Body Cameras on Police officers
In todays modern society, technology is all around us. This gives people a sense of connection pretty much anywhere and at any given time. With the rising issues on police brutality we see people recording police more than ever before. This is not illegal and on the contrary is a citizens way of protecting themselves, from the police? Since when did the police become a threat to a private citizen? Has police brutality always been around us but we just caught on to this trend by the means of technology and social media. In my opinion, police brutality has always been among us but has been overlooked in the past as it wasn’t an issue that was brought up by the media.
It is obvious that the citizens of the United States do not condone this kind of bad practice. And it is understandable that African Americans feel targeted by police, as consequence we have the Baltimore riots. Statistics back up the issue of racial profiling by police officers. I firmly believe violence is almost always not resolved with more violence, and if so one of the two parties will end up badly harmed which will more likely encourage some form of retaliation. Are there any real solutions? Body cameras have been largely implemented by the U.S. Department of Justice. While it is very costly to get every single policeman to have a camera attached to their uniform, it is good for a start that 50,000 policeman where equipped with this new technology. After this fact the U.S. department of justice revealed statistics on a study. The conclusion is body cameras often discourage officers to use brutality which fell by 60%, for the officers wearing a camera.
Body cameras combined with citizens protecting themselves by recording is a feasible solution. But morality is the most important part of this situation. The police should have much more stricter penalties for officers recurring to lethal weapons firsthand. But civilians should not be scared of the police but rather respect an authority that was put in place to protect us. Which has long been forgotten.
In the wake of many a senseless killing by police officers, the idea of cops wearing body cameras does not seem like such a bad idea. The fact of the matter is the more likely you are to get in trouble for something, the less likely you are to do it. If officers are reminded that there is something monitoring their every move, it will serve to keep the quick-to-violence officers in line. Body cameras already prove to be a deterrent to police brutality.
ReplyDeleteA huge aspect of an officer's job is profiling. It is this learned skill that keeps them alive in dangerous situations. Unfortunately, profiling can also leads to mistakes and quick, incorrect judgments that lead to civilian fatality. I think that more, besides body cameras, needs to be done to help our current situation where cops are hated and civilians feel like prey.
First and foremost civilians need to know what good behavior looks and sounds like when dealing with the police. Being combative or uncooperative or making quick movements makes you seem guilty and dangerous. Any of these behaviors can be perceived as threatening by cops. If cops think you are dangerous you are more likely to get hurt. We can all make positive changes by being more peaceful towards the police. In doing so, we will lessen fatalities by officers.
Secondly, we need to address the fact that racial profiling is the big problem here. Cops make judgments off of past experiences. If most of their negative, past experiences involved people of a particular age, race or gender, then there is an archetype that the cop will work off of and base future decisions off of. This can either help the cop, or lead to the situation we have now, where all men of color are perceived as dangerous "thugs".
It is not fair that a white man can walk down the street with his hood on and not raise any public concern, when a black man doing the same thing is viewed as dangerous. I can only imagine how heightened one's self awareness must be if they are of color; not knowing if your mere ethnicity is going to elicit a fatal response.
Overall, body cameras are going to keep citizens safer and even help the officers wearing them. Instead of there being the civilian point of view against the officer's word, there will be undisputable recorded evidence to base whether or not the officer acted correctly. I think it will help alleviate the sense of helplessness felt throughout the nation and encourage accountability in law enforcement.
For every minor and major dilemma facing our society especially in the 21st Century, a swift action and a solution must be produced and implemented. In this new world of immediate transmission of information via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube we have seen dictatorships and tyrant regimes toppled. Watching massacres and injustices taking place in countries like Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Ukraine bringing the world's attention to it resulted in many positive changes to people's lives living under these inhumane environments.
ReplyDeleteWe can say that our country is no exception. Many injustices are taking place on daily basis. Sometimes it feels like we as Americans are living in a police state. If a random pedestrian did not whip out his or her phone and started to video tape a police officer making an arrest or in some cases shooting a suspect, the police officer ends up writing the incident report the way he sees most fit and appropriate to save his job and reputation where at the same time he gets away with murder or abuse.
With the increase numbers of police shootings and noticing this off the chart arrests of mainly minorities, the time has come to take several critical steps to bring justice back on our streets.
Step 1: A detailed vetting of officer candidates applying to any agency to include justices of the peace.
Step 2: Implementing new policies to prevent racial profiling and punish police officers by firing them or put them on lengthy, unpaid administrative leave.
Step 3: Implementing mandatory cultural awareness programs in every police department in the country.
Step 4: Creating new budgets to bring in mandatory body cameras for every peace officer and police officer interacting in any way, shape or form.
The technology is available and the majority of Americans are supporting the above mentioned steps. United States Department of Justice must supervise and monitor police departments and help implement these steps. This way we can all be assured to punish the criminal and let the innocent go free.
For every minor and major dilemma facing our society especially in the 21st Century, a swift action and a solution must be produced and implemented. In this new world of immediate transmission of information via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube we have seen dictatorships and tyrant regimes toppled. Watching massacres and injustices taking place in countries like Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Ukraine bringing the world's attention to it resulted in many positive changes to people's lives living under these inhumane environments.
ReplyDeleteWe can say that our country is no exception. Many injustices are taking place on daily basis. Sometimes it feels like we as Americans are living in a police state. If a random pedestrian did not whip out his or her phone and started to video tape a police officer making an arrest or in some cases shooting a suspect, the police officer ends up writing the incident report the way he sees most fit and appropriate to save his job and reputation where at the same time he gets away with murder or abuse.
With the increase numbers of police shootings and noticing this off the chart arrests of mainly minorities, the time has come to take several critical steps to bring justice back on our streets.
Step 1: A detailed vetting of officer candidates applying to any agency to include justices of the peace.
Step 2: Implementing new policies to prevent racial profiling and punish police officers by firing them or put them on lengthy, unpaid administrative leave.
Step 3: Implementing mandatory cultural awareness programs in every police department in the country.
Step 4: Creating new budgets to bring in mandatory body cameras for every peace officer and police officer interacting in any way, shape or form.
The technology is available and the majority of Americans are supporting the above mentioned steps. United States Department of Justice must supervise and monitor police departments and help implement these steps. This way we can all be assured to punish the criminal and let the innocent go free.