Recently, a video was released to the public of a South Carolina police officer using excessive force on a black, female high-school student. Another officer putting his career on the line by using excessive force in an incident that is really minor---a student refusing to put their cellphone away! While reading a book on police brutality and its opposing views, it referenced statements by teenagers and adults who claimed to have despair when around the police. Due to crimes happening around them, people who have had police encounters state they feel police unfairly put them under the category of being associated to crime, even when that is not the case. Teens are arguing that when they encounter police officers, they are being treated unfairly …show more content…
It also should be taken very seriously. The media is frequently showing us cases around the country where police brutality has occurred, especially in those cases where a jury or grand jury is considering action against an officer. In the book, Police Brutality: Opposing Viewpoints, An organization “Human Rights Watch” was featured saying “to prevent police brutality cases the officers must be subjected to intense scrutiny by other federal authorities.”(pg.19) Police brutality has become widespread and in a most recent study, fourteen large cities have had reports of police abuse. (pg. 20) The cities included in the study were: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Providence, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Each of these cities have reached out to the media asking for punishment of the officers in police brutality. But little action has been taken against these police officers. Fixing these fourteen cities as well with other ones can reduce human rights violations and can fix the troubled departments. Problem officers who have a significant amount of records of abuse or public complaints should receive camera-monitoring, training, and counseling. This can reduce the risk of future incidents and a better reputation to the public. The only matter that should be taken in deep consideration is will receiving the camera …show more content…
According to Harvard Law Review, their hope was that video recordings of police to civilian interactions would prevent officer misconduct and eliminate cases which would help punish those officers who participate in police brutality. This topic gained support from the public, the White House, federal legislators, police officials, and police unions. President Obama also made his feature on this topic by announcing $263 million dollars to fund body-worn cameras and improvement training to federal agencies. The American Civil Liberties Union showed support and voiced their opinion by saying this would be a win-win situation for both the officer and civilian. In any time of tragedy, the recording obtained from the body-worn camera would be available in any police to civilian problem. More than 150,000 people have signed a petition on the White House's website urging that all state, county and local police be required to wear a camera. In response, Deputy Assistant to the President, Roy L. Austin Jr. said the Department of Justice is researching the best way to implement video technology into daily policing. Police departments across the U.S. are now testing body cameras. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in December, that his police department was accelerating efforts to equip their officers with body cameras. The benefit of police officers wearing body cameras is that it