Colorado Police Should Not Wear Body Camera Essay Example

Specific Purpose: To Persuade my audience that Colorado police officers should not wear body cameras.

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Central Idea: In Colorado, the number of assaults tends to increase when the police use body cameras than when they do not use them.

Introduction

The use of force among the police is at the forefront of public awareness in different nations. Some countries believe that police body camera is important for reducing the use of force by police officers as well as assaulting other officers, but the body camera tends to have many disadvantages.

Currently, there are some peer-reviewed randomized trials which have been focusing on the efficiency of the body cameras which mainly concentrates on the use of force and complaints.

(Reveal topic to the audience) There is an increase of reported cases of the police assault when they wear the body camera as compared to when they patrol without body cameras which are a clear indication that some cases might end up unnoticed because there were no cameras. Police body cameras reduce the safety of police officers and have a negative impact on their physical and mental health. Many people in Colorado tend to respond negatively and violently to being filmed by the police particularly those who are drunk, doing drugs or experience cognitive issues (Ariel, 2015).

In Colorado, the number of assaults tends to increase when the police use body cameras than when they do not use them. Therefore, it is important to know that the use of police body cameras can lead to psychological issues to police officers because no individual performs better under persistence surveillance. Therefore, I don't think it is important to equip the police officers with body cameras because they are already equipped with other important types of equipment such as escape hoods, gas masks, and flashlights and others such as the radio handcuffs (Ariel, 2015).

The police culture largely influences the use of force among police officers. This culture is usually established by a set of conventional practices and regulations of how to conduct themselves in a different state of affairs. Officers heavily rely on informal standards in the use of force. Police officers are mandated to protect the life of citizens; thus little force or none should be used. Officers should structure their contact with people in a manner that will less likely require the use of force. In public places that are orderly officers are only required to be present while situations that are disorderly and do not pose any threat to an officer or other people officers should use verbal persuasion (Terrill and Mastrofski 215-248).

Officer may issue stern orders and commands in situations that individuals refuse to comply with verbal requests. Firm grips on the arms and shoulders may be used in situations that individuals exhibit some sense of verbal resistance. Pepper spray, batons and fists may be used against a suspect who is non-compliant and threatens to cause physical injury to an officer or other citizens. Deadly force is used in situations that pose a threat to other people's lives or may cause serious injuries (Terrill and Mastrofski 215-248).

Thesis statement

The use of body cameras by police in Colorado has many negative impacts both to the public and to the police officers, and thus police in Colorado should not wear a body camera.

Body

(Problem) The use of police body camera should not be allowed in Colorado

There are potential health and safety issues when the body cameras are in use, and some of these risks include head and neck injuries, shock from equipment that has been damaged, and sometimes the radio tends to fail in the event that the body camera and the radios were used in close contiguity to one another.

It is not important to equip the police officers with body cameras because they are already equipped with other important types of equipment such as escape hoods, gas masks, and flashlights and others such as the radio handcuffs. Besides, these tools become an encumbrance and safety for the officers who carry them (Ariel 729).

One thing I feel that the public should understand is that a police officer is also a human being who is prone to imperfections and mistakes just like anybody else in their workplaces. Some of the killings committed are as a result of misjudgments by the police, while some are also as a result of racial profiling by the few unprofessional officers in the service. As much as the criminal justice system should devise methods to deal with such mistakes and unprofessional elements in the service once and for all, the public should also take time to know the difference between the two (Lyons, 2002). This would help the public to come out of their way to appreciate our unsung heroes who work hard to make sure that we all live the life we all want to live.

The use of police body camera should not be allowed in Colorado because these cameras tend to invade the privacy of citizens, expose the victims without their knowledge, expose the witness of the crime and damage the relationship between the police and the public. When the police-public encounter is recorded, there can be public exposure of private and medical conditions and the victims of dangerous crimes such as rape and another form of violence, a witness who fear being recognized by the criminals, and informants particularly in the states that have regulations permitting public access to the footage ("Study Finds Negative Effects Of Police-Worn Body Cameras").

Research shows that every single day, the police in Colorado exposes individuals who have been challenged by cognitive issues, autism, disabilities in their development and addiction.

