It should come as no surprise that police officers all around the country are under unprecedented scrutiny. In our age of modern technology where mobile phones, cameras, and audio devices are all in one piece of equipment we carry with us everywhere, people are videotaping and audio recording all types of encounters with police officers, every day.
What is more impressive, however, is the fact that just about everywhere in the United States, police officers are recording themselves with police car video systems, body cams, and police dash cameras. Police are doing everything they can to ensure they are doing their jobs properly. This starts from the very top ranks and goes all the way down to the officers who stand on the front lines of the justice system day in and day out.
It is good to hold the police to high standards. It is also good for police to document the work they do for a number of different reasons, not the least of which is to protect themselves from false claims of harassment and abuse if need be. The difficult thing about setting up police car video systems in all of the local police precincts in the country is that not every precinct has the same budget; not every precinct can spend the high-dollar amounts that bigger cities can spend.
Thankfully, there are police can video systems that are being made with the highest standards of quality while being affordable for the smallest townships in America. Here are three ways digital video equipment improves your local police force.
1.) Officers will act more appropriately.
Many departments around the country are already proclaiming this benefit to be true. It does stand to reason that if you are being recorded, the chances of you acting inappropriately will go down. For many police officers on the job, this is already the case. In a Pew Research Survey that was recently done, exactly half of the officers surveyed stated that they believe body cameras would cause the police to act appropriately.
2.) There is a drop in the use of force.
The Rialto, California Police Department recently evaluated their use of body cameras on officers in the field and found that, because of the cameras, there was a 60% drop in the use of force by police officers. The idea that their conduct could be reviewed later with video evidence evidently led to many officers thinking twice before acting. Not only can this de-escalate violence, it just might prevent it altogether.
3.) There are fewer complaints from the public.
Of 8,000 police officers studied recently, 93% said that they have become more cognizant of the dangers of the job. With police car video systems, both the bad guys and the good guys know they are being watched. This can help settle potential hostile situations, knowing that you are being recorded with audio and video.
Another recent study of law enforcement found that when the police were equipped with body cameras, there were 93% fewer complaints from the public. When the public and the police both know that the cameras are on, there is a better chance that positive interaction will occur.
If you are a small department with a budget that cannot rival the big cities, you can still get what you need when looking for the best police car video systems, body camera equipment, and audio tools.
