All police officers across the United States should be required to have a body camera with at least 720p quality with a microphone on their chest. The minimum quality required from any body camera should be raised every 10 years. They may not be able to turn off the audio or video components of the body camera unless one of these exceptions is brought up:
- An individual being detained or confronted by the police officer requests it to be deactivated during the duration of them interacting. The police officer must get their consent recorded prior to turning it off.
- Are in a situation that calls for privacy legally, like interacting with lawyers or courtrooms, as well as interrogations.
- Body camera becomes damaged from an interaction.
If a police department cannot afford to acquire active body cameras that can record both video and audio at all times, then either the State or Federal government must fund them.
If a peace officer turns off their body camera without a lawful and valid reason, they should be charged with obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence.
If a peace officer is accused of a crime without any body camera footage of it, when ordinarily they would be required to wear and record with one during the accused crime, then the police officer should be immediately fired and banned from being a peace officer ever again.