Do body cameras actually work?

Josh Spicer

On Monday the White House has pledged $263 million in new federal funding for police training and body cameras, set aside by executive order. The money includes $75 million allocated specifically for the purchase of 50,000 cameras for law enforcement officers across the country. The training portion of the funds would go toward instructing police in the responsible use of paramilitary equipment like assault rifles and armored personnel carriers, much of which has flooded local departments as a result of a Homeland Security preparedness program. Additional funds will go to fund police outreach programs designed to build trust between local departments and the communities they serve.

The cameras are designed to provide a definitive record of police activities, and have become a frequent demand in the wake of the Ferguson protests. The protests began with the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager killed by the police in Ferguson. Community leaders pointed to video taken in the aftermath of Brown's death as evidence of police misconduct, and the subsequent outcry has triggered a Justice Department investigation. More recently, a widely shared video of Cleveland police shooting a 12-year-old named Tamir Rice has intensified the demand for video documentation of police activities. Last week, the parents of Michael Brown announced a campaign "to ensure that every police officer working the streets in this country wears a body camera." Still, many police departments have already looked into body-mounted cameras. On October 1st, the Washington D.C. police began a six-month pilot program that put cameras on the shoulders of many local police, and officials expect the program to reduce the number of complaints filed against officers by as much as 80 percent. The program wasn't cheap: it cost $1 million to buy and store the necessary volume of cameras. But after Monday, other departments that decide to take the same leap will have federal matching funds to soften the blow.  “http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/12/04/lead-dnt-alesci-body-camera-chokehold-case-technology.cnn.html”.

Do body cameras actually work? Its really too soon to tell. According to Barak Ariel, a criminologist at the University of Cambridge, isn't so sure about body cameras, either. Ariel insists that there isn't enough evidence so far to generalize the finding and assert that body-worn cameras offer a net benefit to community policing “http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/12/do-police-body-cameras-work-ferguson/383323/”. 

 In my opinion and soon to be a police officer myself, I see no reason why we shouldn’t wear body cameras. However will cameras stop the brutality? At first I think the officers will carefully consider their actions but after while I don’t see recording them will change the way they act. Police shootings caught on camera, a New York man dies after chokehold by police caught on camera and again no indictment, body cameras don’t mean accountability. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/04/nyregion/grand-jury-said-to-bring-no-charges-in-staten-island-chokehold-death-of-eric-garner.html. I guess time will tell if body cameras actually work or if we seriously have a problem with the criminal justice program and should consider the type of police officer we hire.