Police officers in Ferguson, Mo were given body cameras in
order to avoid being wrongly accused of civil injustice. Because of the tension
between the local authority and the public over the past few weeks, video
companies have donated cameras to the police so they are able to document
complete encounters. A lot of recent police encounters have been videotaped and
put online. In some cases, only the end of a situation was taped and posted
online out of context and the officer had no way to prove that he was wrongly
provoked by the civilian. Now, the entire encounter can be recorded and the
whole accusation process can run smoother.
This will, hopefully, motivate those few officers who do
their jobs incorrectly to take care of business the right way since they are
being recorded now. Hopefully no more young black boys will have to die in the
hands of a cruel police officer. On the other note, civilians hopefully less
likely to act out if they know the video footage can be used against them.
However, what if a civilian requests to not be videotaped?
Wouldn't that be denying them their legal rights? Can this be a new issue arising? Does
the government and police have the ability to record everything without the
consent of the people their recording?
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/09/01/ferguson-police-begin-using-body-cameras/
It's good that they KNOW that they are being supervised now. It should help prevent further issues and abuse.
ReplyDeletethis decision is pretty risky, but hey, there's a good and bad side for everything. so we'll see were this ends up. this will surely bring some controversy though...
ReplyDeleteVideo taping will be helpful to both officers and civilians. It is the only way to ensure officers and civilians are caught for crimes.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a great idea. It is a great way to protect both the officer and the citizens.
ReplyDelete