Over the Thanksgiving break, just before stores started opening for holiday shopping, the grand jury in Missouri announced their verdict in the Michael Brown case. The case, which is hotly debated, is just one example of the police’s abuse of authority and lack of transparency and accountability.
Back in 2010, there was a case involving a Detroit police officer who shot and killed a 7-year-old girl while she slept. The charges against him were recently dropped.
On Nov. 22, Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy, was shot and killed by police responding to reports of someone having a gun at a local park. The police later discovered that the “gun” Rice had was an airsoft gun. Security footage from the park showed officers driving up to Rice, who was sitting in a gazebo, and shooting him before leaving their car.
In October, a police officer was accused of stealing nude pictures off of a DUI suspect’s iPad during a stop. The accusation revealed that the officers at the station collected naked pictures from people as part of a game, and the list goes on and on.
There is a serious problem with the police abusing their positions of authority across the country. They largely regulate themselves with internal investigations taking place whenever lethal force is used, and few charges have ever been brought against officers who abuse their positions.
The grand jury is an excellent example of this. The saying goes that a grand jury will result in an indictment so often that they would “indict a ham sandwich,” but it is different for police officers.
Randolph McLaughlin, a law professor and trial lawyer who has taken on cases against police officers, said to USA Today, “People do not want to believe officers do bad things. Society gives them the benefit of the doubt…it’s very difficult to indict a police officer.”
There has to be a serious conversation about the culture surrounding police and what can be done to fix the systemic problems with our police forces. The accusations levied upon officers have to be taken seriously and they have to be treated like any other accusation or charge. There also needs to be transparency and way to confirm stories involving police officers.
Currently the best way to do that is through body cameras for officers. In police departments around the country, officers are being equipped with cameras in an effort to increase accountability and reduce complaints and the use of force.
The cameras are largely achieving these things, with departments that have them implemented seeing complaints against police officers drop dramatically and have a 50 percent reduction in the use of force. Studies into the effects of body cameras have also found that police who wear camera are more proactive in interacting with citizens.
Implementing these cameras would go a long way toward improving the public image of police officers around the country. Having all police officers equipped with cameras would not solve this problem, but it would be a practical and proven way to increase transparency and accountability in the police.
