Despite nearly 30 years of demands for transparency, the DOJ’s law enforcement agencies release little data about whom they shoot, why and when, and they rarely use body cameras…
Full story: Defying presidents and Congress, the ATF, DEA, FBI and U.S. Marshals shroud their shootings in secrecy
Body cameras offer an objective account of events that people, citizens or officers, are not able to. The choice not to use or even to prohibit them is very problematic in my opinion. Vitale and other critics of our criminal justice system have cited the overarching lack of transparency from law enforcement as a critical issue in policing. It is often difficult to hold police and federal agents accountable for the actions that are recorded and shared publicly; it is impossible to hold them accountable for the incidents that are not. I believe that the public deserves more access to information regarding federal agents’ actions. Why may allowing such access pose a problem from a law enforcement point of view?
I agree wholeheartedly that body cameras should be used by federal law enforcement, but the officer’s safety could be considered when using body cams. There may be something in an officer’s body cam footage that identifies sensitive information about the officer’s identity, and I even consider this to be a slight stretch. The other consideration could be the amount of footage that would need to be saved and stored if local and federal law enforcement had to wear body cams, but once again, I consider that a stretch as well. It could be because I don’t know much about technology and how to store it over time, but I feel as if that would be a reason one would hear to combat the request for body cams.
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