Are body cameras the solution?
OPINION: After the death of George Floyd and the breakout of protests in over 140 cities in the wake of “the country’s largest-ever civil rights push against racial injustice,” America searches for ways to seek justice. Legislators have advocated for body-worn cameras, hoping to increase transparency and to keep the police from abusing their power with their actions on record. However, columnist writer Gina Feliz counters this, claiming the original calls to ‘defund the police’ have been reduced to ‘mere rhetoric’ and ‘empty promises’ as our legislators opt for ‘procedural justice,’ regardless of “whether the outcome is actually fair.”
“What we need to do now is imagine alternatives to policing and criminal surveillance in our society and our community, to actually address harm productively and empathetically, not spend tens of thousands of dollars on shiny new equipment that has proven to be ineffective in holding police accountable when it counts.”
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