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Police body cam. That would be good. In fact, if my impression of the news is correct, police body cams do more to protect the police from unjustified charges

by worik 5y ago

Police body cam. That would be good. In fact, if my impression of the news is correct, police body cams do more to protect the police from unjustified charges of abuse than they do to protect the victims of police abuse. Perhaps that is an effect of police unions? Perhaps it is simply a good thing and we should have more of them? People independent of the police filming it seems like a good idea to me. For all concerned.

Brian_K_White 5y ago
If only failing to have the cam present or running were considered a super bad crime instigating a huge investigation with a bias towards guilt and you have to prove innocense. Instead, at least in some places, cops get away with turning their cams off or otherwise suffering mysterious glitches and data loss. There used to be standards for certain things where the appearance of imporopriety was bad enough all by itself, exactly because some things can't really be proven, like how you can't prove a negative. That seems to be pretty much gone now. Judges don't recuse themselves from cases where they have a conflict of interest, and the other judges just let them, etc. So, in the sweet naive child view of the world, a cop merely no being able to produce their body cam footage for some incident, no matter what they say or what the story is should be almost automatic grounds for dismissal of the whole case and maybe the cop too, or at least a huge stink and huge investigation. But I don't think we live in that world we tell gradeschool kids we live in.
heavyset_go 5y ago
> In fact, if my impression of the news is correct, police body cams do more to protect the police from unjustified charges of abuse than they do to protect the victims of police abuse. This is how they're marketed to police departments, not as cameras that keep cops honest, but as cameras that keep the public from lying about police misconduct. It plays into the trope that is popular with law enforcement, that misconduct doesn't exist, it's just the whiny public and their lawyers who are victimizing cops. That's why the cameras have buttons that allow cops to turn them off, and why they also often have buttons that require the cops to first turn them on themselves before interactions. Some of them even have buttons that, when pushed, turn the camera on for only 30 seconds. If the cameras were meant to keep cops honest, those features wouldn't exist. Body cameras are not about documenting potential misconduct, they're about documenting evidence that can later be used against the public in court.

by worik 5y ago

Brian_K_White 5y ago

If only failing to have the cam present or running were considered a super bad crime instigating a huge investigation with a bias towards guilt and you have to prove innocense. Instead, at least in some places, cops get away with turning their cams off or otherwise suffering mysterious glitches and data loss. There used to be standards for certain things where the appearance of imporopriety was bad enough all by itself, exactly because some things can't really be proven, like how you can't prove a negative. That seems to be pretty much gone now. Judges don't recuse themselves from cases where they have a conflict of interest, and the other judges just let them, etc. So, in the sweet naive child view of the world, a cop merely no being able to produce their body cam footage for some incident, no matter what they say or what the story is should be almost automatic grounds for dismissal of the whole case and maybe the cop too, or at least a huge stink and huge investigation. But I don't think we live in that world we tell gradeschool kids we live in.

heavyset_go 5y ago

> In fact, if my impression of the news is correct, police body cams do more to protect the police from unjustified charges of abuse than they do to protect the victims of police abuse. This is how they're marketed to police departments, not as cameras that keep cops honest, but as cameras that keep the public from lying about police misconduct. It plays into the trope that is popular with law enforcement, that misconduct doesn't exist, it's just the whiny public and their lawyers who are victimizing cops. That's why the cameras have buttons that allow cops to turn them off, and why they also often have buttons that require the cops to first turn them on themselves before interactions. Some of them even have buttons that, when pushed, turn the camera on for only 30 seconds. If the cameras were meant to keep cops honest, those features wouldn't exist. Body cameras are not about documenting potential misconduct, they're about documenting evidence that can later be used against the public in court.