LE PORT DE CAMÉRAS CORPORELLES PAR LES POLICIERS PEUT-IL PERMETTRE DE LUTTER CONTRE LE PROFILAGE RACIAL ?

Abstract

Police brutality and racial profiling are neither novel concepts nor the outcome of a few isolated incidents. They stem, rather, from  longstanding systemic racism entrenched within law enforcement agencies.

To combat this racism, citizens have armed themselves with mobile phones and cameras, documenting incidents of police  misconduct, which has, in turn, given rise to significant tumult within civil society. This newfound visibility has shed light on the grievances that many oppressed communities have been denouncing for decades. From Rodney King to George Floyd, both in the United States and in Canada, there has been a crescendo of calls for the use of body-worn cameras by police officers as a measure against racial profiling and against the broader issue of systemic racism. This article contends that the results achieved to date from the implementation of body-worn cameras within law enforcement are far from meeting the lofty expectations initially established. By deconstructing the myths surrounding police officer accountability by the use of body-worn cameras and the purported  objectivity of video evidence, this article’s principal argument is that these tools are minimally effective within criminal law and police ethics in holding officers accountable for misconduct and racial profiling. It is imperative to advocate for greater transparency and public discourse to understand how these tools might be of limited use against such a profoundly complex issue.