Body Cameras Argumentative Essay

Body cameras have been the new initiative over the past few years. Barack Obama announced that in 2014 allocated millions of dollars for federal funding to allow police officers to wear body cameras and to increase their training (Harvard Law Review). There are many organizations that have voiced their opinion of the use of body cameras. Many have stated that body cameras are a good idea and they should be implemented. The American Civil Liberties Union has stated that they are believe body cameras should be used across the country, but the public should still have their privacy (Harvard Law Review).

Many numerous police officers have been given body cameras over the last few months. Due to this, there have been videos that were made public which caused an outcry throughout the country. With the increase in body cameras over the country, there has been many setbacks and potential benefits that

the cameras can cause. Many Americans have voiced their opinion on the matter which this debate has caused concepts such as “Black Lives Matter” and “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot.” (Harvard Law Review). This debate has been brought to attention because of many videos that were taken. These videos may include incriminating scenes that can discredit a police officer.
There are many benefits that comes with the use of body cameras. One of the benefits to this debate is when citizen’s behavior is improved. This can reduce the complaints of citizens because they have factual evidence on a video. Camera footage can reduce the amount of false complaints and have less complaints that are ultimately filed. With the evidence on videos can reduce complaints, this can also cause citizens to reduce the number of the complaints that they bring to court (Harvard Law Review).
Along with the reduction of filed complaints, officers can improve their training. This benefit can be helpful because recordings can correct an officer’s behavior against allegations that can potentially filed. These trainings can teach the officers what an everyday civilian goes through and what they may encounter through their day. With new body cameras, this can improve the quality of police officers that are hired. The improvision of officer training can provide footage to supervisors who prefer to watch what each officer does on a day to day basis. This can provide whether or not they are being effective while out in the field (Harvard Law Review). Body cameras give effectiveness on the police officers account of incidents that may happen.
Evidence is most important for trials to make sure that the courts are prosecuting the exact criminal. With police wearing body cameras, this can insure they have an exact representation of what occurred at the scene. These videos will help both the prosecutors and defense attorneys. Prosecutors have stated that roughly 96 percent of video footage has improved their capability of prosecuting cases. With each case that is brought forth to the courts and insure that there is an accurate accountability and transparency for each case (Harvard Law Review).
Accountability and transparency is important because this may lead police officers and communities to better understand each other. This is based on the fact that body cameras result in positive behavior by the police and ensuring that each officer does not abuse the power that they have. Many citizens are able to request footage that is taken from the body cameras which this may cause citizens to feel safer with the officers who are protecting them. Body cameras can lead to the public trusting them with their lives with this new technology that Barack Obama has insisted on (Harvard Law Review).
With these many benefits that come with the availability of using body cameras, there are always drawback with a new initiative.

One of the many drawbacks that come with using body cameras is due to the fact that there is a locus of control. This may pose a problem because there is an underlying question of who can control the cameras. There can be many videos of incidents that are not captured because an officer decided to turn off their camera. Officers have the ability to turn them off or on which causes the problem of each officer not releasing them. Many departments across the country does not even allow individuals to access the footage that is recorded and with the laws that are in place for many department to deny access to the footage that they have. Due to each officer having to release the footage that they capture, they are allowed to review the footage that they record before they make a statement (Harvard Law Review). This is one of the biggest drawbacks because controlling the video footage is important in not only courts but to ensure the minds of

civilians.
Body cameras records anything that occurs while the officer has turned it on and this can pose a problem because privacy is an important issue to each citizen. This can pose a problem because when more people want the footage that is recorded to be released, there are also many citizens who do not want the videos of themselves to be shared. Citizens who do not want to have themselves filmed causes an issue because this may raise the issue where each officer may have to tell when they are recording. The ACLU has told citizens where to look for the body cameras on police officers and to put a pin or a sticker showing when the camera is currently recording. It is unclear whether or not an individual that had been reordered can ask to get their video erased or to not be shared with the public. Without the knowledge of what privacy can cause citizens, police officers may use privacy concerns as an excuse (Harvard Law Review).
With privacy being one of the main concerns for the use of body cameras, the costs and storage of these devices makes this debate a bigger problem. The storage of these cameras can be a problem because there may be many videos that have no use for departments. When each department has to store tons of footage that may not even be useful, this can pose a bigger cost problem. This is a problem because the cost of storing and sending this data to various places can be very costly. The cost of these cameras leave a hefty question of who will pay the cost of this new technology and whether many states are willing to raise taxes. This question of who will pay for these cameras also raises concerns on whether these cameras will be profitable for the criminal justice system (Harvard Law Review). Body cameras are costly, depending on each department and who will pay the bill of these cameras.
Pervasive surveillance techniques is important to understand why this can be ineffective because there are more citizens that are aware of the government possibly watching them. They are aware that with many companies now being able to use facial recognition, now with police officers using body cameras this can lead to a better identification. Being able to use facial recognition can be lead to citizens losing the power that they feel towards the government and this may help the government to track, detain, and arrest people effectively (Harvard Law Review). Surveillance can make citizens feel less secure with the government.
Lastly, the objectivity of video evidence can relate to the reliability of the forms of videos that they produce. This causes a problem because even though video footage is recording all day, this limits the angle that is being recorded. Police officers may not be in the right view and either the footage does not capture the right pictures that they may need for court. Angles and views are important in video footage because without the angles that need captured, perspective may change on whether to believe what actions truly happened. This benefits officers because the cameras will show the officers perspectives but not the individual that is being recorded (Harvard Law Review). Ultimately, the debate still goes onto who the cameras truly benefit.
Based upon the evidence that has been gathered since body cameras became the topic of debate, I believe that body cameras may potentially harm society overall. Body cameras are very costly and the government has already spent thousands of dollars just purchasing them. After each department has them, they have to keep up with the maintenance and the storage of them. Many departments may not even have every officer wear one, which would then be a waste buying one body camera. Body cameras also add weight in addition to what they are already wearing. One of the biggest reasons why they will not benefit society is that the officer can control the body camera that is assigned to them. They can turn it on and off which then nobody has the authority to tell them otherwise. There needs to be more maintenance and regulations that come with body cameras that needs to be completed before they are initiated.
Body cameras is a small camera that clips onto an officers uniform. This camera will record audio and video of the officers encounters with each citizen (Thinking Slowly). Barack Obama has approved millions of dollars so that many police departments across the United States can be equipped body cameras. This new technology has gained much attention over the past few months. Some of the footage that has been recorded has not been beneficial to police officers which has caused many riots to occur. There are many drawbacks and benefits when it comes to body cameras. Overall, body cameras can provide justice for all those that benefit from it but it may also harm the officers that wear them.