DR. NOEL OTU
DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY.
Abstract.
In the United States, police departments as well as President Obama want, and in
some cases require, officers to wear body cameras while on duty. The impact of
this requirement to improve accountability and reduce police misconduct is
highly controversial but centrally important to responsible policing. This paper
presents the arguments whether police body cameras have positively influenced
police officers’ behavior based on an extensive literature analysis of the issue.
Unfortunately, body cameras have failed to achieve these goals. The failure can
be attributed to vast structural advantages enjoyed by police officers in making
taxpayers (their employers) financially liable in misconduct cases. The current
study focuses on the effects of requiring police officers to wear body cameras,
purchase, and maintain occupational liability insurance in the belief in the theory
of deterrence. The author finds that the increasing rate of police misconduct
stems in large part from lack of financial liability/accountability on the part of
individual police officers. Police misconduct occurs in part because some normal
as well as psychologically unstable officers have opportunities to commit crimes
and are not deterred and additionally, because the judiciary chooses to water
down the exclusionary rule. This study reveals that requiring police officers to
wear body cameras and maintain occupational liability insurance is a panacea
for misconduct.
Keywords: Body Camera, Liability Insurance, Police Misconduct, Transparency, Accountability.
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