Police Body Cameras: Top iii Pros and Cons

A North Charleston, South Carolina, police officer wears a body photographic camera in Mar. 2016.
Source: Ryan Johnson, "St. Paddy'due south Twenty-four hours in N Charleston – 2016," Creative Eatables, Mar. 12, 2016

  • Overview
  • Pro/Con Arguments
  • Give-and-take Questions
  • Take Action

Police trunk cameras (besides called body-worn cameras) are pocket-size cameras worn on a law enforcement officer's chest or head to record interactions between the officeholder and the public. The cameras take a microphone to capture audio and internal information storage to save video footage for later review. [37] [41]

According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, "[t]he video and sound recordings from BWCs [torso-worn cameras] can be used by police enforcement to demonstrate transparency to their communities; to certificate statements, observations, behaviors, and other evidence; and to deter unprofessional, illegal, and inappropriate behaviors past both police force enforcement and the public." [41] Law body cameras are in use around the earth from Australia and Uruguay to the Britain and South Africa. [nineteen] [32] [35] [36]

Subsequently the constabulary shooting expiry of Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, President Barack Obama requested $263 million to fund body camera programs and police force training on December. 1, 2014. [38] [46] As a event the Department of Justice (DOJ)  implemented the Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Plan (BWC-PIP). Betwixt fiscal twelvemonth (FY) 2015 and FY 2019, the BWC-PIP has given over 493 awards worth over a collective $70 million to law enforcement agencies in 47 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and the Us Virgin Islands. Agencies in Maine, Montana, and North Dakota have non been awarded federal trunk camera funding. [40] [42] [43] [44]

Equally of October. 29, 2018, the most recently bachelor information, 36 states and DC had specific legislation about the use of constabulary body cameras. At that fourth dimension, another four states had pending trunk camera legislation. [45]

On June 7, 2021, Usa Deputy Chaser Full general Lisa Monaco, JD, directed the ATF, DEA, FBI and US Marshals "to develop and submit for review" body-worn camera policies in which agents wear cameras during "(1) a pre-planned endeavour to serve an arrest warrant or other pre-planned abort, including the apprehension of fugitives sought on state and local warrants; or (2) the execution of a search or seizure warrant or order." [63]

Should Police Officers Wearable Body Cameras?

Pro 1

Police body cameras meliorate police accountability and lower reports of constabulary misconduct.

Constabulary body cameras provide visual and audio evidence that can independently verify events. In Texas, a police officer was fired, charged with murder, and sentenced to a $x,000 fine and xv years in prison house after body-worn photographic camera footage contradicted his initial argument in the April. 2017 shooting of an unarmed youth. [12] [48]

In Baltimore, Maryland, an officeholder was convicted of fabricating evidence and misconduct in office afterwards existence defenseless past trunk-worn cameras planting fake drug prove.[14] [49]

A RAND study constitute that use of force past constabulary officers dropped if the officers wearing cameras kept the cameras recording for the officers' whole shift. [471] In Miami-Dade County, Florida, researchers found a 19% reduction in police officers using physical force confronting citizen resistance, and ceremonious cases confronting the police force department for use of force dropped 74%. [l]

In Phoenix, Arizona, complaints against officers wearing cameras decreased 23%, while complaints against officers not wearing cameras increased 10.6%. [13]

The cameras also protect law officers against false accusations of misconduct. In San Diego, California, the use of trunk cameras provided the necessary testify to exonerate police officers falsely defendant of misconduct. The number of astringent misconduct allegations deemed false increased 2.4% with body camera footage, and the number of officers exonerated for less astringent allegations related to conduct, courtesy, procedure, and service increased 6.v%. [11]

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Pro ii

Police body cameras are a powerful tool in domestic violence cases.

