Preview

What Are The Pros And Cons Of Patrol Car Video Surveillance

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
980 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Are The Pros And Cons Of Patrol Car Video Surveillance
The advantages of stun guns and patrol car video surveillance are a critical tool in law enforcement. Officers are given the option of Tasers, which are extremely effective when pursuing an offender that might have had the upper hand to fight for a long time, resulting in the officer gaining injuries. Currently, patrol car video is a necessity as video records will enhance an officer 's credibility, corroborate identities, and statement issues, and can be used as evidence in court. However, critical to law enforcement; stun guns should be used as a last resort. Let us examine some of the issues that contain some validity to arguments for the continue use of these tools within law enforcement.

One may argue that a Taser (stun gun) causes muscle contractions and renders a person helpless while being temporarily paralyzed. Lee (2007) addressed this to be true, but law enforcement has maximized training programs so that suspects and officers lives are not in jeopardy. In addition, when a stun gun is used there is a permanent record and the video surveillance is automatically recorded when an officer takes the safety off the weapon (Lee, 2007). Consequently, the stun gun is used by law enforcement specifically for
…show more content…
Whether the officer is acting inappropriately or the suspect is acting hostile the video will prove to be the most critical evidence. Tennenbaum, A. N., & Moore, A. M. (1993) assures surveillance systems are great additions to police cars. They protect both sides, and if one thinks about it, he would rather be stunned than shot. The most distinct video surveillance brings the highest quality to agencies. They are easy to use and they have the technology to transfer, gather, and retrieve evidence. In fact, the video is shared with court officials and the prosecution while maintaining the integrity of the original

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The world is full of camera phones, different social media outlets, and the work of law enforcement is not hidden anymore, the general public can see the police officers performing their jobs. However, those officers quick to use gun or Taser lack the skills in de-escalation when dealing with a minor hostile situation. Nevertheless, the case of Bryan v. McPherson was related to a situation of officer Brian McPherson and motorist Carl Bryan, which Mr. Bryan was pulled over and issued a citation early that same day and headed to southern California from Camarillo to Coronado.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tom Stamatakis of the BC Police Association states, “Accountability is both necessary and appropriate. But when it comes to the CEW, I think we have gone beyond the tolerance both for police services and for police officers who prefer to avoid what seems to be inevitable criticism, regardless of the circumstances that led to any deployment.” (SC, 2013, p. 20). He continues that because of the increased scrutiny regarding CEWs, officers are choosing not to use the weapon and are even letting their certification expire. Other reasons officers are reluctant to carry Tasers include varying levels of understanding CEW policies, deployment threshold considerations and a lack of trust (SC, 2013). Since 2007, Taser use has dropped a whopping 87%. BC police officers used their Taser 640 times that year compared to 85 deployments in 2011, due to stricter regulations and higher behavior thresholds. For the RCMP, the frequency of CEW discharges decreased by 83 percent from 2007 (390) to 2011 (65). Independent municipal agencies’ discharges decreased by 92 percent over the same time period (from 250 to 20). In fact, CEW use has decreased across all major law enforcement agencies including the RCMP “E” Division, Police Services Division, BC Sheriff Service Division and the Adult Custody Division (SC, 2013). It is important to note that the huge reduction in CEW use does not mean police are turning to their guns- a tool of last…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Taser Vs Xrep Essay

    • 1702 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Most importantly, ECD’s prevent the use of other dangerous alternatives such as guns, pepper spray, or nightsticks. Also, in the personal interview with Corporal Streett, he brought up an interesting fact about police officers’ training in regards to lethal force. “Shooting to incapacitate” when using a Taser means to aim anywhere on the body except for the face and chest, which seems a common sense fact to prevent unwanted effects other than brief incapacitation. “Shooting to incapacitate” when referring to guns and lethal force, however, means aiming for the face and chest area (Streett, personal communication, 2013). A brief ECD shock to the arms, legs, or back is much less commonly lethal than a gunshot to the face or chest. Finally, Corporal Streett stated that Tasers were so effective because, while someone is in the process of being tased, it is extremely painful. He views this as positive, because most assailants only need a Taser warning to comply with the officers, and no real force is needed. ECD’s are an effective choice because they have less chance of fatalities or injuries, and are a daunting option to criminals to strongly urge them to respond without…

    • 1702 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Do you think police officers should be required to use body camera? Yes or No? Now a days police officers are going crazy. They are killing to many innocent people. Police officers are supposed to be here for use to help us to save. There not supposed to be a threat to us. Police are supposed to the good guys who saves people from bad guys seems like everyone has gone bad now a days.…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    An invasion of privacy is a concern of the police officers wearing the cameras, because they have state-owned footage. When…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Justin T. Ready and Jacob T.N. Young start their article by listing the benefits of police body cameras to exclude the assumption that they are completely against body cameras. Immediately after, they explicitly state that they are academics and have been studying body cameras for years. This gains them high authority because their views can now be considered exerts' views by their audience, the public. The tone shift from considerate to assertive was quick and was done to convince the audience that these myths are no light issue and must be analyzed. Throughout the majority of the article, Ready and Young address three myths that are mostly logical fallacies.…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the field of law enforcement many thing happen during an encounter with the perpetrator in an effort to truly see what transpired at the scene of the altercation the police departments have equipped their officers with body cameras to capture what happened at the scene of incident.…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Taser Guns Are Bad

