African Americans have suffered from police brutality in the United States since time in memorial. It is disheartening to see unarmed African Americans suffer in the hands of white police with many either sustaining serious unimaginable injuries or even in extreme cases losing their lives. It is quite unclear how racial discrimination continues to haunt even the new century with more fatalities recorded in the civilized era where governments have enacted policies to protect each person from all sort of discrimination.
Police brutality is and has been an increasingly notorious act of discrimination of the colored skin people, mostly African Americans. However, it is time more serious actions are taken in order to combat this inhumane act. One of the best ways to ensure that police brutality towards the African Americans is dealt with, is through body cameras that will be worn by any law enforcement agent at all times. The bodily worn cameras will help deter brutality by instilling fear, provide evidence and accountability, help in data collection, and will be used as future archives for study.
Cameras helping deter police brutality
Although there are many policies that might curb the inhuman racial discrimination among police officers harboring racism in their heart, body cameras stand a better chance to deter them from committing such despicable acts. If the policy to wear body cameras can be approved, it is ascertained that they will help reduce or completely deter police brutality. Many white police officers do these hideous acts because they know they can easily get away with them. This is because there will be no evidence of the act as videos shot by passers-by are rarely used as evidence. If and when they are used as evidence, they are rarely give enough attention.
A good case is that of a young man, Oscar Grant, who was shot in cold blood by a police officer. Before the police shot him, he had already been mishandled in the name of cuffing him. The policeman who shot him argued that he only wanted to tease him with the taser gun. Another such case is that of an 18year old, Michael Brown, who was shot by a police Officer. Officer Wilson, asked them to clear the street while walking with his friend, but when they failed to respond to his demands immediately, he grabbed and shot him. The two cases presented above are just but a few of the countless cases that would have been prevented if the officers involved wore cameras on them.
Providing evidence
Many of the officers who engage in brutalities against African America usually receive very minute sentences, which are almost equal to going scot free. The juries always have a way to decline endicting any of the involved officers thus, bringing more pain, suffering and lamentation to the affected families. Through the introduction of body cameras, the Juries will be able to find evidence in the form of video recording that will allow them to prosecute the police officer based on the severity of his crime without fear or favor. In most cases, the jury always rules in favor of the officer involved, arguing that they acted out of self-defense or reasonable use of power which in many cases are contrary to the popular opinions (Shey). This was the case in the brutal shooting of Amadou Diallo, in February 1999. The police thought that he looked suspicious after they mistook him for a serial rapist spraying him with 41 bullets. They argued that they thought he was pulling a weapon hence acted in self-defense. They were charged with second-degree murder and all four of them were indicted.
Another recent similar case even in the times of surveillance technology such as street cameras is that of, Tamir Rice, a 12-year old boy who was shot in the stomach by a police officer. The boy was playing with a toy gun and showed no danger to the police in any way, but they shot him anyway. In addition, they took very few seconds to respond to the ‘threat’ but took minutes to administer first aid to the dying boy. His sister was also mishandled in the process. The police provided partial video to the jury which made them go scot free. If the police had individual body cameras, there would be enough evidence to charge them with first-degree murder. It is in this regard that we need policy change in the security department to subject officers to wear body cameras to help in delivering justice and restrain them from excessive use of force in arresting or confronting a suspect. It will help the jury to decide whether an officer or officers’ actions can be justified and whether they acted reasonably in their line of duty.
Accountability
Since the conception of security departments, police officers always used the law in their favor to avoid being criminally liable for any atrocities committed while in the line of duty. The lack of accountability was evident in Eric Garner’s case, a loving father of six who met his untimely death in the hands of a police officer who choked him despite his plea and cry of help that he could not breathe. The jury found no reason to indict the officer and the case was dismissed. Accountability on the police officers is rarely proven and thus legalizing their criminal acts of abuse of human rights, discrimination, and excessive use of force among others. If all police officers were to wear the personal body cameras, all of them would have been accountable for the death of Mr. Garner. Accountability should not be selective. It needs to be applied at all level of governance and leadership in a state, without immunity like clauses that permits negligence and carelessness among police officers.
Easy Data Collection on Shootings and Death in Our Prisons
Sadly enough police brutality does not end on the streets. It is even more prevalent in the handling of African American prisoners. Many people of color skin are brutally assaulted and even shot in prison and the police manage to come up with vague reasons for justifying it. There is a need to documented video evidence as it will be the only source of a possible healthy relationship between police officers and the inmates.
The body cameras will offer primary coverage of every police activities and in all criminal cases involving police and prisoners, which will be used to obtain justice when presented in court as hard evidence to enable the jury and the public to make sound judgement without fueling animosity between police officers and the people they are supposed to protect. In many cases involving inmates’ death, naturally, the public always point the finger at the prison department either for having aided in the death of those in their custody through brutality and abuse of inherent human rights such as the right to timely and quality medical attention. Sometimes we are forced to conclude how things might have occurred instead of watching and making sound conclusions. All these will be possible with the implementation of body cameras.
Research purposes
There is a need to understand the things that drive officers involved in race brutality. This is because not all white policemen are bad people. Through sieving out the bad from the good, we will be able to avoid traits that are easily violent towards African American people. There are others who are also overly reactive than others. The current wave of police brutality on African-American people may reduce with a close study how police officers conduct themselves when encountering this vulnerable group of people in the society. Video camera evidence can offer insight into the US state security department when such characters release brutally assaults helpless and unarmed members of the public. Footage from body cameras will provide crucial information for the study. The need to enhance professionalism among law enforcement personnel will not only protect the general public, but it will also improve on service delivery from these officers.
Future Archives for study purposes
Even if a policy to wear the personal cameras is passed, it will not only be for real time protection. These archives will be used to serve justice even in the future. The cry of any person deprived of justice is a cry for sanity. Every citizen desires the best practices from law enforcement personnel. It becomes too difficult to realize some of the actions of security officers and how to correct them to instill public confidence and trust in relating with them (Blum 78). Some quarters have been crying of the need to embrace community policing as a gateway to healthy civilian-police relation. However, this cannot be made possible without a close monitoring of how these officers interacts with the public and how their relationship can be boosted to ensure that during unlawful activities the security officers will act within the allowable power to protect the rest of the community, weeding out those who are on mission to deny the civilians the security and peace of mind they need to conduct their daily activities without fear. The footage from the cameras will be used for future study in police academies, so that incoming police officers will be aware of the milestones achieved thus far.
Conclusion
There is no other policy that can pave the way for many other policies in addressing police brutality than the use of body cameras. This is because it will not only provide prosecution evidence, but will also act as a deterrent to unprofessional conduct of security personnel. Every time a police officer will think of assaulting an African American Man, he will remember that he is wearing a camera, which will be used to provide evidence against him. It is important to note that policy approach in addressing African-American police brutality also requires other inputs that will ensure the policy becomes effective in fulfilling its purpose. It requires the political goodwill among the ruling class and also a commitment by the police officers to have the cameras on, not as a demeaning act, but as an initiative to help dispense justice and improve the civilian-police relationship. Members of the public are also required to play oversight and report the actions of police officers to help drive the best reforms that will help address racial discrimination by the security personnel.
Works Cited
Blum, Paul Von. Racism and the Law. San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2012. Print.
Shey Squared. "RACISM AND THE LAW (2016 UPDATE)." YouTube. YouTube, 2016. Web. 03 May 2016.
