Body Cameras Pros And Cons

Lately the news has been full of incidents of police shootings. As early as two years ago there has been a push for the police to wear body cameras to provide evidence of such events. In fact President Obama proposed a program which allocates funding for body-worn cameras, which is now being adopted in many police departments across the country. But are the use body cameras really a positive step for law enforcement? The idea of police wearing body cameras is seen as having the potential to reduce public complaints against police and police use of force (P Drover, 2015). Because the use of body-worn cameras is relatively new, long term impacts are not known. But, it is felt that the cameras will improve the transparency of the police encounters.

First, is it worth it? Does the knowledge of being observed actually have an impact on a person’s behavior? Is it an effective deterrent of bad behavior? A big issue is the concern that Police resist wearing body-worn video cameras based on the fear of disciplinary actions, so they may not wear the cameras or keep them running during certain public encounters. And does a video provides effective evidence since there are definite camera limitations. Things such as lighting, perspective caught by the camera, and items blocking the view.

But despite concerns and flaws with body-warn video cameras, “A visual record of what occurs during a police encounter makes it more difficult for officers to deny excessive use of force or other abuse when it happens and more difficult for accusers of police to fabricate abuse or misconduct where it is absent.” (Blitz,

“Cameras do not provide a neutral window into reality, but they do provide visual evidence that is often far better than what fact-finders would have otherwise. Even when camera evidence is flawed, it is often far better than eyewitness accounts, especially when such eyewitness accounts are given long after the events” (Blitz, 2015). Eye witness accounts can vary widely, especially in high stress situations that happen very quickly. People frequently cannot remember the details, where camera evidence can be much more effective in catching the things a person may not recall.

Police are resistance to wear them based on fear of disciplinary actions. So there is a question on whether the police will actually use the cameras or keep them recording during encounters. The way that police departments have countered this concern is by actually using the cameras to provide evidence of good conduct, especially when claims have been made against officers. When used in this way, many police officers have welcomed the cameras as a tool for identifying the performance of officers whether good or bad.( Mateescu, Alexandra Claudia, and Alex Rosenblat. "Police body-worn cameras." (2015).)

And videos are said to increase convictions and eliminate false claims made by defendants, providing documentary support to police officers and their associated actions in an incident