While police body cameras have been a big part of the police department, now it is a big controversial subject. Police body cameras are basically a camera that is usually on an officers chest and records everything that the officer does during the day. They are mostly used for the policeman's safety and ease of getting evidence. Video evidence always helps in a criminal case and others. Although police body cameras are expensive, intrude into a person's privacy, scares away criminals they do provide evidence, provide safety for the police officer and they help catch police officers who are not doing their job. Police cameras should have a separate budget depicted to them in every police department. Police body cameras invade a person's privacy and make them uncomfortable.

Many people get nervous and uncomfortable when they are recorded “But the cameras are on and recording when no one is committing crimes, too. Cameras record people as they shop, as they drive, as they walk through their neighborhoods.”(“Video surveillance threatens privacy, experts say”). Video cameras are always recording and many almost always we aren't even aware they are. The privacy of a police officer is also important, so when they are made to wear a body cam it might be uncomfortable for them as well “I also believe that the privacy concerns they worry about with these cameras apply to all Americans, including the American police officers who are made to wear them as a condition of protecting and serving their communities.”(National Police Foundation). This is concerning considering that the police officers privacy is also very important.

Police body cameras are expensive, a normal police body camera can set you back 739$. That is a lot for a small police station or any kind of police station in fact. Like a station in Florence County which is trying to get funding “Barnes said he needs between $400,000 and $450,000 to buy body cameras for 150 of his deputies who deal with the public.”(Brown). The budget that the sheriff is asking for is not small, also considering that there are thousands of police stations around the country with differentiating amounts of police officers and different budgets some bigger than a million. Some are concerned that this money can be put into more important things.” The best police chiefs are never satisfied with the status quo and are always seeking ways to improve themselves and their departments. They also realize money is the fuel that runs their organization.1 To accomplish their mission and future goals, department heads must have sufficient funding. This funding is received through the budgeting process. If the department fails in the budgeting process, it is likely to fall short of meeting its goals later in the year.”(Orick 2). Police can always benefit from a bigger budget, the more funding they receive the less corruption there is and more pay can be given out to the front line officers.

Police body cameras can spook away criminals and lead to more work for the police department. This can later give more trouble for the police department more work and more budget spent. As said in Rand articles called Cost of Crimes Calculator, one of the charts shows us that a murder crime can cost up to 8 million if went on a run and a robbery would be 67 thousand. This just shows us how much crimes can cost so much. For the police officers it is also very stressful which downgrades their quality of work “such as physical work demands and nonstandard schedules, are just a few of the stressors officers face every day. While these demands do not inevitably lead to negative outcomes, they can lead to stress, anxiety and resulting health problems if officers lack sufficient support and resources.”(Rineer Police officer stress programs). Such stress risks can inevitably affect a police officer’s mental state, this might be caused by body cameras which is the first reason that the criminal went on a run.

Evidence is the most important part in every criminal case. Video evidence is a very serious piece of evidence seeing the crime committed will instantly make the criminal guilty. At trial body camera footage is widely used “In the courtroom, footage from police officer dashboard and body-worn cameras is frequently utilized by prosecutors and defense attorneys alike in order to show officers’ interactions with victims, witnesses, and defendants. This footage provides a detailed, firsthand account of what happened during a police encounter, increasing transparency and accountability.”(CBJ Team). This proves that police body camera footage is mostly used in court for evidence and helping solve the case, mostly proving that the criminal is guilty. This evidence can also be used for the criminals protection, it can prove that the suspect is not guilty but in fact was helping the police.

We can all agree that being a police officer is not the safest job out there. So police departments try their best in protecting their officers. They have large armor suits and other clothing items that help if there is ever an attack. Body cameras help in ways that a clothing item or armor never can. They capture video evidence of places where the police officer is being accused of charges, “law enforcement agencies witness a decrease in the number of frivolous complaints filed against cops by members of the public. In conjunction with this decline, some agencies have also witnessed a reduction in the number of assaults on officers when citizens realize their aggressive behavior is being recorded.”(Cotter PoliceOne.com). As the evidence of multiple research efforts shows us that body cameras save police officers a lot of trouble and stop the citizens from acting in bad ways.

Meanwhile police cameras help the good cops keep themselves safe they catch the corrupted cops as well. Police officers that don't follow the rules and abuse their powers get caught by body cameras just like criminals. Ever since body cameras have been implemented in many departments it has helped find the bad cops that are not doing their job right and abusing powers. The percentage of cases filed on cops doing bad things has gone down “But the data has not been conclusive. Some of the studies the researchers looked at found that police wearing cameras receive fewer complaints, potentially suggesting that the cameras were changing officer behavior in a way that reduced negative interactions,”(Lockhart). As seen by many studies in places where police cameras have been implemented it has significantly made police behavior better.

The overall usefulness of police body cameras has been seen to be positive. While there are a few negative effects they are minimal and can be resolved with ease. Cases are going down and there are less crimes in places where they are implemented. Some of the negative effects do affect a person's privacy but it has been taken in a positive way in a way that protects the other person. They help solve cases easier and provide way more video evidence which in many crimes can be found as non-existent. Many people support this idea,, an idea that can make this world a better place and one of less hassle.