Readers React: Police body cameras keep everybody in check

To the editor: Jennifer Dawn Carlson is quite right in stating that equipping police with body cameras won’t be a panacea. If, as she suggests, some jurisdictions were to prohibit citizens from photographing police because of the body cameras, that would be a big mistake. (“Body cameras aren’t going to fix policing,” Op-Ed, Dec. 13)

First, different camera angles can make a huge difference in a viewer’s understanding of a scene. Second, if only the police are allowed to have cameras, that’s an open invitation for them to abuse the power they have over the cameras and the recorded video.

There is one other important point to be made about recording police activities: There’s evidence showing that when police get cameras, the incidence of bad behavior by both police and the public immediately goes down, likely because everyone knows they are being watched.

David Salahi, Laguna Niguel

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion