He was reaching for his gun; he wasn’t reaching for his gun. His hands were up; his hands weren’t up. A confrontation between a police officer and a civilian can quickly escalate to anger. When the dust has settled and the endocrine system takes a break, it may be problematic to ascertain who did what to whom. Police officers in America should wear body cameras because they help provide transparency and accountability of officers, provide appreciated evidence in attaining witness/victim statements, and may even lead to exoneration of the falsely accused.
Racial tension in America is at a historical high-point. According to Race Relations (2015), the percentage of people surveyed regarding relations between races to be “very good” or “somewhat
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In Rialto, California, a police department participated and contributed to a study regarding the impact of equipping officers (Ariel, Farrar & Sutherland , 2014). The results are empirical and irrefutable. The officers wore body-mounted cameras that recorded everything that happened during encounters. Ariel et al. (2014) reports that “during the first year after cameras were employed the use of force by police officers reportedly declined 60% and complaints from citizens against law enforcement decreased by 88%.” The authors also report that “the number of complaints filed against officers dropped from 0.7 complaints per 1,000 contacts to 0.07 per 1,000.” The idea of having a camera reporting your actions is a strong motivator that helps to govern officer force used. This is the transparency and reporting required helping restore the nation’s trust in our law …show more content…
According to Staff (2014), one officer in Idaho was placed on administrative leave after shooting an aggressive dog. The dog’s owner issued an apology and the officer returned to service. Before cameras, the majority of incidents resulted in an officers-word-against-the-accused scenario – “and juries tend to believe police officers over accused criminals,” says Stross. He goes on to state that this technology “evens the playing field in any kind of controversy or allegation of abuse,” and has led to the exoneration of many falsely accused, officers and citizens
Police Body Cameras Due to devastating events that have occurred between policemen and civilians, law enforcements find it liable for police officers to be fitted with body cameras. In doing so it is thought to bring an increase in trust in the community, reduce brutality and crime, as well as elucidate good cops still around. I feel body cameras will bring more awareness to police departments when it comes to the honesty in their staff’s actions when they are unsupervised. They can be used as hard evidence in courtrooms, to help make the correct judgment on the situation in question.
Flashing forward a few years later past the days of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, several, but not all in the younger generation see the members of the black and white race as equal and find it hard to fathom that only a few years ago the atmosphere surrounding racial relations was anything but pleasant. Whites and blacks have co-existed for many hundreds of years, but as Tyson points ...
There have been lots of modern technologies introduced in the United States of America to assist law enforcement agencies with crime prevention. But the use of body-worn cameras by police personnel brings about many unanswered questions and debate. Rising questions about the use of body cam are from concern citizens and law enforcement personnel. In this present day America, the use body cameras by all law enforcement personnel and agencies are one of the controversial topics being discussed on a daily base. Body worn cameras were adopted due to the alleged police brutality cases: for instance, the case of Michael Brown, an African-American who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 2014, Eric Garner died as a result of being put in a chokehold by a New York police officer, and John Crawford, shot and killed by a police officer at a Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio.
The intent of this study is to determine the effects between the independent variable of law enforcement professionals wearing body-cameras and the dependent variable of civilian’s willingness to talk to the police. The research questions that the data collected intends to answer are: Do civilians that come in contact with police deterred from talking to them about relevant information regarding a crime when there is a camera on the officer? What effects do police body-cameras have beyond accountability of law enforcement professionals? Will body-cameras damage communication between civilians and law enforcement that could result in a decrease in willingness to report crimes thus increasing crime itself?
Police officers should be required to wear body cameras because it will build a trust between law enforcement and the community, it will decrease the amount of complaints against police officers, and lastly it will decrease the amount of police abuse of authority. In addition, an officer is also more likely to behave in a more appropriate manner that follows standard operating procedures when encountering a civilian. “A 2013 report by the Department of Justice found that officers and civilians acted in a more positive manner when they were aware that a camera was present” (Griggs, Brandon). Critics claim that the use of body cameras is invasive of the officers and civilians privacy.
Do police officers really need body cameras is a question that has been repeated all throughout the nation. Body cameras are video recording systems that are used by law enforcement to record their interactions with the public and gather video evidence. Most police departments do not wear body cameras currently and the ones that do are in trial phases to see how it works out. There are many advantages to police officers wearing body cameras but in asking the question should they wear body cameras the stakeholders should look at the complete picture. One reason that police and body cameras have constantly been brought up lately are the instances of police brutality happening within the United States. Police brutality within the United States
America has had a long history of racism. This fact is more easily understood if racism is understood for what it really is. It is more than just personal hatred. Racism is the “belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics” (What is Racism). The 21st century has brought a lot of changes to the American society. Nevertheless, racism still exists owing to the truth that it is still impossible to persuade the hearts of mankind in terms of racism, which leads to many people wondering how and when black and white racism will end in America. Many solutions have been suggested, and one of the various solutions is black and white interracial relationships. Such relationships have recently been successful in the 21st century, which leads us to the definitive question: can interracial relationships help reduce black and white racism in the 21st century?
Racism (n): the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other race (Wordnet search, 1), a controversial topic in today’s society, a subject that many people try to sweep under the rug, but yet a detrimental problem that has been present in America since the colonial era. Will this dilemma come to a halt? Can all Americans see each other as equals despite their skin color and nationality; and what role has it played in past generations versus today’s generations and how will it affect our future? Has this on going way of thinking gotten better or worse? These are questions raised when many think about the subject; especially members of American ethnic groups and backgrounds, because most have dealt with racial discrimination in their life time.
Any cop can tell you they have never had an incident where a person in their charge was hurt, but how can one know for sure whether or not the officer is telling the truth? Body cameras help to regulate the behavior of police officers. By having evidence of their day to day proclivities, offers have an incentive to behave a certain way when viewed. The camera acts as a psychological guide to help ensure the best performance and behavior from an officer. A case study was made to see how cameras affect the police officers psychologically which shows that, “People adhere to social norms and alter their behavior because of the awareness that someone else is watching.
Police officers with their body cameras: a history and back ground paper to answer the question if should all police officers wear body cameras, it is important to first look at the history and back ground of the topic. According to article of Journal of quantitative criminology, writers Ariel, Farrar, Sutherland, Body cameras have been given a new eye opener to people about the excessive use of force against their community members. Arial, Farrar, and Sutherland in the article state “The effect of police body warn cameras on use of force and citizens’ complaints against the police: A randomize controlled trial” describe their observation as:
Throughout the history of the country, America has been considered a fairly racist union. From the workplaces to the society, as an Asian, I felt there's a strong barrier between white and black people, although I felt a little bit of racial among us. In this essay, I will talk about the major racial issue of this country through out my experiences.
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
Although it would be an injustice to say that one could sum up the entire history of race interrelations in the United States in one essay, a brief overview is always beneficial.
The cameras not only keep officers accountable, but also keeps individuals in line because people tend to be more rational and calm when they are aware that they are being watched. Deputy Chief David Honan reassured the public that the department will review any issues pertaining to the service they provide. This is relevant to my topic because it shows that some officers believe that body cameras are a good first step to restoring the community's faith in the police. The cameras would show events as it happened and would be evidence of transparency.
The public is allowed to watch television and create a false narrative about what happened to them and get away with it. Not only are officers going to have to wear cameras but the police departments are going to have to start prosecuting the people making false statements. This will make the public be held just as accountable as the officer on the street. People are going to have to realize that officers have a job that is a noble profession but we are not babysitters nor are we referees. The more we allow the public to act the way we do the longer it is going to take to get respect