Implementation of body cameras worn by police officers in police organizations: Real need or necessary solution

Abstract

In the last ten years, police organizations in the USA and Europe have started to implement body worn cameras. The main purpose and goal of the implementation of these cameras is aimed at preventing unlawful and unprofessional actions and behavior of police officers and socially undesirable behavior of citizens. Miniature cameras on the body of police officers should deter police officers and citizens from committing illegal and socially unacceptable actions and procedures towards each other. Police organizations try to use body worn cameras to achieve the abovementioned goals as a substitute for other means of correcting unwanted behaviors, primarily training and education of police officers. This paper analyzes the reasons for the implementation of body worn cameras in the police organizations across the USA and in some European countries in order to reach a conclusion about the justification and the possibility to achieve complex and responsible goals only with the help of cameras.