It has been an ongoing debate all throughout the world whether body cameras have a negative or positive impact on community policing. Body cameras are a huge necessity for police officers as their daily duty in order to stay safe. These cameras were an idea that was being thought of before the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Since this incident, the idea of body cameras has grown due to racial protests relating to police brutality. Following multiple police related incidents, people have been focusing more on how body cameras would be something good to obtain. These cameras would protect police officers from false accusations of abuse and discrimination, but would also protect civilians as well (Police Cameras).
In addition, on-officer recording systems, which are also known as body cams or cop cams, are small cameras that may be worn as a headset, but are more commonly clipped to the uniform or the glasses. These devices, which record audio and video, were developed as technology improved and is still being improved. Body cameras, which can
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Reynaldo Chavez, who was the keeper of public records, including video evidence, before being fired in 2015 had testified that three videos from the Hawkes case showed signs of alterations and a possible deletion. The issues about whether or not police delete certain camera footage that was recorded to be used in their favor has been resolved. The body camera system was designed with security “hash tags” that will mark the original videos, so that any alteration can be identified. There's also current policies that state body camera footage is to be kept forever if there is any crime involved. In order to aid in maintaining an officer’s credibly if the lack of video in an incident is questioned, police departments should implement policy that requires cops to articulate as to why that evidence was deleted (Criminal