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In many (most?) US jurisdictions, bodycam video is cloud-hosted by Taser.[0] I don't have direct experience, but I'd bet Taser doesn't let podunk police depart

by Digory 9y ago

In many (most?) US jurisdictions, bodycam video is cloud-hosted by Taser.[0] I don't have direct experience, but I'd bet Taser doesn't let podunk police departments really "erase" video. And given the volume, you'd think it's got to be built on AWS or another big cloud provider, with pretty good forensic tools. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/business/taser-international-dominates-the-police-body-camera-market.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/business/taser-internatio...

krapp 9y ago
>I don't have direct experience, but I'd bet Taser doesn't let podunk police departments really "erase" video. The NYTimes article you posted hints at an uncomfortably cozy relationship between Taser, law enforcement and local governments... Yet as Taser works to sell cameras and software to more departments, it is coming under fire for questionable business practices. In some instances, it has paid police chiefs to travel to Taser conferences. In other cases, chiefs who have bought Taser products have joined the company as consultants shortly after leaving public service. And several cities have awarded contracts to Taser without competitive bidding. I wouldn't trust Taser to act as faithful or impartial stewards of this data, when it's in their best business interest to maintain a positive relationship with the very entities whose corruption it exists to expose.
- goialoq 9y ago
  Taser also operates a legal-defense-aid operation for police officers who use Tasers to break the law.
  - tuxxy 9y ago
    I'm gonna need a source for that.
    - sprucely 9y ago
      http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/02/tasers-delirium-defense/ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/02/tasers-delirium-...
- Digory 9y ago
  Oh, don't think I'm suggesting they're impartial stewards. But they should have some incentive not to be the co-defendant in every police assault case where the video goes missing. It is probably easy for a records clerk to export redacted video, but should be hard for them to really delete video, or tamper without leaving a trail. Some customers might justify the risk, I suppose. But if they were to regularly winkwink at cops deleting video evidence, they'd get walloped.
a3n 9y ago
> I don't have direct experience, but I'd bet Taser doesn't let podunk police departments really "erase" video. They will if they want to keep getting contracts.
- matt4077 9y ago
  Maybe once. But if that's a repeating problem that the legal system can't solve, it'd be a symptom of something so fundamentally broken it really makes police behaviour the least of our problems.

by Digory 9y ago

krapp 9y ago

>I don't have direct experience, but I'd bet Taser doesn't let podunk police departments really "erase" video. The NYTimes article you posted hints at an uncomfortably cozy relationship between Taser, law enforcement and local governments... Yet as Taser works to sell cameras and software to more departments, it is coming under fire for questionable business practices. In some instances, it has paid police chiefs to travel to Taser conferences. In other cases, chiefs who have bought Taser products have joined the company as consultants shortly after leaving public service. And several cities have awarded contracts to Taser without competitive bidding. I wouldn't trust Taser to act as faithful or impartial stewards of this data, when it's in their best business interest to maintain a positive relationship with the very entities whose corruption it exists to expose.

goialoq 9y ago
Taser also operates a legal-defense-aid operation for police officers who use Tasers to break the law.
- tuxxy 9y ago
  I'm gonna need a source for that.
  - sprucely 9y ago
    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/02/tasers-delirium-defense/ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/02/tasers-delirium-...
Digory 9y ago
Oh, don't think I'm suggesting they're impartial stewards. But they should have some incentive not to be the co-defendant in every police assault case where the video goes missing. It is probably easy for a records clerk to export redacted video, but should be hard for them to really delete video, or tamper without leaving a trail. Some customers might justify the risk, I suppose. But if they were to regularly winkwink at cops deleting video evidence, they'd get walloped.

a3n 9y ago

> I don't have direct experience, but I'd bet Taser doesn't let podunk police departments really "erase" video. They will if they want to keep getting contracts.

matt4077 9y ago
Maybe once. But if that's a repeating problem that the legal system can't solve, it'd be a symptom of something so fundamentally broken it really makes police behaviour the least of our problems.