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Stun guns like Tasers are often preferred by officers simply for their easy use, better user control as well as lesser danger to both the officer and the target. If they are used after a proper warning, that if the target does not calm down, a Taser gun is most likely to be used against him, they could stand a better chance of achieving a safe end…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Suggestions about police body cameras can also significantly reduce tension between blacks and police. The theory of police body cameras is that the filming will show “evidence of some objective truth along with violent encounters between civilians and police” (). The body cams would help ease tension between blacks and police because the evidence being recorded can help tell the whole story of controversy’s that occur rather than having two sided arguments about what point of view is right. A central study was conducted in Rialto, California about the effectiveness of body cameras and indeed, complaints against officers dropped 88 percent and the use of force reports fell by 60 percent…

    • 112 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These devices allow a firsthand look into an incident and give immediate evidence to a case. Heather Ann Myers wrote about a yearlong investigational study of body cameras for law enforcement and said, “The findings suggest more than a 50 percent reduction in the total number of incidents involving use of force.” In this investigation conducted by Chief Tony Farrar, it is clear that body cameras not only traduced the number of occasions where force was used, but also made these situations more clear, in giving video and audio for every situation. In the article “Police Body Cameras: What are the Pros and Cons?” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum said, “There are certainly benefits . . . in documenting encounters with the public. It provides the context of what happened.” Wexler noticed the benefit of having these cameras and their video at their disposal as well. These cameras help add to the police officers accountability by reinforcing their stories, or in some cases, denying them completely and help eliminate forceful officers from the…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Times outlines the major concerns surrounding the use of police body cameras. The article stresses two of the major scrutinies, privacy and the lack of official policy. With regard to issues over privacy, especially in cases involving domestic violence or rape victims, many worry the body cameras will not be used for their intended purpose; to capture events from an officers point of view. One Police Chief from Grand Junction, Colorado, John Cramper, remains torn. He wants citizens to feel free to talk to his officers as a trusted confidant and fears people will not be as open while being recorded on camera. Cramper, among other experts on the issue, strongly suggests that victims and witnesses should only be filmed with their explicit consent. Another notable skeptic, Missouri state Rep. Jeff Roorda, with regard to dashboard cameras states, “Instead of the cameras being there to protect officers, they get disciplined for petty stuff constantly…” Another legitimate concern expressed in the article is the issue concerning the lack of policy. “Faced with the challenge of striking a balance between transparency and privacy for citizens U.S. law enforcement agencies have not adopted a uniform policy for body cameras…” The article cites a recent federal survey of 63 law enforcement agencies across the country implemented the use of body cameras in the police force. The report states that nearly a third of these agencies have no…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Police wearing body cameras improves their behavior and also their actions. “When it comes to times where you can use that video as direct evidence, I think it certainly tells a…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There have been many complaints about if body cameras on police officers will work or not. There are two people that have different opinions that other people that think body cameras will stop police brutality against police officers. William N. Grigg, and Joshua Krause these people think body cameras on police officers will not work, and will not stop or decrease the violence from police officers. Grigg’s argument is Their arguments are that the officers from the SDPD forgot to turn on their body cameras while on duty. A crime that happened in April, Officer Neal Browder fatally shot a 31-year-old man named Fridoon Zalbeg Rawshannehad, who had been suspected of carrying a knife. After the shooting, no weapon was found, although Rawshannehad was carrying what has been described as “a shiny looking object.”(San Diego Cops…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Earlier this year, a 12-month study by Cambridge University researchers revealed that when the city of Rialto, California, required its cops to wear cameras, the number of complaints filed against officers fell by 88 percent and the use of force by officers dropped by almost 60 percent” (Bailey). It seems that the camera acts as an impartial witness and it cools the tension between the officer and the citizen. And when the police is acting kind because there is a camera, the civilian will act kind and they will be happy with the officer and will not file any complaints. Dr. Wesley G. Jennings, principal investigator for the study and associate chair in USF’s Department of Criminology, said officers in Orlando were initially skeptical about the equipment, with some claiming that body cameras wouldn’t change their willingness to use force during an arrest. The statistics appear to tell a different story, even though only one in four officers in the study agreed that wearing the devices had any impact on their behavior in the field (Wing). Some people were not convinced that body cameras would change a thing but studies from the Department of Criminology show that the officers themselves say that officers change their behavior in their department. A study at Florida Atlantic University showed “citizens who had a more positive view of police and thought they were treating people fairly…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Body Worn Cameras

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Multiple studies have shown that when body worn cameras are in use, police are less likely to behave with the use of force, especially high level uses of force. A report that was released from San Diego, California stated, “High-level use of force -- such as physical takedowns or employing Tasers, chemical agents or weapons -- was down 16.4%,” (Wood). This data was comparing the drops in police misconduct from 2013 to after the installation of body cameras in 2016. The same report from California also affirmed, “Of 520,000 incidents that San Diego officers responded to in 2016, just over 4,600 -- less than 1% -- involved the use of force. After the body cameras were installed,” (Wood). With police members knowing that their actions are being recorded and could be reviewed, they act with less force. Data taken from the Rialto Study in California stated, "[s]hifts without cameras experienced twice as many incidents of use of force as shifts with cameras," and "the rate of use of force incidents per 1,000 contacts was reduced by 2.5 times,” (Garrick). The Rialto study randomly selected fifty-four officers to use a body worn camera, those officers encountered less situations where the use of force was needed. Body cameras need to become part of the police uniform because they reduce the use of force, especially the high…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics