Project 3
Student id: c12
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<DOC>
<docHead>
<!--required header includes metadata about the assignment (title, author, version)-->
<title>Writing Project 3</title>
<author xml:id="c12">Brent Christy</author>
<version n="2" date="2016-08-20"/>
</docHead>
<pub_init_proposal>
<cover_page>
<title>Police Body Camera Requirement</title>
<author>Brent Christy</author>
<submit_date>August 20th, 2016</submit_date>
<audience>Carl Graziano, Chief of Police</audience>
</cover_page>
<tbl_cont>
<section>Introduction</section>
<section>Background</section>
<section>Purpose</section>
<section>Approach</section>
<section>Feasibility</section>
<section>Conclusion</section>
</tbl_cont>
<intro type="ltr_int">
<p> Over the course of the past several years, there have been a large number of
unfortunate situations involving police and their decision making throughout the
United States. In some of the situations, the police made correct decisions in
addressing a potentially violent situation. In other cases, there was blatant misuse
of police power, which resulted in the death of innocent citizens. In many of these
cases, the end result is a 'he said, she said' situation. Witnesses of the event
will tell what they saw and the police officer will give his account of the event as
well. There is no way to tell which of these accounts is correct, and the benefit of
the doubt has generally been given to the police officer versus the average citizen.
There needs to be a definite way for the correct and accurate story to be told, and
that can be done by requiring police body cameras for all members of the Scranton
police force<note type="instructor" resp="#kgs">one question that might crop up here
is why Scranton? Is there a particular, more local exigence in this
city?</note>. In addition to keeping officers in check, the cameras have a mutual
benefit to police departments where the cameras can be used for performance
evaluations and as evidence in court cases. </p>
</intro>
<background>
<p>
<crnt_cond> In the city of Scranton, there are currently no body cameras
implemented. The last public mention of adding body cameras to the police force
for the city of Scranton came in 2014 when an article was published in the Times
Tribune about the lack of budget for the cameras (Kohut).</crnt_cond>
</p>
<p>
<subj_hist> Due to a number of incidents in the past several years, more and more
departments are implementing body cameras with their squadrons. One of the most
progressive cities in recent times has been the city of Los Angeles. Just two
months ago in June, the city council unanimously approved an almost 70 million
dollar budget to have body cameras on 7,000 police officers by 2018. Since the
recent incidents in places like Ferguson and Baton Rouge, it is becoming more
and more necessary for footage of questionable police situations to be
available. This allows a correct representation of the incident without any
doubts.<note type="instructor" resp="#kgs">in theory, but recently in
Chicago officers have been turning their cameras off at pivotal moments (the
recent shooting of an unarmed fleeing suspect in a car theft, for
example)</note> The neighboring city of Wilkes-Barre is the 18th on the list
of most violent crimes, and in many cases, police body cameras could be of use
to depict what happened in these situations (Seibel). </subj_hist>
</p>
</background>
<purpose>
<p>
<scope type="when">In the Winter 2017-18</scope>, <scope type="who">the city of
Scranton Police Department </scope><scope type="what">should begin to implement
body cameras on all active police officers.</scope>
<objective>The proposed system of body cameras will include cameras for all active
police officers in the city. The system will provide assurance that correct
police procedures are being followed in all situations. It will ensure that all
police are operating with the public's safety in mind. </objective>
</p>
</purpose>
<approach>
<p>
<execution>The initial plan for the system is to roll it out in several phases. This
is how the city of Boston is planning on implementing their system and it seems
like it would be a good idea to follow suit (Ransom). The first phase will be a
test run for 15 police officers. The usefulness of the cameras will be evaluated
in different situations including court trials and performance reviews. If the
trial goes well, the program can be expanded to other officers in waves. The
entire police force could be outfitted with cameras in two years. Each camera's
battery would last a full 24 hour day and record to an SD card. The camera will
be impossible to turn off<note type="instructor" resp="#kgs">well that answers
that questions</note> and the SD card will be removable at the end of each
day with the video stored for a week.<note type="instructor" resp="#kgs">is this
best practice in the industry?</note> If any complaints arises, the video of
the certain event can be saved. </execution>
</p>
</approach>
<feasibility>
<p>
<economic> The main issue that has come up across police forces regarding body
cameras has been the lack of budget space to purchase cameras. In order for the
Los Angeles Police Department to implement their body cameras, they acquired a
budget of $70 million (Elinson). This will provide cameras for about 9,000
officers. Scranton Police Department has around 200 officers, so the cost of the
program should only be around $1.5 million.<note type="instructor" resp="#kgs"
>it could potentially save the city money in legal fees by providing better
evidence in court (though somehow I doubt that it would result in less money
being paid out in lawsuits, considering most courts' preference for the word
of the police over that of a citizen in a case with no real evidence)</note>
Despite the large cost, this is an important program that will provide a safer
environment for everyone in the city. President Obama has mentioned on several
occasions the need for body cameras and has requested federal funding to be
provided in order to equip officers with them (Dann). </economic>
</p>
<p>
<social> Socially, this should be a welcomed change in the city of Scranton. Having
body cameras should help the citizens of the city feel safer. There is an
obvious concern of people not wanting to be video taped, especially privately,
but this should not cause a large concern due to the videos only being used as
evidence in court cases or in police reviews. The videos would not be released
publicly without people's identities being blurred out of the video. People may
also be concerned with thinking that police could review tapes to look for
illegal activities, but this would not be the case. Tapes would only be reviewed
if a crime has been committed in the eyes of an officer. </social><note
type="instructor" resp="#kgs">is this section meant to explicitly state whether
or not it is feasible? if so, I think you need a bit more information on
budget</note>
</p>
</feasibility>
<conclu>
<p> Although Scranton is not a huge city with large records of police violence, body
cameras are a necessity for all police. They provide two main purposes. They can
ensure that police are handling situations appropriately and they can act as
evidence in court cases where a defendant may be questioning the police's handling
of the situation. Overall, the safety that the cameras will provide should outweigh
the drawback of allocating funds to purchase the cameras. Many of the larger cities
such as New York City and Los Angeles are implementing programs and it would be a
good idea to get on the right side of this situation and acquire body cameras as
soon as the budget will allow the city to. </p>
</conclu>
<references>
<citation style="MLA">
<author n="1">Dann, Carrie</author>, and <author n="2">Andrew Rafferty</author>.
