By Jessica Reichart Who are you when nobody's watching? Who are you when nobody’s watching and you’re also being approached by a police officer? A person’s character changes when they’re in different situations. It changes again when they become aware of the possibility that they are being recorded. Due to this, the concept of having police officers wearing body cameras is being introduced. Studies are being performed in order to determine the effect these cameras have on the need for the use of forceful action from police. Unsurprisingly, the awareness causes people to behave more cautiously once they knew they were being recorded. However, the rate of incidents drastically dropped. About 65 ‘Use-of-force’ cases were reported yearly three years prior to the study. After giving 1,000 officers across many different 12 hour shifts the body cameras, only 25 UOF cases were reported. This is a dramatic drop of around 58 percent. This statistic entirely supports the idea that body cameras are useful in police officers on duty. This new form of potential evidence not only calms down the suspect, but also the officer. Studies found that it pushes the officers to make calmer decisions that do not include use of force. This is due to the police also not having the desire to be caught in a situation where the wrong form of enforcement was used that resulted in harsher problems. We live in a country where rights are being suppressed and there are police brutality cases surfacing everywhere. Body cameras can only help the future interactions between a police officer and the person of question. However, this could arise an issue of disrespectful actions towards officers being handled differently. Researchers are afraid of those wearing the cameras will feel their actions will be too lenient of disrespectful and dangerous that could arise while on the job. On the other hand, it is said that the footage recorded will be used for junior officers to help with training. They will be able to watch and review the situations themselves and other officers have experienced in order to train and prevent certain situations to repeat themselves. With almost everything else in this time period, things come with a high cost. This is the same for body cameras. Researchers are unsure of how to pay for the storing, sharing, and managing of the footage device for the large amount of officers we have in the country. Although this is costly, the amount of money already spent on the court cases due to police testimony against defendants is large. Whether this new form of evidence can be more costly than the current system is still up for questioning, along with other aspects of the cameras. As the years pass and the crime rate increases, new technology is going to be continuously needed to keep everyone safe. However, a much cheaper way to do so would be to abide by the law, not by the camera.
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Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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