Police Body Cameras
In recent polls it is said that in about nine out of every ten people believe body cameras are the solution to police misconduct. Police body cameras are cameras that are meant to record a police officers and a citizen 's actions and behavior. The Rialto Police Department was the first in the country to enforce the use of body cameras on their officers, In recent year body cameras are seen as a solution to protect the community from police harm. To most people that oppose body cameras believe that the cameras are an invasion to privacy. However police body cameras are more of a way to protect the community from police from misbehavior than to invade someone 's property and privacy. This paper will include the opinions …show more content…
While it is true that body cameras do look deeply into the lives of officers and civilians it does not necessarily mean that all footage has to be sent out into the public. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke to many police officers and civil rights activists and quoted Criminologists saying “the cameras can bestow a ‘civilizing effect’ upon police interactions, putting both sides on their best behavior” (Boone). Another problem people have with police officers wearing body cameras is the cost to equip every officer with a camera and also to store all of the footage from the cameras. An Atlanta, Georgia police agency is expected to spend about 2 million dollars to equip about 1500 police officers with a camera. And also with cameras come storage for all the footage to be stored from police on a everyday basis. Storage is estimated to be around 300,000 dollars a year. But while costs rise to give a cameras to every uniformed officer Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress, who started providing his officers with cameras in 2009 states that "Complaints (against police) are down more than 50 percent," Childress said. "And the use of force is also down dramatically. I swear by them" (Boone). So while costs are high it is more important that police and civilians are thinking about the choices they are about to make before they do them. Many believe that …show more content…
While many when they think of body cameras they immediately think of how they can help the community and do not think of how they are able to help out the police officers wearing them as well. Many of the same benefits that the community has for police body cameras exist for the actual police officers such as recording an interaction with someone in the community. This can help police officers by proving their innocence when a false accusation or charge is brought upon them. Another way body cameras can help police officers is when they are making incident reports, which are for police officers to record what happened during an altercation with someone, they can be used to help police remember what had happened accurately and are able to justify their actions. While many say that police should not be able to view their footage when making an incident report i also do agree but in some cases they may be able to view the footage. Many concerns come with the suggestion of police using the footage to create their incident reports such as swaying their memory to make untruthful accusations of what happened and to also give them time to make excuses to try to justify their wrongful
In recent polls it is said that in about nine out of every ten people believe body cameras are the solution to police misconduct. Police body cameras are cameras that are meant to record a police officers and a citizen 's actions and behavior. The Rialto Police Department was the first in the country to enforce the use of body cameras on their officers, In recent year body cameras are seen as a solution to protect the community from police harm. To most people that oppose body cameras believe that the cameras are an invasion to privacy. However police body cameras are more of a way to protect the community from police from misbehavior than to invade someone 's property and privacy. This paper will include the opinions …show more content…
While it is true that body cameras do look deeply into the lives of officers and civilians it does not necessarily mean that all footage has to be sent out into the public. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke to many police officers and civil rights activists and quoted Criminologists saying “the cameras can bestow a ‘civilizing effect’ upon police interactions, putting both sides on their best behavior” (Boone). Another problem people have with police officers wearing body cameras is the cost to equip every officer with a camera and also to store all of the footage from the cameras. An Atlanta, Georgia police agency is expected to spend about 2 million dollars to equip about 1500 police officers with a camera. And also with cameras come storage for all the footage to be stored from police on a everyday basis. Storage is estimated to be around 300,000 dollars a year. But while costs rise to give a cameras to every uniformed officer Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress, who started providing his officers with cameras in 2009 states that "Complaints (against police) are down more than 50 percent," Childress said. "And the use of force is also down dramatically. I swear by them" (Boone). So while costs are high it is more important that police and civilians are thinking about the choices they are about to make before they do them. Many believe that …show more content…
While many when they think of body cameras they immediately think of how they can help the community and do not think of how they are able to help out the police officers wearing them as well. Many of the same benefits that the community has for police body cameras exist for the actual police officers such as recording an interaction with someone in the community. This can help police officers by proving their innocence when a false accusation or charge is brought upon them. Another way body cameras can help police officers is when they are making incident reports, which are for police officers to record what happened during an altercation with someone, they can be used to help police remember what had happened accurately and are able to justify their actions. While many say that police should not be able to view their footage when making an incident report i also do agree but in some cases they may be able to view the footage. Many concerns come with the suggestion of police using the footage to create their incident reports such as swaying their memory to make untruthful accusations of what happened and to also give them time to make excuses to try to justify their wrongful