence that the officers were following proper protocol. Body cameras have declined statements of complaints over something believed to be wrong and or unfair by community members (Morales). A major gain officer 's experience while wearing body cameras is a decline in attitude they receive from …show more content…
For example, there has been a major decline in incidents resulting in use-of-force following the use of police body cameras. There was also an 88% reduction of complaints made by citizens compared to years without police using body cameras (Johnson). One advantage civilians have received in result of body-worn cameras is a significant reduction of police using excessive force. A great aspect of body cameras is the ability to have hard video evidence to back up a civilian 's story, and a high percentage of the time they show the public, officers demonstrating proper protocol. Records show that the public’s trust in the police is at an all time low; therefore departments using body cameras have a greater advantage of increasing trust and improving relationships with the general public. Police body cameras benefit all parties, they provide documented objective video evidence that can be used to prosecute or exonerate a suspect (Gass). All in all, the launch of police body cameras protects civilians, and provides a record of the interactions between police officers and