Should Police Officers Wear Body Cameras Essay

Should Police Officers be Required to Wear Body Cameras?

Body cameras are small, portable electronic devices that capture audio and/or video. Although they are relatively pretty small, their power is immense. There are times when a lack of body cameras can be a matter of life and death. Having a body camera present during an encounter or altercation can save someone’s life, and not having it can do quite the opposite. Even though body cameras are extremely controversial, they are a very good tool in assisting police officers in their daily work-life, and provide a great protection for officers, especially now that police work is highly criticized.

(Jones np)

For police departments that choose to use body cameras, they have to decide how far to go with camera features. They could just get audio, just video, or audio and video, and then there are other things, like biometrics, footage retention, etc. The cameras that the officers in Chicago use, have the ability to record seventy-two hours worth of video from only a single time charging it. Due to the Freedom of Information Act, if the public believe that police used force, they want to make a claim of police misconduct, or in the case of an arrest, they can request to see any of the

This proves that body cameras show what actually happened, and can prevent people from lying, because there is no point; the body camera footage is just going to prove them wrong. The San Diego Police Department has recently started using body cameras, and so far they have seen a “positive impact” and an effective way to upgrade technology (Garrick np). The body cameras have also caused a decrease in the amount of allegations that could not be solved because there was a lack of evidence, and raised the number of allegations that were proven false (Garrick