1. It is also important to know that if the public knows that each time they talk to a police officer they are being recorded, it will affect transparency and most of the citizens will tend to hide the truth from the officers regardless of the context. This will also create barriers to the relationship between the police and the public. Some officers have also reported that potential witnesses tend to be reluctant to communicate in the presence of a body camera even if the device has been switched off

2. The police department in Colorado should also consider not buying body cameras because they are too expensive and that money could be used in purchasing other important security equipment. It is very costly to equip the police departments in Colorado with body cameras because the forces will have to budget for the camera and the ancillary tools, training, and data storage facilities associated with the police body camera.

The police department in Colorado should consider suspending body-worn camera because of the increase in costs associated with them.

1. The police department will also have to recruit extra personnel to manage the video data and the maintenance costs. For example, if the force is composed of 200 officers, the initial year will experience an expenditure of around $400,000 and the amount will increase in the subsequent years ("Considering Police Body Cameras").

2. The body-worn cameras are said to have insufficient battery length which could not serve everyday policing particularly during the cold weather because the battery life tends to diminish more quickly. The cameras also have unreliable on-off cameras, and they do not integrate with the IT systems efficiently. Police officers have for a long time now gone unnoticed and unappreciated for their efforts in trying to keep the public safe at the cost of their own lives (Stanley, 2013). In most previous occasions, the police have often fallen on the wrong side of the public's eye due to what some may view as unprecedented killings; some of these killings have dented the whole justice system's image with the police service being at the forefront of receiving negative criticism from the public.

3. It is important for the police to come up with ways to talk more with the members of the public. Through this interaction, the citizens can be able to know how the police feel about them and their human rights maintenance (Hedberg, 2017). This conversation needs to be done in a manner that ensures that each party is happy and having a clear countenance. Although this is not a requirement established under police regulation, it is a wonderful technique that is useful in various fields to achieve maximum success and building trust.

Canons

After understanding the reasons why police should not wear body cameras in Colorado, it is important to understand the relationship between the three canons and how they are linked to the topic of discussion.

The three canons of rhetoric proof which include ethos, pathos, and logos can be incorporated in different ways. When it comes to ethos, it will mainly focus on the credibility of the message to my audience and how knowledgeable I am about the Colorado police department, the public, and the body camera. My reputation will be important here because I will establish ethos, mainly through the text. The ethos will be conveyed via tone and style of the message and how I am able to refer to differing opinions about why the police in Colorado should not wear body cameras ("NPR Choice Page").

With an appeal to pathos, the audience will be required to identify with my message and try to comprehend what I feel about the topic or my experience about the same topic. Therefore, the audience will be required to experience some suffering in the realm of the imagination.

Logos is another canon that I will incorporate in delivering my speech about why Colorado police officers should not wear body cameras because with logos, I will be focusing on the clarity of my message and how logic and effective it is. Because of this, I will focus on the effectiveness of the supporting evidence in order to make sure there is credibility (White, 2014). The audience will thus follow a clear progression of ideas that have been backed up with complete details.

Conclusion

It is essential to consider the safety and the privacy of people of Colorado before deciding whether the police should wear the body camera or not. Since it is not good to record the encounter of the public and the police officers every time because of the privacy issues of the citizens, the police should consider not wearing body cameras. The police department should also understand that it is costly to implement the use of body camera and thus sought for an alternative means of collecting evidence if they feel like body camera is the only way they can gather the required evidence.

Works Cited

Ariel, Barak. "Police body cameras in large police departments." J. Crim. L. & Criminology 106 (2016): 729.

Ariel, Barak, William A. Farrar, and Alex Sutherland. "The effect of police body-worn cameras

on use of force and citizens' complaints against the police: A randomized controlled trial." Journal of quantitative criminology 31.3 (2015): 509-535.

"Considering Police Body Cameras". Harvardlawreview.Org, 2019, https://harvardlawreview.org/2015/04/considering-police-body-cameras/.

Hedberg, Eric C., Charles M. Katz, and David E. Choate. "Body-worn cameras and citizen

interactions with police officers: Estimating plausible effects given varying compliance levels." Justice Quarterly 34.4 (2017): 627-651.

"NPR Choice Page". Npr.Org, 2019, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/20/558832090/body-cam-study-shows-no-effect-on-police-use-of-force-or-citizen-complaints?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20190325&utm_campaign=npr_email_a_friend&utm_term=storyshare.

Stanley, Jay. "Police body-mounted cameras: With right policies in place, a win...