The Mission of New York City Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in our city by working in partnership with the community and in accordance with constitutional rights to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear, and provide for a safe environment" ( Official N.Y.P.D Web). But as claims of police brutality, discrimination against minorities, use of excessive force, and unmoral killings continues to escalate, citizens are now being comforted in the proposed solution of police officers being equipped with body cameras in an effort to improve transparency and accountability in their interactions with Officers. According to U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin "The goal is to provide an objective record of "stop and frisks," which was to be found discriminating against minorities, and to encourage more "respectful " interactions" . The Implementation of Body Cameras Will Not Prevent Excessive Force or Achieve Accountability In Law Enforcement Officers. The main goal of all surveillance equipment and software is to prevent crime or illegal actions against human being, private or government property etc., but still all technological advancements have their flaws .
A very significant shortcoming of body cameras are Blind Zones/Line of Sight. Line of Sight is where the officer only has visibility to what he/she is focused on or looking at, and the short time that the camera takes to reboot if it looses connection or to focus are called blind zones, Either of these two short comings defeats the purpose of the cameras gaining accurate footage for evidence in any case and More so defeating its overall purpose.They are an invasion of privacy, As civilians we have to take into consideration that although we are getting recorded evidence of the encounter, everything will be recorded, for example when police are called to private homes, the interior of your homes are on video, if you have young kids they may also be captured, sometimes even your neighbors who are unaware of the situation may unknowingly be filmed.
