Police body cameras make sense

It’s only a matter of time.
Jay County has applied for a grant that would fund body cameras for local police officers, but it’s not at all clear the grant will be approved.
What is clear is that body cameras on all police officers are only a matter of time.
And that’s in everyone’s best interest.
Local law enforcement officers have been quick to recognize — in the wake of a spate of incidents nationally — that having a video record of their actions is in their best interest.
That’s because they are confident any such record would document that they are doing their job professionally.
On a national level, the push for police body cameras has been driven by incidents and allegations of police brutality or misbehavior.
But locally, the push has come from police officers themselves, saying, in effect, “We do our jobs well, and we welcome having that documented.”
In other words, the climate that has created the need for police body cameras is lamentable; but the desire on the part of local police to have that technology is commendable.
In a perfect world, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.
Every police officer in every situation would make a perfect decision. There’d be no reason for police departments to worry about litigation or controversy.
But we don’t, of course, live in a perfect world.
And in the world we do inhabit today — with all of its complexities and stresses and outbursts of violence — police body cameras make sense.
They make sense for police. They make sense for the public. And they make sense for justice. — J.R.