Police Body Cameras

The police body cameras also referred to as the BWV (Body Worn Video), wearable cameras or body-worn cameras are a photographic recording system which has several uses. This paper focuses on its use in the law enforcement. In the recent past, the use of wearable cameras by the police officers received media attention. People believe that the police body cameras are capable of reducing the excessive use of force by the police, complaints against police officers, and improving police transparency and legitimacy, increasing the rate of persecution and improving the evidence captured by police officers (Ariel et al., 2014). Its publicity makes many people assume that it can greatly change the police practices. In spite of its promises, there are

In a democratic society, the police should use force when the condition justifies the necessary use of force to achieve legitimate goals. The policing profession entails the necessary use of force in various chaotic environments that may be either undesired or unanticipated by the society. Empirically, police researchers argue that the social contract exists between the police officers and the citizens. The police officers protect and serve the citizens. Citizens believe that the police officers are responsible for protecting them and other police officers. Therefore, citizens anticipate that the police officers use force when it is necessary and they should use reasonable force to quell the situation. Hence, the police officers are delegated with the moral and legal duty to keep the communal order. The police officers achieve these obligations via their legitimized use of force. Studies in the area of use of force by the police officers emphasize on two distinctive conditions, ‘use of excessive force’ and ‘use of unnecessary force’ by police officers (Ariel et al., 2014). These conditions destabilize the relationship between the police officers and citizens. When the police offices weaken the expectations (to protect and serve) of the citizens; this breaks their contract with the citizens, thus leading to tension within the society (Ariel et al.,

Situational factors depend on the aspect that police-citizen encounter affects the police behavior. Studies indicate that the relationship between the police use of force and police-public encounter entirely rest on resisting arrest (Ariel et al., 2014). Behavior is an example of situational factors that prompt the police officers to use force. For instance, when the police officer is alone in particular environment the police is likely to use excessive force because the police officer feels threatened. The psychological factors recommend that police officers possessing certain characteristics are likely to excessive force. For example, the capability to withstand stressful conditions associated with the personality forms. Some police officers accept certain types of disrespect while others do not. Studies show that aggressive and tough-minded police officers tend to use excessive force (Ariel et al., 2014). The police organizational in association with the use of force appears to play a significant role in permitting or accepting the use of excessive force in some