| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstEssay" |
|---|
| |
<
< | Let the Cameras Roll | >
> | Let the Cameras Roll (Draft II) | | | -- By EvanZuckerman - 14 Oct 2014 | | | Cameras have become pervasive in 21st century society - attached to every phone and building and sometimes hovering in the sky. However, there are some things that have not yet had a camera attached to them. This should change for policemen. | |
<
< | Our country is dealing with the endemic tension between the police and the citizens they, ostensibly, protect. Ferguson, Staten Island, Los Angeles, St. Louis – the list goes on. However, there is a variable that illuminates some of these incidents that is missing in others: a camera. | >
> | The public is overwhelmingly for body-worn cameras in some capacity. Numbers range around 70%-80%. However it’s not just the public; Ron Johnson, who led security in Ferguson, succinctly stated “I believe in cameras.” As can be heard from the impassioned cries of Michael Brown’s parents and others, despite tension with the police’s privacy and civil liberties, cameras could be a way to check abuse of power and shed light on confusion.
This is not a black and white issue; there needs to be serious consideration for police rights and what enables them to safely and effectively perform their duties; however, custom and unrealized concerns should not hold back a fruitful policy. | | | Current Events | |
<
< | Michael Brown was shot and killed. It is unclear whether Brown was moving towards the Ferguson cop or benignly had his hands up. There are conflicting witnesses and stories. None have a tape of the incident. Brown’s death will likely remain a mystery. | >
> | Michael Brown was shot and killed. It is unclear whether Brown was moving towards the Ferguson cop or benignly had his hands up. There are conflicting witnesses and stories. The policeman who shot Brown will not be indicted. There is no tape of the incident; the grand jury has spoken, and yet dispute remains. | | | In contrast, NYPD officers stopped Eric Garner and one performed a chokehold to bring Garner to the ground. Garner had a heart attack, partially as a result of the chokehold, and died. This was caught on tape. None of it is in dispute. | |
<
< | Cameras - Yes, please! | | | | |
<
< | The nascent idea to put cameras on every policeman “has the potential to level the playing field in any kind of controversy or allegation of abuse,” according to the ACLU Senior Policy Analyst, Jay Stanley. Many seem to agree with Stanley. A White House adviser in Justice and Urban Affairs stated that the White House “support[s] the use of cameras and video technology by law enforcement officers.” Floyd v. City of NY was the impetus, partially allowed by Mayor Bill De Blasio’s acquiescence, for on-body cop cameras experimentation in New York. New York City Public Advocate Letitia James explains that “by using technology in a smart way, we will help protect our city and the civil rights of all New Yorkers.” | >
> | Privacy Concerns | | | | |
<
< | Critics will argue that the efficacy of body cameras is in dispute because of the lack of sample size. Criminology professor, Michael White, states that “most of the claims made by advocates and critics of the technology remain untested." However, early reports from Rialto cops have shown that force by officers and citizen complaints declined 60 and 80%, respectively, after the first year of on-body camera implementation. In the limited results so far, it seems to have quite a “civilizing effect.” In truth, most innovative ideas are not implemented flawlessly initially, but the burgeoning results are promising. This, then, is not something we should take lightly. | >
> | People don't want to be incessantly monitored. Police are no different. It is argued by some that cameras will disrupt how police work and act day-to-day. This intuitive argument goes something along the lines that people act differently when their every move is being monitored. This is a valid concern that needs to be taken into account. However, simply stating that this concern precludes camera experimentation is myopic. | | | | |
<
< | A lot of surveillance in American life seems to abet abuses of power. However “police on-body cameras are different because of their potential to serve as a check against the abuse of power by police officers.” Other than a check against police abuse, it is important to remember cameras can help to mitigate lawsuits and settlements, among other things. [If every New York City policeman had a body camera it would cost roughly $33 million. However, in 2013, New York City paid $152 million from police misconduct. This shows that there is money that can be saved.] However, there are issues much greater than economics, some times things are simply fundamentally just and correct. Cameras allow an impartial third party to tell the story, and we should welcome this. | | | | |
<
< | Big Brother Concerns | >
> | But the Benefits... | | | | |
<
< | However, there are numerous concerns that might fall under the thumb of Big Brother. People don't want to be incessantly monitored. Cameras, it can be argued, will disrupt how police work and act day-to-day. [However, the counter point, as expressed by NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton is that for “… in most instances [the camera] will affect the behavior of the officers in a good way. I think he or she will feel it’s an additional protection for them.” “[F]or every time they're used to record an abusive officer, there are other times where they save an officer from a false accusation of abuse or unprofessional behavior." – Jay Staley, a senior policy analyst at the ACLU.] We need formal rules (whether promulgated by cities, ordinances, or even police precincts) about when the camera will be recording (when a cop suspects conflict or permanently?), whether there will be public disclosure of the tapes, who has access to the tapes, how long will the information from the tapes be stored, what happens when a camera-carrying cop enters a house, among other concerns. | >
> | The counter point for the normalcy argument, as expressed by NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, is that “… in most instances [the camera] will affect the behavior of the officers in a good way. I think he or she will feel it’s an additional protection for them.” Jay Stanley, of the ACLU, explains that “for every time they're used to record an abusive officer, there are other times where they save an officer from a false accusation of abuse or unprofessional behavior." Thus cameras could even the playing field. The information the camera provides disinfects contradictory stories and brings what truly happened to light. | | | | |
