Zachary Suhoza

Dr. McDowell-Smith
Crime, Justice, and Society
November 2, 2016
Case Study #2
Police body cameras are making increasing headlines in the news. The debate about
whether police should have to wear body cameras in their everyday routines is a hot topic now.
The cause for debate is due to increasing reports of police brutality across the country, and what
most police stations are doing in response to that is body cameras. The thought is that if an
officer is being filmed at every moment on the job, serious questions such as shootings, will have
evidence to back up any claim. In 2013 a sample of random police departments were polled on
whether they use body cameras, and the answer was that seventy-five percent of them did not
(National Institute of Justice). Then over the course of the next few years police shootings
would start to appear on national headlines. Eric Garner on July 17th, 2014, Michael Brown on
August 9th, 2014, and Tamir Rice on November 22nd, 2014 (Raziye Akkoc). All these people were
shot by police and made national news. These headlines created movements such as Black Lives
Matter that started to demand things such as body cameras on police. Which leads to the question
of whether police should wear body cameras or not.
While the research and statistics with police usage of body cameras are, new there is still
positive reports coming in on the reduction of use of force reports and police misconduct
complaints. One of the most cited reports for body cameras took place in Rialto, California. In
previous years, there had been over sixty reports for excessive use of force each year, and now
since they have implemented the body cameras those numbers have dropped below thirty. Over
half of the incidents were eliminated since the officers knew that they were being recorded. This

is refutable evidence to suggest that the usage of body cameras on officers help reduce police
brutality cases, and in the event of a case there will be a video recording to show what truly
happened during the event.
The current issue with the Boston Police Department and the body cameras is that no
officers want to wear them. The officers union, Boston Police Patrolmens Association,
originally agreed to a voluntary program. Yet when no officers volunteered, the department
announced it would randomly select the 100 participants. (DeCosta-Klipa). While the Boston
Police department has already implemented this system, there are still other departments across
the country which are hesitant to include the cameras. Some of the biggest concerns are for the
officers privacy and the cost to the department. There are also other factors to take in such as
how the chief plans to train all his officers in how to use the cameras and how to write reports
based on the cameras film. Officers also feel that the cameras are a violation of their privacy. I
feel the best way to feel what the officers are feeling is to imagine yourself as Jim Carey on The
Truman Show. Being recorded doing everything throughout the day could have some officers
paranoid and not properly able to do their job.
In my opinion I feel all police officers should have to wear body cameras while they are
on the clock. While I agree with wearing body cameras I also agree that the departments need to
put in policies to make things fair for the officers. Policies such as police officers can turn the
cameras off during their break would be beneficial because it gives the officers the privacy want
when they are on their own time, but when they are out actively on duty then they should be
recorded. I also feel police departments should be given time to implement the systems since
they can tend to be costly. A bill in congress that gives departments across the country the money
to buy body cameras and a time frame such as the next 2 years in which the body cameras should

be available in every department would be fair. While I know, there are more things that need to
be thought through before anything can happen, actions speak louder than words and getting
something put into law will help stop the constant racial problems between civilians and the
police.

Bibliography

Akkoc, Raziye. "A Timeline of Police Attacks in the USA." N.p., 03 Mar. 2015. Web. 31 Oct.
2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11446472/Atimeline-of-police-attacks-in-the-USA.html
DeCosta-Klipa, Nik. "Boston Police Commissioner Says Union Sent Harmful Message by
Fighting Body Camera Program." Boston.com. The New York Times, 13 Sept. 2016.
Web. 31 Oct. 2016.
"Police Body Cameras." PoliceMisconductnet. N.p., 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.
https://www.policemisconduct.net/explainers/police-body-cameras/
"Research on Body-Worn Cameras and Law Enforcement." National Institute of Justice. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2016. http://www.nij.gov/topics/lawenforcement/technology/pages/body-worn-cameras.aspx