Why Police Should Wear Body Cameras?

Police brutality is becoming very commonplace in the United States. Police have shot and killed 492 people in the first six months of 2017 and no one has done anything about it.(Sullivan et al.,) If every officer were required to wear a body camera there would be no doubt in the officers head. While the use of body cameras may seem to invade the public or police privacy, police should wear body cameras to have clear evidence to decrease the amount of force police use on citizens, and to improve the behavior of citizens in relation to officers.
“The main reason police should wear body cameras is to have a clear picture and evidence of what actually happened in an encounter with a civilian. Police reports, especially in complex situations, can
“Earlier this year, a 12-month study by Cambridge University researchers revealed that when the city of Rialto, California, required its cops to wear cameras, the number of complaints filed against officers fell by 88 percent and the use of force by officers dropped by almost 60 percent” (Bailey). It seems that the camera acts as an impartial witness and it cools the tension between the officer and the citizen. And when the police is acting kind because there is a camera, the civilian will act kind and they will be happy with the officer and will not file any complaints. Dr. Wesley G. Jennings, principal investigator for the study and associate chair in USF’s Department of Criminology, said officers in Orlando were initially skeptical about the equipment, with some claiming that body cameras wouldn’t change their willingness to use force during an arrest. The statistics appear to tell a different story, even though only one in four officers in the study agreed that wearing the devices had any impact on their behavior in the field (Wing). Some people were not convinced that body cameras would change a thing but studies from the Department of Criminology show that the officers themselves say that officers change their behavior in their department. A study at Florida Atlantic University showed “citizens who had a more positive view of police and thought they were treating people fairly
“Police body cameras do raise some substantial privacy issues. The nature of police work has officers interacting with citizens during their most vulnerable moments. For example, most people would not be comfortable knowing that anyone could request a video of an incident that happened in their home. Or footage of them at a scene of a crime.” (Erstad). Some people believe that body cameras worn by police officers are an invasion of privacy; however, they will benefit citizens just as much as they will the law enforcement. “Although it may seem like the positive effects of having the police wear body cameras outweighs any negative effects, there is another side. If the police are recording everything are they encroaching on personal privacy? Many people would say yes. What if a potential suspect does not want to be recorded? Is the recording infringing on his rights? During an arrest, police cannot turn off the camera, so the suspect will be recorded whether or not he agrees” (Dimoff). Invading privacy to save someone's life is important. If there is one piece of evidence from a body camera that could save someone from getting the death penalty encroaching on someone's privacy is worth it. “While mounted police cameras can’t pick up on absolutely everything an officer sees, the video obtained from these cameras can help paint a much clearer picture of what