Police Officers Should Be Required to Wear Cameras - Essay Example

Police Officers Should Be Required To Wear Cameras The story of Rodney King is a constant reminder of the massive power that police officers wield and how sometimes it can be abused. Apparently, King an African-American was repeatedly beaten by police officers in Los Angeles leading to the famous 1992 riots in Los Angeles. The King occurrence shows just how unbalanced use of force may damage police’s reputation and result in social cataclysm. Significantly there are still other incidents similar to that of King and recently a police officer shot an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson Mo, killing him (Mims, 2014).In instances like this, it would extremely be useful if there were records of everything as it occurred for the purposes of transparency. This paper seeks to explain why every police should have a body-worn camera. A vast amount of research across different disciplines has indicated that when humans are self-conscious about someone watching them, they repeatedly change their conduct. Additionally accumulated evidence suggests further that persons who are conscious that they are being watched most of the time embrace generally-accepted or submissive behaviour, especially when the individual observing is a law-enforcing officer. The recent appearance of body-worn cameras already has a big influence on policing. Thus, the moment an agency goes on record of implementing body-worn cameras and the moment the public comes to anticipate the availability of video evidence-it will increasingly become hard to have second thoughts on a body-worn cameras. A police body deploying body-worn cameras is clearly stating that whatever its officers do, is an issue of public record. Consequently, by taking the challenge as well as expense of buying and implementing body-worn cameras and the relevant infrastructure, in addition to training its force on the usage of such cameras, such a body builds sensible expectation that the general public and media will be free to review the activities of its officers (Toliver, et al, 2014). There are numerous benefits of body-worn cameras. First and foremost a body-worn camera can assist in enhancing the high-quality public service that is expected of police officers in addition to promoting the alleged authenticity and sense of bureaucratic justice that a community may have regarding their police departments. Moreover, departments that have already deployed body-worn cameras inform us that the availability of cameras frequently enhances the performance of their officers together with the conduct of the recorded community members. This is a very significant progress in policing in that when police officers or even member of general public behave badly or break the law, the cameras can construct a public record that facilitates the whole community to know what really what took place (Toliver, et al, 2014). Consequently, the fact that both the police and the public are increasingly feeling the necessity to videotape every contact can be viewed both as a break from the past and embracing of the new times. Policing, as a profession has come too far in strengthening and developing relationships with its communities to facilitate legalistic and officious encounters with the public. In addition, such cameras can boost accountability, though the police agencies should also look for a way to safeguard the unique and informal relationships between community members and police officer. For the sake of the public the policing department not to be left behind technologically, it needs to adopt use of technology in its interactions with the public. One of the most significant issues presently facing law enforcers is leveraging on new technology to enhance policing services. Be it use of social media in engaging the community, installing new surveillance equipments in identification of suspects ,or making use of data analysis in predicting future crime, new technology is being implemented by police agencies worldwide at an unparalleled speed (Toliver, et al, 2014). Thus use of body-worn cameras is one form of technology which a growing number of policing departments are embracing and which has considerably affected policing as a field. Body-worn cameras have assisted policing departments in improving evidence collection, strengthening officer accountability and performance, enhancing agency transparency, documenting encounters between the public and police, in addition to investigating and resolving complaints and officer-involved occurrences. Police leaders already using the technology claim there are numerous advantages associated with these devices and they particularly note that the technology is helpful in training of officers, evidence documentation, prevention and resolution of complaints that the general public brings as well as strengthening police performance, accountability and transparency. Additionally, given the fact that law enforcement officers are now operating in a world where anyone equipped with a cell phone camera can take a video recording of a police-public interaction, body-worn cameras assist police departments to ensure events are recorded from the perspective of the officer. Thus as Scott Greenwood of the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU) claimed in a 2013 September conference; the usual encounter between a police officer and a member of the public in an urban setup is already captured in numerous ways. It may be recorded by a citizen on her cell phone. If it is a conflict taking place, a witness might record it. In addition, on most occasions, there are standby security cameras within that record the encounter. Thus, the most sensible thing –if really one wants accountability both for their officers as well as the general public they interact with would also be capturing a video footage of what transpired from the perspective of the officer (Mims, 2014). Scientifically, numerous lines of study across several fields of science propose that many forms of species change their conduct once they are aware that their behaviour is being observed. Consequently, in man, a lot of evidence on supposed social surveillance-socially desirable and self-awareness responding-suggests that individuals stick to social norms and change their behaviour due to the awareness that they are being watched by someone else. It appears that knowing with adequate surety that our behaviour is being judged or watched affects different social cognitive processes; thus for instance we become more inclined to behaviour that is socially acceptable, experience public self-awareness in addition to sensing a sensitive need to collaborate with law enforcement officers (Farrar, 2013). The impact of 3rd party observers on behavior has been known for a long time and as Thomas Jefferson once quipped “whenever you do a thing, act as if the entire world were watching.”This intuition has now been confirmed by psychologists demonstrating that something as archaic as a placard having glaring eyes can make test candidates conduct themselves better, and even decrease theft in a given region. Nevertheless, one issue with body-worn cameras has been the cost. Luckily, cut throat competition between two well-known retailers of the devices, Taser International Inc and Vievu LLC has driven the cost down to between USD300 and USD400.However,the other place where expenses can really rise is in the management and storage of the data they produce(Mims,2014).The other major issue that has been raised about body-worn cameras is that of trust and privacy, such as what could be some of the privacy issues related with videotaping crime victims and how officers can sustain a positive relationship with the community were they ordered to capture nearly every form of interaction with the general public. Thus rules regarding protection of both police and witnesses should be determined and tested. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, officers may be required to switch on their cameras whenever they have an encounter with members of public, however, there may be exceptions for example when officers are interrogating assault victims. There have been incidents where the public has been on the receiving end and transparency being a weapon, it can easily be misused. Video footages taken by body worn cameras can turn out to be another method of intimidating and embarrassing citizens. There have been disturbing incidents from Cop Candid Camera spreading out very easily in some areas. Citizens are normally at their worst during their encounters with police, whether they are vulnerable or belligerent. A cop cam footage released on April 2014 showed a woman in Arizona pulling over for a DUI, drunkenly attempting to frame the officer for improperly touching her so as to rescue herself from the offense. Nevertheless, the officer answers that it’s all on the video. The unedited video went viral, alongside the name of the woman (Hill, 2014). In conclusion, the emergence of body-worn cameras already has impacted policing with projections showing that this effect will grow as more and more agencies embrace this noble technology. Nevertheless, policing departments that are contemplating adopting this technology should not take this decision lightly since once they implement body-worn cameras, it will be hard to reverse because citizens will demand video availability. Thus, when appropriately implemented, the technology will assist in strengthening the police profession; promote agency transparency and accountability in addition to being helpful instruments for increasing professionalism and training in officers, as well as documenting interactions with the public together with proper preservation of evidence. Body-worn cameras are a technology whose time has come and should be adopted by any policing agency mindful of its integrity, professionalism and image. Works cited Christopher, Mims. "What Happens When Police Oficers Wear Body Cameras." The Wall Street Journal (2014): np. Kashmir, Hill. "A Future in Which Every Police Officer Wears A Body Cam Isnt Entirely Rosy." Forbes (2014): np. Toliver Jessica, Miller Lindsay,Police Executive Research Forum. Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program:Recommendations and Lessons Learned. Research. Washington DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2014. Tony, Farrar. "The Effect of Body-Worn Cameras on Police Use -of-Force." Police Foundation (2013): p 1-14. Read More