Word comes that Customs and Border Protection staff are recommending against body cameras, saying the cameras would distract the agents from their work, would hurt morale, would be an unjustified expense, and might not be suited for the hot, dusty conditions.
I think they should wear the cameras. The immigrants can be as abused as anyone. They can suffer from police brutality as likely as anyone. Wearing the cameras brings accountability to officers, and the officers at the border should not be exempt from that accountability. They should be doing their work by the rules as much as other law enforcement officers.
Some have suggested there is abuse at the border. The reluctance of officers to wear the cameras sends a signal that those fears of abuse might be true. Rather than giving in to their not wanting the cameras, we should demand all the more that they do wear them. While cell phone videos capture police acts seemingly daily in the United States, there perhaps are few such recordings when officers misbehave on the border. So, the need for having body cameras is not less than with most police forces, but greater.
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