Pros And Cons Of Police Body Worn Cameras

In recent years, developments in the technologies used by law enforcement organizations have been continually accelerating. Technology, from less-lethal devices, such as TASER, and forensic evidence to advanced crime analysis, aims to shape law enforcement and has redefined multiple aspects of policing (White, 2014). One of the most recent technologies is police body-worn camera system, which has already received extensive attentions among media and policing executives in 2013 (White, 2014). In the United States, a body-worn camera program is widely implemented across the country and seen as one of the Metropolitan Police Department’s ”top five priorities” over the past few years (Vorndran et al., 2014). Although proponents and opponents have made many claims about body-worn camera system, there have been few discussions of the empirical evidence regarding effectiveness and desirability of this technological innovation. In the essay, I will argue whether police body-worn cameras are a positive development. …show more content…
For proponents, the devices can bring benefits to the relations between the police and the public by reducing misconduct, improving behaviors, improving officer training and improving accountability and transparency. While, for opponents, the technology may be harmful to both citizens and officers’ privacy, and hard to implement due to the costs and storage. However, some of these claims have not been sufficiently tested. For this reason, I will only focus on the benefits and risks with empirical