Should Police Officers Wear Body Cameras

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When a police officer is called to check on a crime, their lives are at stake. Their job is to serve and to protect the public. Many times they are put in dangerous situations. There have been many incidents where a criminal makes false charges against the arresting officer. If a police officer has a body camera, there would be proof of any wrongful doing. Police officers should be able to wear body cameras. The cameras would be a form of evidence in cases where the victim claims police brutality, unnecessary roughness, or in some cases, when victims get away. A recent poll indicated 91 percent of the public agree police should wear body cameras as they patrol our streets. The public believes the use of body cameras…show more content…
Video footage can be beneficial in proving who was right. Athens-Clarke County Sgt. Aubrey Epps noticed that police behavior has become more pronounced with officers knowing that their every word and action is being recorded. Since they know that the video footage cannot be edited, they must act professionally. The recorded video footage is also used in their quarterly performance reports (Johnson). Body cameras are used in every criminal investigation. The information that the officers collect at an incident can now be reviewed by detectives. Sometimes information is written down incorrectly or pieces of information are left out. The video footage fills in the gaps of information that has been left out. Prosecutors in the District Attorney’s Office also have access to the videos in preparing cases for trial. By having access to the recordings online, it saves time. The prosecutor can log in to the computer and see the video instead of waiting for the police officer to make a dvd to bring to the courthouse (Johnson). Police interaction with the public is important. There have been many incidents where the police officer should have been wearing a body-camera. The most recent incident
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