<title>"Obama Requests $263 Million for Police Body Cameras, Training"</title>
NBCNews.com. NBC News, n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2016. </citation>
<citation style="MLA" n="1">
<author n="1">Elinson, Zusha</author>. <title>"Los Angeles Approves $60 Million to
Outfit Police Force With Body Cameras."</title> WSJ. Wall Street Journal, n.d.
Web. 15 Aug. 2016. </citation>
<citation style="MLA" n="2">
<author n="1">Kohut, Joseph</author>. <title>"Local Police Departments Mull Body
Cameras in Wake of Federal Funding Proposal."</title> Thetimes-tribune.com. The
Times Tribune, n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2016. </citation>
<citation style="MLA" n="3">
<author n="1">Ransom, Jan</author>. <title>"Deal Reached on Body Cameras for Boston
Police."</title> BostonGlobe.com. The Boston Globe, n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2016. </citation>
<citation style="MLA">
<author n="1">Seibel, Jacob</author>. <title>"Deadly 2013 Lands Wilkes-Barre on
'murder Capital' List."</title> Thetimes-tribune.com. The Times Tribune, n.d.
Web. 20 Aug. 2016. </citation>
</references>
</pub_init_proposal>
<docReview>
<reviewer type="peer" xml:id="s23"/>
<report type="peer" resp="#s23">
<p>This particular proposal sounds a lot like a plea from the public for the city of
Scranton to make changes in its law enforcement. Public initiative proposals are a
means of communicating with government officials (or in this case police officials)
the desires of the community, therefore yes, it makes sense to use this genre for
the particular rhetorical situation. Language and word level choice are very
appropriate for any adult reader, which is important for this genre since anyone
could be reading it. However, I feel like you may be a little too factual for the
genre. It is good to be professional and have irrefutable arguments in your proposal
because that is what makes your proposal legitimate. In your background section I
would recommend adding some personal notes about how body cameras could be of
particular benefit to Scranton though since you’re trying to convince this
particular department. Even if the purpose is for Scranton to take preventative
measures and basically “get with the times” and follow the lead of other cities in
the nation. You could also mention how it would instill a greater feeling of safety
in the community and trust in police officers. Considering your audience is
particularly important when you’re addressing your purpose as well. I think you
might be thinking mostly about how body camera’s will affect the general public, but
your audience is the police chief. I think you should refocus your purpose to also
primarily state the benefit body cameras would serve to police officers in the
“purpose” section. This would reposition your focus a little more strategically.
Also, I like that you outline your scope very clearly, but I wonder if putting such
a specific date on this proposal is hindering your argument. It might sound more
persuasive and realistic if you give loose deadlines to support your plan to
implement body cameras in phases. Instead you could say that these cameras will be
implemented over a 2-3 year range so that there is flexibility in finding the funds
for this. Despite your concerns, I think you use the schema very well and have a
really strong conclusion. I wouldn’t recommend changing anything in your conclusion
and instead adjust your background and purpose sections to reflect more on what is
in your conclusion. You should absolutely mention that the safety benefits should
outweigh the costs earlier in your proposal and talk about how it isn’t something
that needs to be done immediately, but it is something that should be on the chief’s
mind because it is important. You can also mention earlier that it would be
beneficial for Scranton to follow to lead of cities like New York and LA because
they have a successful model for what could be really important preventative
measures in Scranton. </p>
</report>
<reviewer type="instructor" xml:id="kgs"/>
<report type="instructor" resp="#kgs">
<p>Good work here--you might want to address some of the feasibility/benefit info in the
early sections of the project and be more explicit about why in Scranton? Pay
attention to the in-line comments I included above.</p>
</report>
</docReview>
</DOC>