When an officer wearing a camera arrives at a domestic violence scene, the photographic camera is able to record the immediate aftermath of the attack, including injuries the victim has suffered, too as victim statements that may be more honest than after statements one time victims remember emotional and financial ties to their abusers. [51] Victims may also feel more secure in their testimony with video evidence backing up their statements. [52]

Elliott Knetsch, JD, Prosecutor for the Metropolis of Burnsville, Minnesota, whose police department uses torso-worn cameras, stated, "When the cops are called and come through the door, the victim is very happy and relieved to see them. They feel safe. They tell the officeholder what happened. That statement given right at that moment is more than probable to be the truth than what comes out even half an hour later, when the implications of what has happened offset to set in." [51]

In the six months since trunk cameras were deployed in Burnsville, police recorded video for almost every domestic violence instance, something former Primary Deputy of the Dakota County Attorney's Office, Phil Prokopowicz, JD, institute useful. He stated that photographic camera footage "can exist influential in resolving the case in terms of negotiations. The defendant gets to see the act and know what volition exist displayed in front end of the jury. The documenting of those first moments is very critical to those types of cases, equally well equally any admissions that may occur every bit officers are entering." [51]

Officers in the United kingdom and Queensland, Australia echoed this do good, stating some abusers plead guilty because they knew there was video footage evidence against them.[52] [53]

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Pro 3

Police body cameras are a adept police force reform tool and have stiff back up from members of the public.

Police torso worn cameras offer transparency and accountability to the public, which is an effort to "mend that frayed relationship between the police and the community," according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, JD. [56] [57] [58]

Video recorded from police body cameras can be used to train new and existing officers in how to perform during difficult encounters with the public. The Miami Police Department has been using body cameras for training since 2012. Onetime Police force Major Ian Moffitt, MS, stated, "we can record a situation, a scenario in training, so go back and look at information technology and show the student, the recruit, the officer what they did good, what they did bad, and [what they can] amend on." [17]

Amid the Black Lives Thing protests later the death of George Floyd, a June 2020 Reuters/Ipsos poll establish 92% of Americans wanted federal police force officers to clothing trunk cams. [54] A July 2020 University of Maryland School of Public Policy survey found 90% back up for all police officers being required to clothing body cameras, including 85% of republicans, 86% of independents, and 94% of democrats. [55]

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Con 1

Police trunk cameras are too expensive and unreliable for many police departments.

Equipping police departments with trunk cameras is extremely expensive equally forces have to upkeep not only for the camera just also for coincident equipment (such as a machine charger or mount), training, information storage facilities, extra staff to manage the video data, and maintenance costs. [26] Baltimore Police entered a body-worn photographic camera plan in 2016 for $11.three million. Every bit of June 25, 2020, the costs had tripled to $35.1 million. [59]

Many police departments, especially smaller departments with smaller budgets, have suspended torso-worn camera programs citing rising costs of the cameras, maintenance of the programs, employees, and information storage. [27] [28] [29] [30] [60]

A trial in Edmonton, California, constitute that body-worn cameras had an bereft bombardment length for daily policing, especially in cold atmospheric condition when battery life diminished more than quickly. [9]

A sheriff's part in Virginia stopped using torso cameras due to the unreliability of their on-off buttons and poor integration with their It systems that resulted in the arrangement inaccurately matching camera footage to the officer wearing the camera. [31] Equally the cameras, supporting equipment, and networks age, costs will but rise to maintain or replace equipment.

In a perhaps extreme only cautionary case, in Oct, 2018 a Staten Island, New York, officeholder's trunk camera burst into flames while the officer was wearing the device. He was luckily not injured, but the department was forced to recall thousands of cameras. [61]

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Con 2

Police body cameras invade the privacy of citizens, potentially exposing victims and subjecting citizens to facial recognition software.

Recording police encounters with the public could lead to the public exposure of private medical atmospheric condition such as mental affliction. Victims of crimes such as rape or domestic abuse may exist further traumatized by recordings. Informants or witnesses may fear reprisal from criminals. People being arrested may fear the damage of public exposure, such equally being fired from a job. [17] [19] [34]

Old Spokane, Washington, Police Chief Frank Straub, PhD, notes that "every day nosotros are exposing persons challenged past mental illness, autism, developmental disabilities, habit, etc. We are creating and making public recordings of their illness and potentially creating life-long consequences." [22]

Former Chief of Police Ken Miller, MPA, of Greensboro, North Carolina, said that if citizens "think that they are going to be recorded every fourth dimension they talk to an officeholder, regardless of the context, it is going to impairment openness and create barriers to important relationships." [23]

Ane such barrier is fright of retaliation. A US Justice Department report notes that some "people will be less likely to come forrad to share information if they know their conversation is going to be recorded, particularly in high-criminal offense neighborhoods where residents might be subject to retaliation if they are seen as cooperating with police." [23]

Another privacy fright, co-ordinate to the ACLU, is that law body cameras volition be worn as "roving surveillance devices that rails our faces, voices, and even the unique way we walk" that could be used "to rail, classify, and discriminate against people based on their well-nigh personal, innate features." [62]

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Con three

Constabulary body cameras decrease the safety of police officers and negatively touch their physical and mental wellness.

Assaults on police officers were 14% higher when body cameras were present. [18] Some people may reply negatively or violently to being filmed by police, especially those who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or who are suffering from mental health problems.

University of Oklahoma Professor of Law Stephen East. Henderson, JD, stated that the use of law body cameras may exist psychologically damaging to officers because "nobody does well to be under constant surveillance." [21]

Pat Lynch, President of the Law Benevolent Clan of the City of New York, stated officers "are already weighed downwards with equipment like escape hoods [gas masks], Mace, flashlights, memo books, ASPs [batons], radio, handcuffs and the like. Additional equipment becomes an encumbrance and a safety issue for those carrying it." [17]

Other potential wellness and safety bug include head and neck injuries, electrical shock or burns from faulty or damaged equipment, and the spread of contagious infectious diseases if the units are shared. [twenty]

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Discussion Questions

  1. Should constabulary officers article of clothing body cameras? Why or why not?
  2. In what ways might body worn cameras improve policing? In what means might they complicate or impair policing? Explain your answers.
  3. Should police departments consider other reforms in addition or instead of body cameras? Which ones? Explain your answers

Take Activity

1. Explore Bryce Peterson'due south statement that police body cameras can increment community trust.

2. Consider the arguments on both sides with Pew Charitable Trusts.

iii. Analyze why police force body cameras haven't stopped law involved shootings and other incidents at Wired.

four. Consider how you lot felt about the issue before reading this article. Afterward reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three means. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the "other side of the issue" now helps you better debate your position.

5. Push for the position and policies you back up past writing Usa national senators and representatives.

Sources

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2. Rory Carroll, "California Police Use of Body Cameras Cuts Violence and Complaints," theguardian.com, Nov. four, 2013
3. Vivian Hung, et al., "A Marketplace Survey on Body Worn Camera Technologies," ncjrs.gov, Nov. 2016
four. National Conference of State Legislatures, "Body-Worn Camera Laws Database," ncsl.org, October. 27, 2017
5. Total Security Solutions, "Police Body Camera Basics, Part one," tssbulletproof.com, Sep. xiv, 2015
six. U.s. Department of Justice, "BWC Programme Update: Fiscal Yr 2017," bja.gov, 2017
7. Tony Farrar, "Self-Awareness to Being Watched and Socially-Desirable Behavior: A Field Experiment on the Effect of Body-Worn Cameras on Police Use-Of-Force," policefoundation.org, Mar. 2013
8. University of Nevada at Las Vegas, "Written report: Law Body-worn Cameras Reduce Reports of Misconduct, Use of Strength," forensicmag.com, Nov. thirty, 2017
nine. Edmonton Law Service, "Torso Worn Video: Considering the Evidence," www.bwvsg.com, June 2015
x. Tom Ellis, et al., "Evaluation of the Introduction of Personal Issue Body Worn Video Cameras (Operation Hyperion) on the Island of Wight: Final Study to Hampshire Police force," researchportal.port.ac.britain, Feb. 2015
eleven. David Garrick, "Written report: SDPD Torso Cameras Reducing Misconduct, Aggressive Use of Force," sandiegotribune.com, Feb. 9, 2017
12. Maya Wiley, "Trunk Cameras Help Anybody - Including the Police," time.com, May 9, 2017
13. Charles K. Katz, et al., "Evaluating the Touch on of Officer Worn Torso Cameras in the Phoenix Law Department," asu.edu, December. 2014
xiv. PBS SoCal, "Three Police Misconduct Cases - All Involving Body Cameras - Had New Developments This Week. Here's What Happened," pbs.org, Aug. 11, 2017
15. Lynne Grossmith, "Constabulary, Camera, Evidence: London's Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of Trunk Worn Video," college.law.air-conditioning.uk, November. 2015
16. Emily Ekins, "Cato/YouGov Poll: 92% Support Police Body Cameras, 55% Willing to Pay More in Taxes to Equip Local Police," cato.org, January. 5, 2016
17. Michael D. White, "Law Officer Body-Worn Cameras: Assessing the Evidence," nicic.gov, 2014
18. Barak Ariel, et al., "Wearing Body Cameras Increases Assaults against Officers and Does Non Reduce Constabulary Use of Force: Results from a Global Multi-Site Experiment," sagepub.com, 2016
xix. Emmeline Taylor, "Lights, Photographic camera, Redaction... Constabulary Body-Worn Cameras: Autonomy, Discretion and Accountability," queensu.ca, 2016
xx. Home Office (Uk), "Guidance for the Police Apply of Body-Worn Video Devices," college.police.ac.uk, July 2007
21. Stephen Henderson, "Quaternary Amendment Time Machines (and What They Might Say near Constabulary Trunk Cameras)," upenn.edu, 2016
22. Nancy La Vigne, "Evaluating the Impact of Police Trunk Cameras," urban.org, Aug. 5, 2015
23. Lindsay Miller, et al., "Implementing a Torso-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned," policeforum.org, 2014
24. Jason Kotowski, "Money, Storage Main Obstacles in Police Body Camera Implementation," govtech.com, Mar. 8, 2016
25. Bobby Allyn, "Philly Reaches $12.5m Deal with Taser Maker for Police force Body Cameras," whyy.org, Oct. 23, 2017
26. National Institute of Justice, "Research on Trunk-Worn Cameras and Police force Enforcement," nij.gov, December. five, 2017
27. Laura Giles, "Pleasant Grove Officers Forced to Stop Using Body Cameras," heraldextra.com, Sep. 30, 2016
28. Rick Callahan, "Why Two Law Departments Stopped Using Body Cameras," csmonitor.com, Sep. 10, 2016
29. Nichole Mann, "Police force Section Stops Using Trunk Cameras after Legislation," journalstar.com, Jan. 15, 2017
30. Benjamin Yount, "Costs Pushing Some Police force Departments to Stop Using Body Cameras," effinghamradio.com, Sep. 25, 2017
31. Jason Shueh, "After Countless Glitches, Montgomery County Shelves Police Trunk Cameras," statescoop.com, Nov. 28, 2017
32. Reveal Media, "Uruguay Police Partner with Reveal in South America's Offset Major Body Worn Video Written report," revealmedia.com, July 12, 2016
33. Matt Pearce, "Growing Use of Police Torso Cameras Raises Privacy Concerns," latimes.com, Sep. 27, 2014
34. Reporters Commission for the Freedom of the Press, "Admission to Police force Body-Worn Camera Video," rcfp.org (accessed May 23, 2018)
35. Business Tech Staff Writer, "South African Police Officers to Wear Body Cameras," businesstech.co.za, June 24, 2019
36. Privacy International, "Every Police Force in the UK Volition Soon Use Body Worn Video Cameras to Record Us in Public," privacyinternational.org, Mar. 3, 2019
37. Metropolitan Police, "How and When Are BWV Cameras Are Used," met.police.united kingdom (accessed Aug. 12, 2020)
38. Carrie Dann and Andrew Rafferty, "Obama Requests $263 Million for Police force Torso Cameras, Training," nbcnews.com, Dec. 1, 2014
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41. Agency of Justice Assistance, "Body-Worn Camera: Frequently Asked Questions," bja.ojp.gov, 2015
42. US Section of Justice, "BWC Program Update: Fiscal Year 2017," bja.ojp.gov (accessed Aug. 12, 2020)
43. Bureau of Justice Assistance, "Program Update: Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program, Financial Twelvemonth 2019," bja.ojp.gov, October. 2019
44. Bureau of Justice Assistance, "Programme Update: Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program, Fiscal Twelvemonth 2018," bja.ojp.gov, Nov. 2018
45. Urban.org, "Police Trunk-Worn Photographic camera Legislation Tracker," apps.urban.org, Oct. 29, 2018
46. AP, "Timeline of Events in Shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson," apnews.com, Aug. 8, 2019
47. RAND, "Investigating the Furnishings of Body-Worn Cameras," rand.org (accessed Aug. 13, 2020)
48. Faith Karimi and Emanuella Grinberg, "Texas Ex-Officeholder Is Sentenced to 15 Years for Killing an Unarmed Teen," cnn.com, Aug. 30, 2018
49. Kevin Rector, "Caught Fabricating Evidence, Convicted Baltimore Police Officer Remains on Forcefulness ii ½ Years Afterward," baltimoresun.com, Mar. nine, 2020
fifty. Weston Publishing, LLC, "Researchers Discover that Body-Worn Cameras Decrease Denizen Complaints Against Law Officers in Miami-Dade Canton," prnewswire.com, January. 7, 2019
51. Shannon Prather, "Law Body Cameras Are Newest Tool against Domestic Violence," startribune.com, Apr. 26, 2015
52. University of Leeds, "'Tipping the Balance' against Domestic Abuse," phys.org, June 27, 2018
53. Axon, "Using Modern Technology to Combat Domestic Violence," axon.com, Nov. fourteen, 2017
54. Chris Kahn, "Exclusive: Most Americans, Including Republicans, Support Sweeping Democratic Police Reform Proposals - Reuters/Ipsos Poll," reuters.com, June 11, 2020
55. Nolan D. McCaskill, "Americans Concur on Police Reforms That Have Divided Washington, New Poll Shows," politico.com, July 14, 2020
56. Carl E. Heastie, "Assembly Passes Legislation to Crave Body Cameras for All New York State Police force Officers," nyassembly.gov, June ix, 2020
57. Ton Lutey, "Daines Backs Police Reform Bill That Includes More Torso Cameras and Accountability," billingsgazette.com, June 18, 2020
58. Andrew Cuomo, "Governor Cuomo Signs Legislation Requiring New York Land Police Officers to Wear Trunk Cameras and Creating the Police force Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office," governor.ny.gov, June 16, 2020
59. Marker Reutter, "Price of Baltimore's Body Photographic camera Programme Triples to $35 Million," baltimorebrew.com, June 25, 2020
sixty. Rick Callahan, "Some Police force Departments Shelve Body Cameras, Cite Data Costs," apnews.com, Sep. 10, 2016
61. Ashley Southall, "Police Body Photographic camera Bursts into Flames; New York Pulls 2,990 from Use," nytimes.com, Oct. 21, 2018
62. Matt Cagle, "California Just Blocked Police Body Cam Utilize of Face Recognition," ACLU, aclu.org
63. Us Department of Justice Office of the Deputy Attorney General, "Body-Worn Photographic camera Policy," justice.gov, June 7, 2021