4 ms·

"Importantly, there are still somewhat similar cases taking place, despite efforts to stop such behavior through better training and prosecution of rogue office

"Importantly, there are still somewhat similar cases taking place, despite efforts to stop such behavior through better training and prosecution of rogue officers." Is this an Onion University study? Anyway, seriously, while I love the idea of body worn cameras for police officers, in practice they are in control of whether the camera is recording or not, and tend to 'forget' to turn their cameras on more often than not.

conkrete 12y ago
I would think with current technology, an always-recording system could be put into place at a fairly low cost. Certainly an interesting idea for anyone looking for a new starup idea involving cameras and bullet proof vests.
- harlanlewis 12y ago
  Indeed. The Ferguson police in fact have a couple dashboard cameras and body cameras for officers to wear, however none have been installed due to the $3k/per expense (no link, easy to google). It's staggering how low accountability is on law enforcement's priority list, especially given the amount of money available for "crowd control" military hardware.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - fnimick 12y ago
    Of course accountability isn't a priority. Their priority is to arrest and detain as many people as they can, and being accountable might cut into their revenue.
  - thaumasiotes 12y ago
    > It's staggering how low accountability is on law enforcement's priority list Huh? Why would they want to be accountable? Accountability would be a priority of the populace.
    - harlanlewis 12y ago
      Priorities can be mandated. Dealing with externally-set priorities is a fairly regular subject on this very forum (damn you, marketing!). No government agency should be solely responsible for selecting what is and is not its job.
- maxerickson 12y ago
  With the police unions fighting it every step of the way. I think the effort is better spent making the equipment reliable and easy to use, and then making it widely available. Then when an officer chooses not to use it, you can ask them why they made that choice. People might believe lots of things the first few thousand times, but eventually it will make the officer look pretty bad if they walked into an adverse situation without their documentation device running. I also sort of like that this preserves some discretion for the officer; if I can't trust them to have a reasonable amount of discretion, I don't think I can trust them at all, and I don't think technology is going to help me with that.
  - thaumasiotes 12y ago
    > People might believe lots of things the first few thousand times, but eventually it will make the officer look pretty bad if they walked into an adverse situation without their documentation device running. This isn't some hypothetical about the future. What you describe is very common today, with no loss of credibility having attached to the police.
    - maxerickson 12y ago
      No, I'm pretty sure police don't have universal access to (reliable, effective) recording devices. I'm also pretty sure that large segments of the population don't trust them at all.
mrslx 12y ago
I wonder how the police measure their 'shifts', maybe a rule change to make it on-by-default and timed breaks with auto switch on after 20 min of 'off time' for bathroom breaks etc, during this time the officer should be considered 'not on duty' hence cannot respond to incidents. they are required to document things, why not step up to technology and use everything else available? i'm sure there was similar complaints when notebooks and reports became a requirement... hopefully momentum switches.
JshWright 12y ago
The cameras worn by the cops in my town are integrated with a base station in their patrol car. It activates when they are more than a few feet from the base station (inside this range, they are presumably in range of the dash cam, at least for audio), and automatically uploads the recording when they return.

conkrete 12y ago

I would think with current technology, an always-recording system could be put into place at a fairly low cost. Certainly an interesting idea for anyone looking for a new starup idea involving cameras and bullet proof vests.

harlanlewis 12y ago
Indeed. The Ferguson police in fact have a couple dashboard cameras and body cameras for officers to wear, however none have been installed due to the $3k/per expense (no link, easy to google). It's staggering how low accountability is on law enforcement's priority list, especially given the amount of money available for "crowd control" military hardware.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- fnimick 12y ago
  Of course accountability isn't a priority. Their priority is to arrest and detain as many people as they can, and being accountable might cut into their revenue.
- thaumasiotes 12y ago
  > It's staggering how low accountability is on law enforcement's priority list Huh? Why would they want to be accountable? Accountability would be a priority of the populace.
  - harlanlewis 12y ago
    Priorities can be mandated. Dealing with externally-set priorities is a fairly regular subject on this very forum (damn you, marketing!). No government agency should be solely responsible for selecting what is and is not its job.
maxerickson 12y ago
With the police unions fighting it every step of the way. I think the effort is better spent making the equipment reliable and easy to use, and then making it widely available. Then when an officer chooses not to use it, you can ask them why they made that choice. People might believe lots of things the first few thousand times, but eventually it will make the officer look pretty bad if they walked into an adverse situation without their documentation device running. I also sort of like that this preserves some discretion for the officer; if I can't trust them to have a reasonable amount of discretion, I don't think I can trust them at all, and I don't think technology is going to help me with that.
- thaumasiotes 12y ago
  > People might believe lots of things the first few thousand times, but eventually it will make the officer look pretty bad if they walked into an adverse situation without their documentation device running. This isn't some hypothetical about the future. What you describe is very common today, with no loss of credibility having attached to the police.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    No, I'm pretty sure police don't have universal access to (reliable, effective) recording devices. I'm also pretty sure that large segments of the population don't trust them at all.

mrslx 12y ago

I wonder how the police measure their 'shifts', maybe a rule change to make it on-by-default and timed breaks with auto switch on after 20 min of 'off time' for bathroom breaks etc, during this time the officer should be considered 'not on duty' hence cannot respond to incidents. they are required to document things, why not step up to technology and use everything else available? i'm sure there was similar complaints when notebooks and reports became a requirement... hopefully momentum switches.

JshWright 12y ago

The cameras worn by the cops in my town are integrated with a base station in their patrol car. It activates when they are more than a few feet from the base station (inside this range, they are presumably in range of the dash cam, at least for audio), and automatically uploads the recording when they return.