Essay On Law Enforcement Cameras

Improved Essays
Do law Enforcement Cameras Invade Citizens Privacy Since the 1980’s technology has played an integral part of police work. In recent years there has been a rise in the use of the body and dash camera for law enforcement. (Smykla, Crow and Crichlow) Since the 1960s, we could remember, catching criminal act on Closed Circuit Security Television. (Smykla, Crow and Crichlow) Since the employment of that technology use of cameras in law enforcement has been increasing. There have been debates, however whether privacy is invaded when criminal acts are caught on tape. (Young) There have been instances where police would turn off body worn cameras to limit what is shown on tape. One situation for example, was where a man was assaulted while the body camera was turned off. The camera was turned back on only after the assault took place. (Young) There are other arguments that claim body worn cameras and dash cameras show an offenders address. The charged offenders felt there was an invasion of privacy when cameras displayed the home of the charged. (Smykla, Crow and Crichlow) There are other claims that police are using excessive force to arrest offenders. Recently, there have been accusations of police wrongfully shooting suspects who were thought to have had weapons. Case in point was the Trevon …show more content…
(Young) This has been the debate over time that body worn cameras invade privacy. Accountability of police officers, that when the camera is on they use less force during arrest procedures. (Association) We need to find common ground for both arguments. Currently there are not enough laws in place to regulate when or if body cameras are used. The White House has supported the use of the body worn camera. President Barrack Obama has given law enforcement agencies $263 million in Government funding. Paying for the cameras and training of law enforcement.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    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…

    • 1036 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In early July, the death of a civilian under the hands of the police in the U.S. occurred. Philando Castile, who was only 32 years old, was fatally shot by police officers from the passenger seat of his girlfriend’s car. According to an ABC News article by Julia Jacobo and Enjoli, the police officer planned to stop the vehicle Castile was in because he unethically assumed that Castile and the driver were robbers based on racial profiling (par. 4). After the officer killed Castile, the driver live-streamed the aftermath scene on her Facebook account and states that the officer assumed Castile was pulling out a gun instead of his wallet and shot him four times in the process. Philando Castile was fatally shot based on uncertain and false pretences.…

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With police brutality increasing finding a solution is vital. Therefore police departments are trying to find solutions and body cameras is one of them. Even though privacy will be ruined, body cameras worn on police officers are one of the solutions to police brutality. Body cameras which are worn by police officers capture all activity around them within a radius of course. Therefore privacy is an issue that people might see as a problem with body…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Body Cameras Pros And Cons

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Some people might say that the police officers use of body cameras violates their right of privacy. Often it is questioned about the people that get caught on camera as bystanders and the effect of them being shown in the courtrooms even if it’s not them they are focusing on. In particular, the most troubling aspect of recording will occur when camera-equipped officers are inside people 's homes, whenever police enter — including in instances of consensual entry in example, responding to a burglary call, voluntarily participating in an investigation, and such things as domestic violence calls. Some people might feel it is an abuse of privacy while others just see it as a security measure. The people have said that if the police officers wear body cameras anytime a police officer gets near them they know what to expect, and therefore it’s not an abuse of…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This raised a red flag in the eye of the public and they started asking questions and demanding answers. To solve this issue, police officers should be required to wear body cameras on duty when interacting with the public because it will show the behaviors of the police officers, collect any evidence that is needed to solve a case and it will protect the public against police brutality. Body worn cameras should be considered while on duty when interacting with the public because it will show the behaviors of both parties. Tony Farrar study is a perfect example. He is the chief of the police department…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many court cases have ended up in a flip lately because these body cameras are capturing the real live story. Did the police officer make the right decision or are they caught in the middle of a crime where they are the real criminal? In the article “Police Body Cameras: Should law enforcement agents wear body cameras?” it explores the pros and cons of body cameras, as well as real life stories that have occurred in the public. This article carries valid evidence that police body cameras have both positive and negative…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Police Body Cameras The End To Privacy Police body cameras are simply the answer to civilians unheard cries. Police body cameras will never be the answer to stopping police brutality. They are, however, the answer to angry civilians who want an end to police ferociousness. Because body cameras can only catch the officer 's point of view, the cameras are coming with a big price tag, and officers are going to have to think more before they act, police body cameras are not the answer to stopping police brutality.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With all the police brutality claims now there is so much controversy over police officers wearing body cameras. Some people feel that the officers should wear the cameras so that there will be a video of everything happening and there will be proof of what is going on between the officers and the civilians. Other people do not want the cameras because it violates people’s privacy. This has been an ongoing debate for a while now. In this essay I want to show some of the benefits for the body cameras.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Therefore, he is an expert in this field and has much experience dealing with cases regarding the consequences of police brutality due to the government not implementing body cameras. In addition, the author provides a reason to believe by uniquely expressing his viewpoint and boldly stating his opinion on the effect of body cameras on police officers and citizens. O’Mara states, “People act better when they know they're being watched -- or recorded. Cops act better, and the people they encounter on the street are more cooperative.” O’Mara references a studied commissioned by the Police Foundation in 2012 that displays statistical evidence proving few force incidents with body cameras.…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This however could be contradictory if the officer does not tell or report the whole story. Without clear limits, body worn cameras may become just another tool for law enforcement rather than a mechanism for police accountability. Several studies on police body cameras have encouraging…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “In the first year after the cameras introduction, the use of force by officers’ decline 60%, and citizens’ complaints against police fell 88%”. (Christopher Mims) The introduction of police body cameras impacted the world in many better ways then bad. But, police body cameras where introduced due to the publics awareness to police brutality and numerous of publicity deaths which has impacted the outcome of police interactions. Police body cameras where first thought of when an awareness of police brutality was brought upon the public.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In particular, when it comes to law enforcement which is something that in itself force most people to commit crimes people of the feeling of not want to be caught and string to outsmart police offers as part of the thrill of waling the gray line in which makes them. The term law enforcement is defined as to any system by which some members of society act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society (). As law enforcement is concerned is that when they go to investigate a situation or a case that involves some kind of help that deals with technology that has been engineered for the last century. Most of the technology that they…

    • 1119 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the past 10 years there has been many talks on whether the police should be required to wear body cameras. Throughout all the research and studies regarding these cameras, these have been many pros to body cams but there have also been cons and many challenges to implementing this system in police forces throughout the country. Many different police stations have done experiments with these cameras and have all shown very positive feedback. Regardless of the amount of work necessary to implement these cameras, it should be necessary for officers to wear these body cameras because they have the potential to save lives. To go along with that, police should be forced to wear these body cameras because they have the potential to save lives, give better representation than hearing a testimony, and make suspects less likely to run or attack an officer because everything they do is caught on camera.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I thought the article I found was very interesting. It was about how officers in Milwaukee would be wearing cameras on the uniform. This article got me thinking because I thought it was interesting to think about all the new possibilities that officers would have when they equipped with these cameras. On top of having these cameras, police officers would have discretion to turn off the camera or keep it on when dealing with victims or witnesses. Some examples of turning off the camera would be when an officer is interviewing a sexual assault victim or child victims.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Importance Of Body Cameras

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The citizens of the United States have been debating whether the police should wear body cameras. Recently this debate has gotten a lot more prevalent after the unjust deaths of an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri , and the death of Eric Garner in New York City. The United States death by police rate is by far higher than any other country, “ In 2011 police killed six people in Australia, two in England, six in Germany, and according to an FBI count, 404 in the United States.” (Stanley 2). Body cameras are small compact cameras that police would have to wear in order for law enforcement agencies to see what exactly occurred if there was a problem.…

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics