Body Worn Cameras Research Paper

The Start to a Much Needed Change: Body Worn Cameras In recent months, police brutality has been a prominent focus on the media, with cases such as the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the illegal chokehold that resulted in the death of Eric Garner this July. Michael Brown was only eighteen years old when police officer, Darren Wilson, shot him, resulting in a controversial divide in the nation about which side to believe: the eyewitnesses from the community or officer Wilson. Garner received less of a debate because the entire event was caught on camera, providing complete transparency. Transparency is an important tool in the police force since it leads to those in the wrong to be more likely to receive justice. The video of Eric Garner’s death was recorded on a curious bystander’s cell phone. Captured on tape is Garner expressing his frustration to the police, wishing they would all just leave him alone since all he did was break up a fight. All the while Garner was remaining completely respectful; continuously referring to the policemen as officers and standing his ground. The officers, because of suspicion of him selling untaxed cigarettes, charge at this man even though Garner had already put his hands up. Then the four officers pulled him to the ground. While …show more content…
For this study it was based off of fifty of their officers wearing the body worn cameras, as well as a control group of another fifty. It was found that there were, “75 percent fewer use of force complaints for officers with cameras during the pilot program” (Miller). Both studies show great promise for these cameras because both received such similar results in two very different parts of the country. More research needs to be done to make this claim even stronger. To accomplish this, data needs to be drawn from the other 1,000 out of 18,000 police departments in the nation that are currently trying out body worn cameras