The police force is paid for by the people in exchange for their protection and enforcement of the law. Without them, we would have anarchy. But with great power comes great responsibility, which some officers are clearly not capable of possessing. I care about the well being of our citizens and the fair treatment of everyone. As of now, anyone is victim to police brutality, because they have the gun and badge. Therefore, I or any of my friends could easily have our rights abused today by the police. Without video footage or other hard evidence, we would have no means to defend our statements. Videos and news reports have flooded the media, advocating for some sort of change in the police system. I personally experienced the extent of people's advocacy in Baltimore during the riots. As a college student, I am qualified to analyze the matter.  

Today, our society struggles to learn from the past and not make those mistakes again. Our police are feared because people do not know whether they will get a deserving traffic ticket or brutal beat down for no reason. Officers have been on the spotlight recently after numerous cases involving excessive force which has often lead to the death of innocent Americans. African Americans have been unlawfully abused time and time again, setting us back before the Emancipation Proclamation when the white man could abuse a slave with no rebuttal. Well this is the twenty-first century and something needs to be done to protect the rights of all our people. The greatest reason for the spread of awareness about police brutality is social media. Being in the Information Age, a police confrontation may occur and within minutes a video from a bystander with a phone camera could be uploaded to the internet for everyone to see. The increase in documented confrontations and constant stream of it in the media has caused an uproar of commotion and backlash by the public. 

According to an article on CNN, there has not been an increase in the police shootings, just more news reports pertaining video evidence of brutal beatings and shootings. Robert Bogle, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Tribune, says that they have been reporting on this for 130 years. The cries for help have been muffled by the police all these years. Now, thanks to video recording, the public can see without question what went down and who is in the wrong. Bogle also said that if the Scott shooting wasn't recorded, then the public might have believed the Officer's made up story to defend his wrongful actions (McLaughlin). This just goes to show how important video evidence is in a case where people historically sided with the law enforcement's word. The author of this article uses primary evidence such as the interviews with Bogle to present his ideas. He has worked many jobs in the field since 2005, and definitely stays up to date on the news about this topic.

Obama has stepped up in response to the recent riots and outbreaks of civilians over the matter. An article written in December 2014 says that Obama has called for great change. He proposed a $263 million dollar spending package that would pay for body cams, extended police training, and more recourses for the department platform (Pickler). The funding will pay for 50,000 body cams to be used on the job. This allows for all of the officer's actions to be recorded without questionable stories being the justification for things like shootings of unarmed black boys. This keeps the police in line and protects the rights of the people. Also, police will be protected against false claims, which could also be a problem. Pickler is a writer for the associated press. Her article is informative, so she expresses no bias.

Racism is still around today, just in different form. Police have had a track record of abusing the power on blacks. The article Improving Police Accountability Through the Mandatory Use of Body Cams, by April Martindale, addresses racism by law enforcement officers and how body cams can make a significant impact on this. Martindale claims that "requiring officers to wear body cameras 24/7 can greatly reduce the number of police shootings and killings of unarmed African Americans". She talks about how police have evaded punishment over the years for their unlawful actions because government officials are too scared to recognize police misconduct. The source is credible because it was published by a University and all the information is properly cited. The article is rather bias because the author strongly defends African Americans over all people as a whole. She references slavery and other examples of misconduct on Africans dating back to the seventeenth century. 

The research question is arguable because there are many routes of action that could be taken in this situation.  People can have different opinions on police shootings and therefore can argue different courses of action to fix the problem. April Martindale's article revolves more around implementing chest cams to prevent the abuse of African Americans. Her article is more set around African Americans historically being abused, rather than the relationship of police and person today. All of the articles agree that chest cams would improve accountability of police and help lower the number of shootings and abuse. 
