“I do not believe that all police officers are bad, nor do I believe that most are bad. But there must be a transparent, impartial, and fair system to judge those that engage in criminal or unethical acts.”- Al Sharpton
In my opinion, all police officers need to have body cameras on ,while they are on-duty.
We’ll be discussing the pros, cons, and price of policemen wearing body cameras.
To begin with, we’ll discuss the benefits we could reap from cameras.
In many studies, they’ve been found to decrease violence, not just from the officers wearing them, but also from the civilians. People are more self-conscious about their actions when they know they’re being filmed.
Cameras would hold the officers accountable for their actions, inappropriate or otherwise. The
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A single camera cannot replace a thorough investigation. The camera doesn’t get all of the information that is found in an investigation. Many people feel like this is an invasion of privacy. They don’t want to get caught on a video owned by the state.
A camera is still a device. Devices aren’t as accurate as our eyes. Sensory cues aren’t always picked up by watching a film; the glint of a knife, a concealed handgun, and the stiffening of the body. (Evidence of the fight or flight response.)
Finally, we’re at the obstacle of costs. Each of the cameras cost approximately $200 just to buy.
There’s also the problem of data storage. To create a more versatile camera, they’ve had to back-up the data but this involves more money. This amounts to about $55 a month.
In one year, including startup and data backup, to outfit 100 officers it costs around $86,000.
In conclusion, we have covered the pros, cons, and cost of body cameras for police.
I believe that not all of the police officers are terrible, but I’m not saying that they’re all perfect.”Too often a story is examined through biased eyes, without a sensitivity for everyone who forged it.” - Jeffrey