by Tom Bunch

Brian Joschko, the Chief of the Bradley University Police Department, shared his thought on body cameras. There are upsides and downsides for the technology, but there does not seem to be any simple answers on how to properly implement them. Included in the article is a video highlighting the opinions on body cameras from a few members of the public. There is also a timeline based around the events of Ferguson, which spiked the publics ongoing interest on the body cameras.

Body camera implementation may come with privacy concerns

President Obama announced this month $263 million for law enforcement agencies to purchase body cameras and to improve training.

The announcement was in response to the unrest across the country over the Ferguson, Mo., grand jury’s decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown, who was unarmed.

Funding for the cameras could purchase 50,000 body-worn cameras, and it would need to be matched by state and local police.

Interest in police body cameras have been revived since the death of Michael Brown, with the thought that If there had been cameras then there would be a clear idea of what had happened.

“Body cameras are absolutely a good investment.” Says Brian Joschko, the Chief of Police for the Bradley University Police Department. “We have video cameras in our squad cars, and if somebody gets pulled over and complains about an officer we can pull the video and see if there is any degree of validity to the claim.”

There would also be an educational value attached to the usage of cameras, being able to look back could help officers become more efficient at their jobs, and find mistakes that they could fix.

Downsides to the implementation of body cameras do exist, and they do not seem to be easily fixable.

“People are advocating that the cameras should be on for the entirety of an officers shift, because there is concern that officers could do something off camera.” Says Joschko, “It seems a little over the top, the vast amount of the day we are not talking to the public. We could be taking phone calls from a spouse, or having a bathroom break.”

Some of the main concerns in the usage of body cameras are the idea of personal privacy. The privacy of the officer could be violated if the camera has to be on for the entirety of the shift, but the privacy of all civilians could be infringed on.

“We see the very best people on their very worst day, if you are drunk and making a fool of yourself would you want to be recorded?” says Joschko, “if the police have to enter somebodies house then their personal space would all be on camera, even if there was nothing there or no crime.”

FOIA (freedom of information act) allows citizens to see any video that the police records from body cameras.

An anonymous person in Seattle requested access to video recordings, which would have taken up to three years to process. The requests disrupted plans for a six-month plan to equip 12 officers with body cameras, according to The Seattle Times.

The amount of time for employees to process and parse the information will be concerning to tax payers, who are paying for their salaries, according to Joschko.

Server space is another big obstacle in the way of wide spread body cam usage.

“The cost of the cameras wouldn’t be that much, but there’s 25 of us in the department, and then there’s the city police, the state police, and so on. The cost adds up.” Says Joschko, “the length of time that you hold the data from body cams would be the main factor in determining how expensive it. You have to keep the data on there for at least a few days in case any complaints surface, so that we can review the data.”

More cities and states are beginning to try out body cameras, but whether or not the upsides outweigh the downsides has yet to be determined.

Public voices their opinions on body cameras

Some students from the Bradley University area shared their views on the police and body cameras, they all agreed that something should be done to keep bad police in check.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crkhIaES2Ko&feature=youtu.be

Ferguson timeline

The protests in Ferguson turned the nations attention towards the issue of police brutality, and in response to the outrage President Obama announced plans to fund body cameras for police department.