Brutality In Police Body Cameras

Words: 1428
Pages: 6

Although the use of force by the police is a critical issue in almost every society, there are many factors that have to be taken into consideration when determining the difference between force and excessive force. Determining factors include the area from where the force is coming, the minorities of that area, and the racial divide of the police and of the communities they serve. Many citizens believe that the use of police body cameras will resolve the problem, while others have a different stance. People have different opinions based on the facts and statistics that they have seen, or based on the way they were raised. No matter what people’s beliefs are, there are many cases that shown how the introduction of police body cameras have …show more content…
Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012. Although Zimmerman was charged of murder, he was acquitted only a year later in 2013 (Black Lives Matter). After that one event, the act of brutality came to realization among citizens around the country. As the years went by, more and worse cases followed. The formation of Black Lives Matter was based off the Trayvon Martin vs. Zimmerman case. It began as the hashtag on Twitter, #BlackLivesMatter. Following the 2012 incident of Trayvon Martin, was the death of another unarmed black male in 2014 (Black Lives Matter). Michael Brown was 18 years old and was killed in Ferguson, Missouri. The police officer identified for the killing of Brown was Darren Wilson. Black Lives Matter then became a global outcry from both on site protesters and those on social media. The idea of police body cameras being used became widely …show more content…
For many police departments, the cost of the technical framework as well as the cost of the cameras is very expensive (Schiff). The United States Department of Justice publicized that it would provide $20 million to help district departments purchase body cameras (Journalist’s Resource). President Barack Obama also stepped in to help the funding problem. He had a plan to pay $75 million to buy 50,000 body cameras for neighborhood police departments (Journalist’s Resource). The cost would only be worth the price if the cameras were used sufficiently, so only a few states have actually figured out how to pay for them. One way that the legislation has tried to solve the problem is by levying a $25 surcharge on convicted drunken drivers (@pewtrusts). The extra fine stays in the precinct where the crime occurred to help pay for their cameras (@pewtrusts). There are new ideas coming out all over on how to deal with the funding issue for police body