Ferguson, Missouri on the night of August 9th, 2014 an unarmed teenager by the name of Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer with no body camera. Officer Darren Wilson was up for trial for the murder of Michael Brown and was found not guilty. The town of Ferguson was out ragged as violent riots and protests broke out because of the ruling. (Buchanan) Many argue that Officer Wilson used excessive force in the altercation however, the court and jury members believed differently. If a body camera was used by the officer, the public would have had video evidence and be knowledgeable of the actual events. Body cameras should be part of police officers uniforms because it provides safety for the officer and citizens, it takes
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With video cameras on nearly every cell phone and surveillance cameras all over urban cities; video evidence plays a huge part in court rooms. With the footage from dash cameras and now the body cameras this video evidence may be the only evidence provided to solve a criminal case. When police officers use force on a detainee, the video footage can be used to present in front of a judge and jury to determine whether the force was justified or not. As opposed to when it was the officers word against the criminals word or witnesses who have their own biases.
The main objective of body cameras are to gain the trust back from the public and provide better policing for the community, however many citizens believe the cameras invade their privacy. Citizens believe body cameras are an invasion of privacy because they are not asked for permission to be filmed, some may not even know they are being filmed, and others strictly do not want to be filmed. Officers come into contact with children and teenagers, however their parents have not been informed their children are being filmed and the parents are not asked for permission for their children to be …show more content…
The Obama administration began a seventy-five million dollar program in May of 2015 to furnish body cameras for police officers. This could potentially raise taxes for tax payers and could also take away from other governmental departments. To be successful, the police department has to furnish every officer with a camera and everything that comes with the camera to make it operation such as a battery pack and spare batteries. Police departments also have to pay labor for someone to monitor the cameras, and to organize and store all of the footage.
Even though body cameras are still new to the world of policing, they have already started improving police work. The public approves of police officers with body cameras and believes if an officer is supposed to police citizens he should be policed himself. Police officers have also learned to work with the cameras and believe the benefits are worth the
With video cameras on nearly every cell phone and surveillance cameras all over urban cities; video evidence plays a huge part in court rooms. With the footage from dash cameras and now the body cameras this video evidence may be the only evidence provided to solve a criminal case. When police officers use force on a detainee, the video footage can be used to present in front of a judge and jury to determine whether the force was justified or not. As opposed to when it was the officers word against the criminals word or witnesses who have their own biases.
The main objective of body cameras are to gain the trust back from the public and provide better policing for the community, however many citizens believe the cameras invade their privacy. Citizens believe body cameras are an invasion of privacy because they are not asked for permission to be filmed, some may not even know they are being filmed, and others strictly do not want to be filmed. Officers come into contact with children and teenagers, however their parents have not been informed their children are being filmed and the parents are not asked for permission for their children to be …show more content…
The Obama administration began a seventy-five million dollar program in May of 2015 to furnish body cameras for police officers. This could potentially raise taxes for tax payers and could also take away from other governmental departments. To be successful, the police department has to furnish every officer with a camera and everything that comes with the camera to make it operation such as a battery pack and spare batteries. Police departments also have to pay labor for someone to monitor the cameras, and to organize and store all of the footage.
Even though body cameras are still new to the world of policing, they have already started improving police work. The public approves of police officers with body cameras and believes if an officer is supposed to police citizens he should be policed himself. Police officers have also learned to work with the cameras and believe the benefits are worth the