Body Cameras Pros And Cons Essay

Improved Essays
We are in a society where police officers wearing cameras on their vest would hold police officers accountable as well as increase creditability for the police department. According to the Washington post 885 people were shot dead by the police this year and only three cases resulted in an officer being charged with a crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation explains that most of the police officers aren’t charged due to lack of evidence or the implication of a police officer stating he or she had to act in self-defense. Due to all the complications and the continuously rising incidents police officers should be required to wear video cameras while on duty to prevent violence, to show the human side of policing, and finally to increase accountability. …show more content…
Many arguments have been state from people that are pro body cameras and some that are con but the pros outweigh. With the requirements of body cameras; we can prevent many lethal problems such as violence from both the civilians and the officers. According to KOIN6 (news) cameras run from $15-1,000 per unit so evidently they are expensive but we need to look at how much impact it would have on our society and even the world. This conversation of body cameras is actually in action,” President Barack Obama’s announcement to request $263 million to fund police body cameras and training for law enforcement in the United States, many agencies have already started using or testing the technology” (KOIN 6). Our futures will hopefully have less issues and loss of a loved ones because cameras will eliminate many misconceptions and understanding between the officers and civilians. A quote by Rebecca McNutt comes to mind when I think about cameras; “People say that a time machine can’t be invented, but they’ve already invented a device that can stop time, cameras are the world’s first time machines”. Cameras are and will always be our time machines and it’s a matter of if we take advantage of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Body cameras change the way police officers interact with the public for the better. One quote from journalresource.org that emphasizes my point is ¨Officers who did not wear cameras performed 9.8% more stop-and-frisks and…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Although there are several pros and cons to this subject, the pros most definitely out weigh the cons. Over the past decade due to social media and increasing racial and societal tensions, more and more pressure has been placed on police officers to wear body cameras to document their daily interactions. While this is certainly a complex issue it seems to make the most sense that officers should wear body cameras. Studies show that with body cameras in place there…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Therefore, he is an expert in this field and has much experience dealing with cases regarding the consequences of police brutality due to the government not implementing body cameras. In addition, the author provides a reason to believe by uniquely expressing his viewpoint and boldly stating his opinion on the effect of body cameras on police officers and citizens. O’Mara states, “People act better when they know they're being watched -- or recorded. Cops act better, and the people they encounter on the street are more cooperative.” O’Mara references a studied commissioned by the Police Foundation in 2012 that displays statistical evidence proving few force incidents with body cameras.…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Walter Scott horrific death is a clear example that it is crucial for all police officers to wear body cameras. Police officers in body cameras will prevent violence, hold them accountability for appropriate and inappropriate behavior, and serve as on hand evidence. In order to understand my position on police officers…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I believe by having body cameras, officers will be more careful of what they do. In addition, the public will know what happen by seeing the evidence in the body cameras used by officers.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Use Of Body Cameras

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the article, "Police Begin Wider Body Camera Use After Months of Testing” by Philip Marcelo, the author outlines how police departments across the nation are using more body cameras. In the article the author also touches upon how people view the use of body cameras. Also Marcelo also talks about unions which are not in favor of body cameras. In chicago 20 police agencies is currently issuing 2,000 body cams to its staff of 12,000 officers. Although only 17% of officers in chicago are outfitted with body cameras they plan to outfit every officer eventually.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Body Cameras Pros And Cons

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The idea of requirement of body cameras in the police force has exploded a controversy. Many people believe that police officers should be required to wear body cameras, while others do not. People are requiring police officers to wear body cameras because there has been cases in which people doubt justice was made. Cases like the death of Eric Garner, the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the death of Sandra Bland, and others. In these cases the families of the victims were unsatisfied with the decision juries took on the death of their loved ones.…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With all the police brutality claims now there is so much controversy over police officers wearing body cameras. Some people feel that the officers should wear the cameras so that there will be a video of everything happening and there will be proof of what is going on between the officers and the civilians. Other people do not want the cameras because it violates people’s privacy. This has been an ongoing debate for a while now. In this essay I want to show some of the benefits for the body cameras.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Body Cameras If only we had evidence of what truly went down between that teenage boy and that police officer. If only we could see the truth unfold through a television screen. A camera’s purpose is to capture a live moment, preserve it, and share it with others. Body cameras on police officers should be mandatory because they will help monitor police behavior, provide evidence, and instill trust.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With that being said, concrete and strong restrictions need to be constructed to ensure the cameras cannot be manipulated. “Policies should require that an officer activate his or her camera when responding to a call for service or at the initiation of any other law enforcement or investigative encounter between a police officer and a member of the public” (Stanley). A cop should be reprimanded when he/she fails to wear a body camera to record. According to the article, “During the first year after the cams were introduced, the use of force by police officers reportedly declined 60% and complaints from citizens against law enforcement decreased by 88%” (Einvestigator).…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The article Police Body Cameras analyzes the possible outcomes of this idea. The article states that using body cameras could offer protection to both parties, equating to a win-win scenario. Not only would the footage “protect the public against police misconduct”, but it would also “protect the police against false accusations of abuse” (p. 8). The footage collected from the cameras would offer accurate account of incidents which have in the past been blurred with bias against police as well as the blue shield of trust which protects fellow officers from their wrongdoing with cover up stories. The same article further explains that body cameras could be the bridge of trust needed between the public and law enforcement through the feeling of security they provide.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Police Should Wear Body Cameras Being in law enforcement isn 't a easy job. The goal of a police officer is to protect and serve the civilians. Lately, police brutality has been a hot topic of discussion due to some police officers taking their power to extreme measures when dealing with the public. Many unarmed minorities were being killed at the hands of officers all over the United States. According to the website www.mappingpoliceviolence.org, "37% of unarmed minorities were killed by police in 2015 and on 10 out of the 102 cases, the police were actually charged with the crime" (Mapping Violence, 2015).…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Police body cameras can be the next big thing to help and protect officers and get the accused criminals. Although opponents say that police body cameras can invade privacy it does not because it is a way that officers can get evidence of what happened that day and it can help in court cases if an officer is being accused of something they didn’t do or if the officer did something wrong that he did not supposed to do. Police body cameras can also get evidence if the police officer is doing his or her job well. It can also help in having…

    • 1266 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Records show that the public’s trust in the police is at an all time low; therefore departments using body cameras have a greater advantage of increasing trust and improving relationships with the general public. Police body cameras benefit all parties, they provide documented objective video evidence that can be used to prosecute or exonerate a suspect (Gass). All in all, the launch of police body cameras protects civilians, and provides a record of the interactions between police officers and…

    • 1036 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Importance Of Body Cameras

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages

    When the body cameras were first introduced claims of police misconduct dropped significantly. Rhonda Swan states, “ In the first year after Rialto Calif., police started wearing body cameras, the use of force by officers declined almost 60 percent, and citizen complaints against police fell 88 percent.” When police are watched they may feel as though they must be on their best behavior because if they make a unacceptable move, or use excessive force their higher ups will find out. New England College says that there is “ a sense of accountability for both police officers and the citizens they interact with. If encounters are being recorded for future review- and potential evidence both sides are more likely to put on their best behavior, proponents say.”…

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics