Police Body Cameras

577 Words3 Pages
Police officers are essential to keeping our society safe. Growing up in Omaha, a city with a large gang presence and the highest black homicide rate in the country, I came to appreciate the role officers played in society. They maintain order and a sense of security. They should also act as positive role models within community and schools. Unfortunately, due to inflammatory news reporting and the heightened attention on uncommon and unfortunate instances that have occurred, a great deal of the American population have lost their trust in law enforcement. According to The Justice Department, recent statistics suggest that excessive force claims occur in less than 1.4% of the time citizens are approached by law enforcement (Wihby). Yet, African American males report the greatest rate of occurrence of threats of force and compose the largest demographic composition of poverty in the United States. This is a troublesome combination. If the people in the poorest sectors of society, with the greatest levels of violence, cannot trust the enforcers of the law, the order of that society will become unstable. We have seen this through riots and protests in New York, Baltimore, and Ferguson. Body cameras offer a tool to help restore the sense of accountability and trust society once had…show more content…
A civilian would be less likely to incite violence against law enforcement and then claim innocence or police brutality to draw attention away from their own actions if they know those actions are being recorded. This technology would be of assistance to an officer called to court, to account for his or her actions. The body camera in many instances would simplify matters and render the “he said, she said” allegations. Body cameras present themselves as a helpful tool to ensure protection of both the officer and the civilian
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