Perhaps the greatest thing to come from technology in the past few decades with the rise of camera mobility, is the transparency and accountability that people have to be responsible for. If you steal something from a store and are caught on camera, or if someone simply records a video of you doing something illegal, there is no real way to argue against it. This is the same reasoning that has been used to implement body camera programs for police officers in the United States.
Making changes to police protocol can be very hard because of the unions that represent the officers, many of which usually don’t want to comply with some changes. In the past unions could resist change, but with so much bad press and selective editing of videos taken by pedestrians, they are easing up on body camera implementation. For officers who are actually doing their job correctly and acting with the correct protocol, body cameras are actually a benefit to them. They can prove their innocents if claims about brutality or inappropriate action are made. Those who act as thugs however are becoming held accountable.
In the last month alone we have seen two prime examples of why body cameras are so effective. The first one was with a girl from Burlington Vermont who claimed she was sexually assaulted by an officer on facebook after being arrested. The police took to respond by releasing the full video of what happened via body cam, which completely shot down the claim and showed the woman had been completely incompliant and even her father condemned her behavior. The second story comes from Baltimore where an officer who thought the body camera was not on, planted drugs on a scene and then pretended to find them and charged someone with possession.
Both these types of cases happen on a daily basis in the United States, but without body cameras, the guilty party might not have come to light. The majority of people from the police unions that are suggesting that body cameras are a bad idea are doing so because they don’t want to be held accountable when they make big mistakes. They might claim it is expensive and a problem with funding, but billions are spent a year by stations arming themselves to the teeth with riot gear they will never need or use. Plus body cameras should be seen as an investment.
If officers are doing nothing wrong they will save millions in court cases against police stations across the United States. If our tax dollars are being spent to fund these stations that propagate police brutality and misconduct, then we should demand that everything they do be recorded. Those who do the right thing can be exonerated and those who commit misconduct can be held accountable, it is as simple as that. If we are going to risk lives and reputations on the word of what someone says, there should be evidence to back it up and body cameras help do this.
Thanks to @Elyaque for the badges