“Take a Picture (or Video), It Lasts Longer”
On August 9th 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson Missouri. On November 24th, the St. Louis grand jury decided there were no probable cause to indict Mr. Wilson. This decision sparked an outrage around the community where building where set on fire and lootings were prevalent around the city. With much of the evidence being he-say-she-say, it is hard for the public to actually know what happened. This led to an increased interest in body cameras. Body cameras should be required by federal law to protect officers, citizens, and prevent police brutality.
The publics trust towards police is at its lowest point in decades.
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All people, cops and civilians, act better when they know they are on camera. If cameras hold cops accountable for unjustified actions against minorities, and if cameras force whites to acknowledge racial injustice, then the benefit is obvious. When we become aware that a video-camera is recording our actions, we also become self-conscious that unacceptable behavior is less likely to be captured on film. Body cameras can be beneficial to public because the footage can be used to back legitimate complaints against officers. Communities will be able to see when cops are right or when they are wrong. After the results of a poll called “Race and Reality in America,” it is an acknowledgement that we have a race problem. According to the report, a large majority of minorities say that whether an incident in which an unarmed person is harmed or killed by police is videotaped plays a major role in whether or not the police officer or officers are charged for the crime (CNN Wire). A tangible solution, however, is to put body cameras on all cops. Most blacks feel like they are discriminated against when it comes to police brutality, because they are a minority. In our criminal justice system, the disadvantage of being a minority is