Body Cameras Disadvantages

Police Officers and Body Cameras Police brutality has been around for decades. Police go on power trips and end up wrongly hurting or killing civilians. Rodney King was the most famous victim of police brutality when four Los Angeles Police Department officers beat King on a March night over twenty years ago (Biography.com Editors, n.d.) . The beatings on King were recorded by a bystander watching the events unfold (Linder, 2001) . More recently however, were the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Garner’s death happened in the summer of 2014 when he was killed by an illegal chokehold (Goodman, 2014) . Brown was shot dead on August 9, 2014 by officer Wilson after an altercation (Documents describe Ferguson officer 's version of fatal shooting, 2014). These events could have been either avoided or have been resolved easily if body cameras were employed at the time of the four events. After the recent events of Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown, the topic of body cameras on police officers have been brought up. Should police officers have to wear body cameras while on duty? What benefits would having a body camera have and does it outweigh the disadvantages? How could have body cameras change the events on Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Rodney King, and Michael Brown? Lastly, what kind of changes could …show more content…
The first disadvantage is that it may be considered an invasion of privacy (Baum, 2015). Some people may not want their arrests being recorded or want to be identified when there is no hard evidence yet (Police Body Cameras: Do They Reduce Complaints of Officer Misconduct?. n.d.). Another disadvantage is that of a malfunction of the body camera, whether that is a dead battery, broken components or an obstructed lens, may make the camera useless (Police Body Cameras: Do They Reduce Complaints of Officer Misconduct?,