Obama And Tom Coburn: The Role Of Political Actors

The Obama Administration announced on December 1st of 2014 that they would provide funding for 50,000 police body cameras. Not too long after this announcement, United States Senator Brian Schatz introduced bill number S. 877, the Police Body Camera Act. Many civil rights groups are anticipating with excitement the approval of this bill, while other organizations are pushing for it to be rejected. These civil rights groups believe that it will help place police accountable for their actions, create public trust and safety. On the other hand opposing groups believe it will be an invasion of privacy, be very costly and ineffective. These conflicting ideas have posed a question: Should the United States Senate approve bill S. 877, Police Camera Act?

Cops everywhere are being looked on with hate and disgust. People are feeling threatened by cops even though they are doing their job to protect us and keep our cities safe. Body cameras are an ever growing topic between many parties, but have they looked at it from all sides? Not everyone was there to witness and judge the situation, but the stories are compelling. With cameras we get what happened in audio/visual proof. They can save jobs and give people the proof needed. However cops deserve their privacy. Body cameras should be on cops, but they should be allowed to turn them on or off as they wish.

Within recent years there has been much controversy surrounding police officers and whether or not they should be wearing body cameras to document their everyday interactions with the public. While the use of body cameras may seem to invade the public or police privacy. Police-worn body cameras will be beneficial to law enforcement and civilians all over the world. Police must be equipped with body cameras to alleviate any doubt in the effectiveness of officers. Law enforcement worn body cameras would enhance the trust of the public by keeping both the officers and the citizens accountable for their actions, providing evidence, and helping protect them from false accusations, while protecting privacy

People should understand the reasoning for police officers to wear body cameras. There are people who are for it and against it. In order for the community to be for it, they have to come to an agreement. The compromise should be those police officers should wear body cameras for their protection and to show the community that they are telling the truth.

I selected an article about police body cameras. The article cited several studies, as well as the authors’ ideas and thoughts. The article, titled Police Body Cameras, is part of the CATO Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, and prepared by Matthew Feeney in 2015. The theme throughout the article is that the use of body cameras will reduce police misconduct. Although we all hope this is the case, we must also look at the other issues involved with the wearing of body cameras. In an effort to gain citizen buy-in and obtain their opinions, they conducted surveys. Interestingly enough, most people did not want the officers to record them, unless it was during an enforcement encounter, such as a traffic stop or arrest situation.

To start off, police officers need to start wearing body cameras because its innocent people getting killed. According to source text 4 "Law enforcement interest in body cameras has surged following the police shooting death of 18 year old Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. A body camera could show us what's going on.

Twenty five percent of the nation's police forces have some sort of body cameras. Every day people are saying they are not believable. We need to stand together to make everyone have them. The police need to wear body cameras for civilians safety and to show evidence to prove the police are doing there job.

”(Police Cameras). On the other hand with the new president coming into offices. It will make it more easy for corrupt police officers to abuse their authorities even more. Not only will they have more reason to pull over African Americans and Hispanic but, it will make it more easy for them to get away with racial profiling. Therefore this is a reason on why police officers should wear body cameras and make it mandatory for them to wear it.

The most beneficial way to work with the community is by having body cameras. According to Issues and Controversies, President Obama said, “the safer it is for cops, the more effectively they can do their jobs, the more cooperation there’s going to be, the more likely those communities are to be safe” (Police Body Cameras). Due to, the power of authority police officers is mistreating and killing the civilian. As a result, the community feels unsafe and fears police officers. For this reason, implementing body cameras on police officers is crucial for safety, evidentiary purpose, and liability.

Over the last few years there has been much controversy leading up to the need for law enforcement officers to wear body cameras. This is not only for citizens but also for the officers’ protection. With so much debate regarding police brutality and excessive force body cameras are quickly on the rise. New technology is giving police on a state and federal level a new opportunity to cut back on some of the allegations and negativity we have seen in the last few years. On the other hand it is giving citizens all over the country the safety they should feel when being approached by law enforcement. Our technology has improved significantly over the years and this seems to be something that will benefit everyone.

Historically speaking, authorities of the law were never in a position where their professional duties and their character as a public servant of the law were demeaned in a way that there needs to be constant surveillance of them and the people whom they come into contact with. There was never a need of documenting every encounter you had with a civilian before. In this day in age, things have certainly changed, and the past has always been something society likes to change and make better even if it raises concerns. Due to all the violent police stories that has surfaced in the past decade, the idea of having police officers wear video cameras as a part of their uniform while on duty has resulted in a radically divergent account of society’s future. The law may uphold cops to wear cameras while working, but is this really the best decision? This topic is very controversial and may create issues with cops and the civilians they try and protect in the future.

To peep or not to peep, that is the question being asked by many regarding police body cameras in communities. The topic of police brutality is a rising issue in today’s society. Several questions have arose over the use of police body cameras and whether they are a good or bad idea. Police body cameras have has a variety of concern to many communities regarding their potential. Every city has a different trust and relationship for their police force and these concerns vary depending on the community. People have the concern regarding privacy, protection, and impact on the community and more. After researching the problems caused by Police body cameras as well as its background, the current state of the issue, and the potential solutions, it is clear that communities need to bring a solution to this situation.Such as laws, policies, rules, and more to control this new information.

Many departments have been forced to change how they patrol their streets and how they interact with citizens. One of the precautionary methods that the government took was to provide funding to police departments that would go toward officers being issued body cameras. The Justice Department in fact his year provided $17 million dollars to police departments for body cameras. As stated by Attorney General Loretta Lynch "Body-worn cameras hold tremendous promise for enhancing transparency, promoting accountability and advancing public safety for law enforcement officers and the communities they serve,.. (Jackson,

Body cameras in policing are still new, but more and more agencies are beginning to implement this technology into their line of work. At first police officers were very hesitant to wear these body cameras because they were afraid they would infringe themselves and give away their own privacy. Later, as body cameras were beginning to see more use in the work place, officers began to realize that these very own body cameras that they once thought would only cause themselves harm would actual prove to be useful in a variety of situations. Some of these situations can be citizen complaints, to even backing up an officers use of force. Body cameras can be the one sole thing that can give

One of the most important events that caused national controversy over body cameras the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The shooting of this unarmed African-American male sparked a national discussion, particularly since the offending officer did not go to jail. Therefore, many riots started in this area concerning police brutality and brought important attention to this longstanding issue. During his presidency, Barack Obama gave 263 dollars towards efforts to buy cameras for more police officers, and this monetary donation among other things has catalyzed nation-wide efforts towards regulating the use of body cameras for police. Unfortunately, like many new technologies, legislation is rapidly changing and adapting, trying to play catch up with these cameras. According to a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, Matthew Feeney, this is but “another example of technology moving faster than regulation and legislation” and thus, many laws have been yet to be developed to monitor their use (Boone). While police body cameras may be created to curb police violence, their use cannot be counted on to be this effective or useful. One of the underlying issues of this controversy is racism. Racial issues are crucial to many cases of police brutality, but the question is whether these cameras will actually stop racial issues. The fact of the matter is that the cameras will not do anything but grow problems of racism rather