The Importance Of Bod Body Cameras

Video cameras are an everyday occurrence and are seen everywhere, most people have one in their pockets on their cell phones. Law enforcement have also used cameras to record videos and pictures of crimes and suspects. Body cameras are used to “capture, from an officer’s point of view, video and audio recordings of activities, including traffic stops, arrests, searches, interrogations, and critical incidents such as officer involved shootings” [7]. The number of body cameras used by police has been increasing throughout the past few years because of many controversial shootings of police officers and civilians. The images, sounds, and videos captured by the cameras can be used as proof towards assumptions or accusations against either the officer or the suspect. Body cameras are a great way to document and gather an accurate recording of events when police officers are on duty. But these devices are being challenged as an intrusion of innocent people’s privacy, since the footage is considered public record [8].

Ethic and Privacy Issues

The recordings and recording of the information has been brought up as invasion of privacy for the individuals in the videos and that it might violate the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment protects people and their homes from unlawful searches and seizures from police without a warrant or probable cause. The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that law enforcement officers may record what they see or hear without violating the Amendment in Lopez v U.S. in 1963