What Are The Pros And Cons Of Body Cameras

In recent years there has been a lot of uproar about police abuse of power, racial profiling and how the courts side with law enforcement. With the introduction of BWC’s (body-worn cameras) the problem of questionable police actions is starting to come to a close. Body cameras are already starting to show their potential in situations like in Hampshire, UK when an officer’s body camera captured a young man saying he would kill the officer’s children and bite off his nose (Marks Web. 23). BWC’s are slowly being integrated into police departments around the world and are showing positive data in proving the innocents of officers and how situations are really happening along with earning the approval of many, from the public to attorneys even

Attorney General Loretta Lynch believes that BWC’s are extremely important for helping law enforcement agencies rise to the challenge of the 21st century (Mark Web. 28). President Obama wants Congress to help pay for $50,000 body cameras for police officers (Micheal Web. 28). Not only are body cameras useful for the recording of encounters, and physical evidence used in court, however Police departments using these cameras say their presence “often improves the performance of officers as well as the conduct of the community members who are recorded,” according to a publication the research forum released last year by the Justice Departments’s Office of Community Oriented Policing (Mark Web. 28). The use of body cameras has been shown to have a positive effect on both police officers and the public. With many of the recent events that have happened and how the public sees the police use of force, the use of body-worn cameras the public opinion is slowly changing for the better as everyone sees how things are from an officer’s point of view. In the words of Bill Crane, a business consultant and political commentator, “police body cameras are expected to become as universal a policing tool as the side arm, nightstick or taser in the not-too-distant future”