<
< | These are all legitimate concerns, which have been brought up in public forums and different police precincts. Police – in the mold of laboratories of experimentation – can, sometimes with the guidance of the legislature of the judiciary, help guide the experimentation to best minimize intrusion into both police lives and the public. Where this will lead needs to play out. | >
> | Many, such as the White House and Federal Judge Shira Schiendlin [Floyd v. City of NY, colloquially the “stop and frisk” case], who held for the use of on-body cop cameras experimentation in New York, believe video technology is for the good. Now, this is not to say that the technology does not have downsides. As such, there needs to be formal rules (whether promulgated by cities, ordinances, or even police precincts) developed. Some of my concerns are (i) when the camera will be recording, e.g. when a cop suspects conflict or permanently?; (ii) whether there will be public disclosure of the tapes; (iii) who has access to the tapes; (iv) how long will the information from the tapes be stored; and, (v) what happens when a camera-carrying cop enters a house. | | | | |
<
< | Wrap-Up | >
> | Police, in the mold of laboratories of experimentation, should help provide guidance to the legislature or judiciary, about what is effective and fair. If the police are given a role in helping to guide the experimentation, they will be more likely to go along with the determination and efficiently implement the policy, as opposed to legislative diktat. The public, who is generally for police on-body and cameras (because they won’t be the ones bearing the brunt of the privacy concerns), can, and should, voice their opinion as well. The more on-board the police and the public are, the better their relations and the less likely there will be a dispute. | | | | |
<
< | The public, a group that is too often uninformed, yet overconfident in what they do know, is overwhelmingly for body cameras in some capacity. Numbers range around 70%-80%. However, the public might be onto something. Even, the police, those who critics of on-body cameras ostensibly are most concerned for, might be more willing to use cameras for one basic reason: it often could exonerate them. A 2002 survey of police officers suggested as many as 93% of misconduct investigations with dashboard camera evidence exonerated officers. Ron Johnson, who led security in Ferguson, succinctly stated “I believe in cameras.” | | | | |
<
< | If we are not careful, on-body cameras have the potential to further be seen more in the form of a reduction of privacy as opposed to an increase in security. However, if deliberate and statistically backed decisions, on-body cameras can better protect the police and civilians, and provide countless other benefits. After all, pictures tell a thousand words – and right now it just seems like there is a whole lot of argle-bargle. There are many things we should be concerned with in our lives, providing the police with body cameras should not be one of them. | >
> | Efficacy | | | | |
<
< | Thomas Jefferson famously advised that "whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching." Well, all eyes are open. Let the cameras roll. | >
> | Currently, there is not a lot of evidence on how cops should most appropriately use on-body cameras. Critics of on-body cameras will grasp this lack of information, searching to stoke fears of what on-body cameras might lead to.
However, Rialto, a town in California, adopted on-body cameras in early 2012, and the reports have shown that force by officers and citizen complaints declined 60 and 80%, respectively, after the first year of on-body camera implementation. In the limited results so far, it seems to have quite a “civilizing effect.” In truth, most innovative ideas are not implemented flawlessly initially, but the burgeoning results are promising. Thus, this is not a call for immediate implementation, rather continued experimentation as exemplified by the San Diego Police Department who is using 100 cameras as part of a pilot program, with hopes of increasing the number to 900 for uniformed officers. | | | | |
>
> | Michael Brown’s parents are not calling for on-body cameras as a panacea—it would be one way to help with the complicated issues surrounding policing in America. The call for cameras is so that an officer like Mr. Wilson might think twice before wrongfully firing, or, if Mr. Wilson was in the right, a camera would publicly exonerate him. | | | | |
<
< |
This does not feel to me as though it constitutes your idea about something. If it does, I suppose the idea is "Concern about privacy or civil liberties implications should not prevent us from using body cameras on all policemen as a way to check abuse of power." If that's the introductory sentence stating the idea, it should be at the beginning of the essay. If it's not, my doubt about the essay's central idea suggests there's a different problem. | | | | |
<
< | But if I'm right, and that's the idea of the essay, surprisingly few sentences are about figuring out what those concerns are and why they are misplaced. The point seems to be that cameras are good enough that whatever the concerns are they are not bad enough. We should regard that form of argument skeptically, don't you agree? | >
> | Let the Cameras Roll | | | | |
<
< | I think the next draft should be less about what Jay Stanley thinks, though Jay is in my experience a very thoughtful and sensible fellow. We are trying to figure out what you think, to which the polling data should be a contribution of a rather limited kind. | >
> | A lot of surveillance in American life seems to abet abuses of power. However “police on-body cameras are different because of their potential to serve as a check against the abuse of power by police officers.” Cameras allow an impartial third party to tell the story. We should welcome this. If deliberate and statistically backed decisions are made, on-body cameras can better protect the police and civilians.
Thomas Jefferson famously advised that "whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching." Well, all eyes are open. Let the cameras roll. | | | | |
<
< | | | | |
|