The cameras are a positive step anyway. The political debate cannot help but be effected every time a cop is caught on video doing something shady, but nothing

The cameras are a positive step anyway. The political debate cannot help but be effected every time a cop is caught on video doing something shady, but nothing happens. Over time this repeated evidence will cause social change, even if it doesn't create justice for the particular victim of that particular moment. But for cameras to be really effective a couple things need to happen: 1) They have to be on by default, and not turned on and off by the cop. 2) The video needs to be archived with a neutral party that can provide the raw source data to attorneys for both prosecution and defense on equal terms. 3) The law needs to change and juries need to change so that cops are actually held to the same standards of violence and self-defense as any other citizen. This is necessary for US police to claim to actually be civilian police, and not a military occupation. But nonetheless this last one will be the hardest and slowest change of the three.