Increasing calls for police to wear body cameras have resulted from a cluster of cases, especially in the U.S., of police brutality towards unarmed people caught on camera, and a top United Nations rights expert says this has led to a sharp decline in said brutality.
"It seems from some of the early studies that ... up to 60 percent of the use of force (is) reduced when police wear body cameras," UN Special Rapporteur Christof Heyns told a briefing on Friday, according to NDTV.
Following suit, complaints of the use of excessive force had declined by 90 percent, according to the studies. There was also a decrease in what was described as a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality.
Unfortunately, Heyns notes that the technology can also be misused by the police. "The cameras may be switched off at crucial moments," he said, to make something sinister "look like it was actually an innocent kind of interaction."
While a new innovation, it's predicted that body cameras might become standard equipment within three to five years. Furthermore, this technology is relatively expensive, costing about $1,000 in the U.S..
Regardless of this price, though, some police departments have determined that the price is well worth it in order to regain the trust of the public.
