Although the tragic deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and many more non-whites have been circulating through the media for months, tragedy hit way too close to home March 6 when Tony Robinson was shot and killed by a Madison police officer.
Protesters gather after MPD officer shoots, kills 19-year-old black man
Sadly, Robinson’s life was ended and Officer Matt Kenny’s life will never be the same again. The truth will forever remain unknown, but speculation about this situation will circulate for months.
These stories seem to be appearing in the news more and more lately, but is anything being done to put an end to these heartbreaking deaths? Although the guilt or innocence of the police officers in these cases will never be known, why is legislation not being put in place to help reduce the high amounts of speculation surrounding these cases and lessen the occurrences of these tragedies?
All police officers should be mandated, through legislation, to have dashboard cameras and wear body cameras at all times while on duty. Having cameras would offer proof and protection for everyone, whether it be footage from a routine traffic stop to footage from a grave shooting. If Kenny had been wearing a body camera during his interactions with Robinson, I imagine a different story would be being told right now. It would be a story of guilt or a story of innocence, but definitely a story with much less speculation and a lot more truth.
The beauty of cameras is they allow everyone, those present and not present at an incident, to assess what happened. In most cases, they would leave almost zero guesswork, simply because the facts are right in front of you. Through video footage, crucial proof is found and if that proof exposes guilt on the part of a police officer, justice can be brought to the victim and their grieving family – justice that most of these people have been left without in the past. If that proof exposes innocence on the part of a police officer, then the officer’s life will not be so gravely affected by their actions.
Sadly, the ones we all are supposed to trust with our lives are now the ones many people fear. Although cameras cannot solve the race-related issues in our society, they can be the first step in reducing the avoidable deaths and bringing the truth to light across the country.
If legislation was used to ensure all police were wearing cameras, trust that is being lost could be regained simply through the knowledge that all actions are being monitored. Through that, justice truly can be served.
Jessica Nickels ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in community and nonprofit leadership.
