Persuasive Essay On Body Worn Cameras

Having proof of guilt, the suspect pleads guilty with no further judicial action. According to David Bakardjiev (2015) in Jurimetrics: The Journal of Law, Science & Technology, the most promising advantage of BWCs is providing judges and jurors the ability to witness conversations, emotions, and body language as well as physical wounds and other scenario based evidence as it unfolds in real-time at the scene (para. 9). Having credible evidence that shows physical proof of guilt of a suspect can provide prosecutors the justification needed in to proceed with prosecution and conviction.
However, body worn cameras are not just in favor of collecting evidence only for officers. This equipment can collect evidence for all parties involved, including suspects and
The use of force is a police tactic used in response to resistance of a suspect while being apprehended. Use of force complaints may not make up the majority of overall complaints but they play a key factor in the controversy of police brutality and abuse of power. The Harvard Law Review quoted, “Of the almost five thousand misconduct reports filed each year against the police, excessive force complaints make up nearly one-quarter, 36 with close to ten percent of those cases having resulted in a civilian fatality” (“Considering police,” 2015, p. 1799). Studies on small police departments equipping body cameras have shown a significant drop in the use of force complaints made by the public. A yearlong study performed on fifty officers using BWCs in a small, rural police department in Rialto California revealed an astonishing fifty percent reduction in the use of force complaints received from the public compared to a control group of officers not using cameras (Ariel, 2016). This field study showed success at lowering public complaints by equipping police officers with body worn