Response to "!Effects and Affects of the American Government!: Body Cameras"

This is my response to a fellow student's article which overviewed the pros and cons of police body cameras. You can find the original post written by Ashley Arnerich here:
!Effects and Affects of the American Government!: Body Cameras


My Response: While I think that Ashley makes some great points about the pros and cons of police officers being required to wear body cameras, I truly think they'll do more good than harm. One concern that was mentioned in this post was the concern about public privacy being seen all over the internet. I truly don't think the footage would be used for anything other than review by the police department and other officials. Whatever is recorded would only be used as evidence in a case that has been disputed. In this scenario, any and all recorded video would be beneficial to the officer and citizen alike.

I also understand the privacy concern for the police officers, but I think it'd be safe to assume that any time the officer is "off the clock" (at lunch, using the bathroom, etc) they would not be required to leave their cameras on. Obviously, there could be issues where the officer forgets to turn their camera back on or they don't do so on purpose- it's not a perfect system, but it's a hell of a lot better than letting police murder unarmed citizens and then lie about it to their superiors and the general public. 

I also don't see this as invading the officer's privacy. Dash cams already exist and this would only be an added measure to make them more credible. You have to realize that in the U.S. there is a huge level of distrust between the police and the public. The string of recent shootings involving officers and unarmed citizens is escalating at a horrifying rate. Police officers become cops to uphold the law, and any decent cop would understand the necessity for body cameras. Officers who are opposed seem like they have something to hide. In order for trust to be rebuilt there must be transparency. I'll take the 59% drop in police use of force in exchange for an officer's possible loss of "privacy."