Body Cameras

The article by Elida S. Perez discusses the Police Union’s push back on body cameras in El Paso, Texas. Perez states the denial of El Paso Police Department to equip body cameras because they believe other funding priorities and privacy concerns must be addressed. Some of the top funding priorities that Perez states are “hiring more police officers, buying new police cars, and updating radios”(par. 5). In addition, the police union is also concerned over unfair disciplinary actions against the police officers because of any camera malfunctions. She added an example that explained El Paso Municipal Police Officers Association President Ron Martin’s statement, “sometimes emergency situations unfold so quickly that an officer may not have time to turn on the camera, which he fears may be seen as an attempt to hide what occurred” (par.

8).

Perez added how other police departments have added the body cameras, as she includes positive comments by Police Chiefs such as Horizon City Police Chief Mike McConnell comment saying “the video camera helps the officer, it doesn’t hurt because the officer should be doing the right thing” (par. 18). The author stated how activist groups argue for the implementation of the cameras for El Paso police department. By approving the body camera the human rights groups push to strengthen the safety of the area as the director of the group Fernando Garcia said “El Paso is one of the safest cities because area law enforcement engages with the community” he added that “body-worn cameras would strengthen that relationship by showing accountability and transparency” (par. 21). Perez adds credibility to the article by mentioning current officials such as Chief Deputy Sherriff Tom Whitten, Horizon City Police Chief Mike McConnell, and the Assistant of El Paso Police Chief, Patrick

Maloney.
Elida S. Perez’s article sates how the city of El Paso should not rush into acquiring body cameras but should focus on hiring more officers, buying new police cars, and updating their radios. While updating these resources for the police department is convincing as it is necessary and justifying but it doesn’t seem to ensure the safety of their citizens. New officers, police cars, and radios is persuasive in Perez’s argument because it will update their police department and possibly become more efficient. Although, when talking about the safety of the citizens those resources should not be the top priority as the relationship between the police officer and the community should be the top concern for the department. The author stated an example, a scenario where an officer could come across an emergency situation where he would need to turn the body camera on because a citizen puts the officer in a threating situation, stating “Well hold on sir- let me turn my body camera on so it can show what you are doing to me”. This statement is an exaggeration showing that this evidence is flawed because an equipped body camera is on at all time that an officer is on duty. In Jack Craver’s article “Most Austin police officers will soon have body cameras”, he assures that information as he states the concerns and solutions to the body camera policy. Craver emphasized the use of the camera by the police officers as that the policy “includes a provision that allows citizens to request that officers turn their cameras off” (par. 11). This shows how the body camera policy offers solutions and should be enforced because it ensures the safety and transparency of the citizens and police officers.