The Digital Age: How the 21st Century Has Changed Law Enforcement

The dawn of the digital age has brought with it many new technologies, ideologies and capabilities. While a majority of these things are used for entertainment or household purposes, some new technology is changing the way law enforcement functions.

As tensions surrounding police brutality mount, many police departments are choosing to use police dash cameras and body cameras. The hope is to provide a layer of transparency between civilians and law enforcement agencies.

While 72% of state police and highway patrol vehicles are equipped with video systems nowadays, many local law enforcement agencies still lack dash or body cameras. A 2013 survey reported that 75% of polled police departments don’t use body cameras for officers.

These agencies simply aren’t as protected. By outfitting officers with body cameras and police dash cams, agencies and officers themselves are partaking in two-fold protection. The first layer of protection is that of the agency and officers. By recording events from the visual perspective of an officer, the surrounding circumstances of an interaction are recorded and can be used to defend an officer’s strategies of action. The video can also be used as evidence against a civilian if an arrest results in an indictment.

Many police departments are now utilizing police body cameras after multiple instances of police brutality throughout the country that led to the deaths of civilians. By requesting officers to wear body cameras while on-duty and utilizing dash cameras, civilians believe it will require officers to think twice before shooting their gun or using force to arrest a suspect. It will also provide evidence if a police offer used unlawful force or strategies to arrest a civilian.

Studies and statistics have shown the use of body cameras can have a positive and drastic effect on policing methods. A report released by the Police Department for the City Council’s Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee showed a 40.5% decrease in complaints against the San Diego police after they started using body cameras. Complaints about the use of “personal body” force by officers fell 46.5% while the use of pepper spray also fell more than 30%.

The fact of the matter is that law enforcement agencies need to use police dash cams and body cams. They simply aren’t protected, otherwise.