Cops are awful and hate all black people and we need to do something about them. That is what most of society thinks about cops today. They aren’t are knight in shining armor anymore but they are a tyrant king that oppress us. One of the biggest suggestions to fix this, is for police officers to wear body cameras. This way everything they do while on the clock can be accounted and can be reviewed at any time. By doing this, cops would have their side of the story instead of it just showing a 30 second clip off someone who looks innocent getting shot by cops. It can also show huge success in public image making them like they are trying. There are many downsides to this though. One main problem that comes up is an invasion of privacy. No one who works would want to be monitored 24/7 because it makes us feel untrustworthy. This messes with cops individual wellbeing and contradicts with a cops fundamental work rights. So the question is should police officers we forced to wear body cameras?
The first article I found gave a huge insight on what it is like to be a cop, it really puts the reader in the cop’s shoes. Cops every move is getting watched by everyone and being judged harder than ever. This is a result of the Black Lives Matter movement and a bunch of videos of cop altercations. Cops want this to happen because it make cops look justified rather than being a crooked or racist. There are a lot of safety and privacy issues with the body cameras though, and it even breaks a contract with the Boston association. Safety issues include that police men are more likely to be harassed or attacked wearing the body cameras. Privacy issues include that they would be both recording themselves and general public at every non-conflict and conflict altercations, and people right to privacy on private property. Lastly in Boston it violated the collective bargaining agreement, which Boston association sued the city for, According to Bruinius (2016).
In this article you get a lot of what’s going behind the scenes that the media doesn’t really talk about. This does bring to light one interesting fact among the whole article, cops are more likely to be attacked while wearing body cameras. At first this seems irrational because since their action are being recorded you would believe they would act more civilized. Then when I factor everything in, this being that the cop is under extra watch rather than suspect. This appeals to logic because the suspect is thinking they have more leeway and this puts the cop in a very tough situation. Then the article appeals basic ethics, no one wants to be recorded or watched 24/7 while doing their job. Not only is this an invasion of privacy it puts unnecessary pressure on the police men to follow everyone code and procedure which distracts them from thinking in the moment. Lastly and most importantly it appeals to emotion because it puts the cop on a pedestal. The body cameras holds a cop to higher standard and it is very stressful to do everything that a cop needs to do. It’s easy for someone to nitpick what a cop does based on video rather than the people nitpicking to do it themselves.
The second article I found was more of how cops are enforcing body cameras and how effective they are in the police force. It was shown by police departments around the country that body cameras have significantly reduced use of excessive force incidents and has reduced the number of civil complaints. Unfortunately, this only happens when police have their cameras on. Recently cops have been failing to record their altercations , this leaves the community very upset and leaves the cops looking guilty. This lead to them having more strict policies for the body cameras. Even setting up the cameras to automatically turn on when a gun is taking out of its holster or a police siren is turned on. Last year 3 cops were fired for failure to use their cameras, making the polices stricter so police will listen more to the rules and regulations. According to Kauffman (2016).
In this article you see a lot of facts and methods on how they are going to ensure cops wearing the body cameras. I agree with this article when it says you need to have strict rules and consequences when it comes to body cameras. This way police officers will have consequences if they don’t use them while dealing with problems. That is a great way to make cops do their jobs and for people to feel safe with the police. Another huge fact that is presented in this article is that when body cameras are in use it reduces complaints, use of force, and general cops abuse. This is what everyone wants abuse levels to drop so people can feel safe again. Facts don’t lie the cameras are proven to work and can help the community feel safer than ever. This appeals to logic because if you use consequences to back a policy more people are likely to follow it, especially is this can cause you to lose your job in some circumstances. This appeals to ethics because since everything is being recorded civilians are safer by a result of everything good and bad being recorded. Lastly this appeals to emotion because since the cops are trying with the cameras people feel safer around the police giving them a better image in the public and in the media.
Harry Bruinius it gave more insight on the daily struggle of a cop. He gave more insight on how this may hurt a cop’s ability to their job and how the pressures really way on a cop performance. There were very good points on how wearing body cameras would only make then a bigger target, even backing it up with statistics. Policy safety should be just as important as civilian safety seeing that they are both people. They do fail however because they are vague on how they are going to meet the requirements of wearing the body cameras and fixing the police officer privacy issues. Gretel Kauffman strong point is how he talks about how body cameras should be reinforced abound cops. Saying that body cameras reduce complaints and brings general happiness amongst everyone. I agree with the fact that having consequences for not using your body camera right would make them more effective. If there aren’t consequences for not wearing them police, simply wouldn’t. Where Bruinius wants cops to have more privacy and have more security for their jobs, Kauffman wants the police body cameras to be able to be activated when the siren is turned on or gun is pulled out of its Hollister. These two articles having conflicting facts which makes it interesting, In Bruinius article, It says police are 15 times more likely to be attacked than police officers that aren’t wearing cameras. This contradicts what Kauffman facts lead you to believe. In his article is says that police officers that are wearing cameras reduces complaints and lessens tensions between officers and civilians.
Overall, this topic is a very sensitive one to argue over about. On the one side are the police who feel that they need privacy and wearing the cameras would only put more pressure and make their work harder and less effective. On the other side is the people who demand that they be accountable for and that this leads to less conflicts with police. I kind of see both sides of this argument as a valid point, we all want are privacy but what is the cost of that. If it means that cops will continue to abuse people and take abuse control of situation I believe this is appropriate. Not only that it protects the police when a random bystander records a person getting shot but doesn’t know what really happens. So even seeing both perspectives, I still believe police should wear body cameras.