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Christian Reynolds
Mrs. DeBock
English 4 Honors
14 April 2016
Effects of Body Cameras on Police Work
There comes a time in an officers job when they will have to make a split second
decision. Whether their action is justified by the situation is ultimately up to their superiors to
decide. The challenging thing about this is no one really knows what happens in those moments,
everyone simply hears the testimonies of the officer, witnesses, and suspect. So how can an
officers actions be kept in check when no one truly knows what happened? An idea has caught
the attention of the media, government, and many police stations. Body cameras on officers
would provide more evidence in court, protect the public from officers who get out of hand, and
protect police officers from false accusations of brutality.
Body cameras would not be the first video-recorded evidence to be used in law
enforcement. There are multiple cases in which bystanders recorded situations getting out of
hand and were used to put the guilty party behind bars. This shows that having body cameras
recording every part of the confrontation would be excellent evidence for court. One of the
biggest points made is the fact that there is usually many eye-witness accounts, and they do not
always agree or make sense when put together. Having a recording would show what actually
happened and would cut back on much confusion that comes along with police confrontations
(Koh 1). In the article Point: Body Cameras Increase Police Transparency and Accountability.
the author states From 2012 to 2013, the Rialto Police Department in California conducted a
one-year controlled trial in which police officers on shift were randomly assigned to wear body

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cameras. The study found that the number of incidents involving use of force by the police
dropped nearly 60 percent from the previous year to the year of the experiment. This proves that
not only do body cameras help paint a clearer picture of what happens while officers are on duty,
but the cameras also help lower the rates of police brutality. The author goes on to give another
example about the Mesa Police Department using a similar experiment, with police brutality
lowering as much as seventy-five percent when officers used body cameras (Koh 1). Yet another
issue that the body cameras solve are the amount of complaints and false accusations against
police officers. According to the Rialto Police Department of California, reports against officers
dropped from twenty-four to three, with only one of the reports against an officer with a body
camera. The Mesa Police Department also stated that they saw a forty percent decrease in reports
against officers with body cameras (Koh 1).
But while the body cameras have their pros, they also have their cons. Sure, the cameras
help show what happened, but it may not show every important detail of the situations.
Ultimately the entire video is up to the viewers to decide and interpret what they think of it. So
even if the video proves as ground breaking evidence, the judicial system might interpret the
video and evidence in the exact opposite way (Koh 1). In the article Counterpoint: Body
Cameras Are Not a Cure for Policing Problems. the author brings up the Michael Brown and
Eric Garner cases, showing how cameras could have helped the Brown case, but when cameras
were used in the Garner case they were not as effective as many people believe (Koh 1). Another
problem that is arising with the body camera idea is the publics privacy. The author explains that
innocent people could be caught on camera during confrontations, or how the camera may have
to stay on while an officer is in a private home. Others are concerned that the footage will be
easier to leak embarrassing videos online, such as a dashboard cam catching people in

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intoxicated situations (Koh 1). The final issue that is being brought up is how the cameras simply
do not solve the deeper issues like racial discrimination. The author states The use of body
cameras may aid in police work and in enhancing the transparency and accountability of police
officers, but it does not address deeper social problems. The existence of an accurate and
contemporaneous video record of the shooting death of Michael Brown, for example--as existed
in the death of Eric Garner--would not have resolved the thornier problems of racial
discrimination and police brutality that the case brought to the fore (Koh 1). So while the
cameras help provide evidence, they are not really solving any issues other than clearing up some
confrontations and eye witness reports.
The real problem with all of this is, how will the body cameras affect the police and their
work? To put it simply, it will not really cause any problems. In fact it is helping more than
hindering law enforcement careers. Body cameras can help prove if an officer did or did not use
excessive force in a situation, the footage can clear up eye witness reports and show what really
went down, it hardly if at all breaks any privacy policies. The footage simply helps the officers
detain a situation in a proper way and can be reviewed to help find more evidence for cases that
the officer might have missed the first time. The amount of unsolved cases will go down,
brutality rates have already proven to go down in California and Arizona where they are testing
body cameras with officers, and the footage is a solid form of evidence in court. But for this idea
to be completely effective I personally believe the cameras should have to stay on for the entire
shift, not just turned on and off as the officer feels fit.
Body cameras on officers would provide more evidence in court, protect the public from
officers who get out of hand, and protect police officers from false accusations of brutality. Every
day officers are faced with situations that require split second decisions. The only evidence used

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are eye witness reports, and no one can really say who was in the wrong. With body cameras this
problem could be cut out entirely, letting the innocent officers continue to go out onto the streets
and protect citizens and their rights.

Work Cited
Koh, Tsin Yen. "Body Cameras for Police Officers on Patrol: Overview." Points of View.
Web. 14 Apr. 2016.
Koh, Tsin Yen. "Point: Body Cameras Increase Police Transparency and Accountability."
Points of View. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.

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Koh, Tsin Yen. "Body Cameras for Police Officers on Patrol: Guide to Critical Analysis."
Points of View. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.
Koh, Tsin Yen. "Counterpoint: Body Cameras Are Not a Cure for Policing Problems."
Points of View. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.