The law enforcement field is one that is receiving a lot of media attention these days. This attention can be attributed to recent years of high profile events such as protests, uses of force, and misconduct. The public demands law enforcement professionals to adhere to certain standards and be accountable for their actions. As a result of changing times, law enforcement identified a need to record their interactions with the public on a daily basis in order to justify their actions to critics. This need could be fulfilled by having officers wear body worn cameras to document their interactions with the public. Law enforcement agencies must weigh the costs, benefits, and cons of acquiring body worn cameras for their officers. There are …show more content…
There is the side of each person involved, with each side having some bias toward the person telling their side. This is human nature as the person telling the story will always recall the story based on their perception. Then somewhere in the middle is the truth of what actually took place. Body worn cameras will provide an accurate account of an event without either side being able to put their spin on it. This allows the viewer the opportunity to review the event and form their own opinion, without being swayed by one side or the other. It gives the viewer the opportunity to view the event as if they were actually there during the time the incident took place. According to VieVu (n.d.), they strive to provide law enforcement with secure technologies and products that contribute to public transparency and trust, and ultimately, safeguard the officer’s safety, perspective, and …show more content…
Transparency shows that an agency is willing to open itself up to outside scrutiny when things go wrong, and receive praise when duties are being carried out in a professional manner. Even the American Civil Liberties Union has stated that “transparency leads to public trust and benefits the community (Clark, 2012). After all, the goal of law enforcement is to have a good working relationship with the community it serves.
Improved Police Officer Behavior We can tell ourselves to act as though someone is always watching, but that might not have an impact on a person’s behavior or attitude. Knowing that a person is being recorded, on the other hand, can have a dramatic effect on one’s behavior. When we area being watched we tend act differently than if we were alone. The behavior tends to be more reserved because we don’t want to make fools of ourselves. Law enforcement officers want to appear professional, so a video recording of an incident can have lasting consequences if the officer acted in a rude or unprofessional