One body camera per cop. Why not?
We can do this. It will not stop all incidences of undue and unlawful police violence, but it will make violent and unhinged cops think twice before they start blasting away.
It will also provide future grand juries with some objective evidence with which to evaluate police claims of being in life or death situations. You can also make the case that is will help honest and decent police (and I’m sure there are some out there) defend themselves against spurious charges.
Works for me! Next we can examine how we train police, because these shootings are unacceptable.
As good as it sounds, the problem with body cameras is the obvious one: In deadly confrontations, they sometimes “don’t work” the way they’re supposed to.
The nice thing about dashboard cams is that cops can’t disable them just before they do something they know is wrong.
Let’s go with both – car cams and body cams.
Personally I’m tired of the whole “big brother”/”police state” atmosphere cameras bring. It will also allow even more surveillance that can be used against the people as substantial evidence. If the people can’t use the ACLU Mobile Justice or similar it’s their own problem – we don’t need more state owned cameras we just need more personal ones.
Don’t worry politics will make this issue go away and nothing will come of it. How many retired cops are in government at all levels
All NYPD to start wearing body cams beginning tomorrow.
John Smith,
I hear you, but when you consider the fact that most murders are committed by cops, a poor solution is better than none.
Cop who strangled man to death in NYC on camera not indicted.
Cameras alone won’t solve this problem.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/eric-garner_n_6263656.html
Several cities have already initiated cop cameras, the results are promising and not all police organizations oppose them as there are benefits for the public and police as well. Right now the police have a well deserved public image problem, rabid law and order types aside people are concerned and alarmed as more and more deaths come to light. As noted dash cams in the patrol cars help as well.
So, I had a friend in Kentucky who really, really, really wanted to be a cop. He was a member of the NRA and a hunter, and had quite an arsenal, okay, not a problem yet. But he also had a huge chip on his shoulders. He took the cop exam three times and three times they rejected him.
My point is that the KY State Police had some sort of screening process that raised all sorts of alarms on this guy. If they could spot this guy’s flaws why don’t other forces? Surely there are psych profiles that would send up some flares when somebody isn’t suited to be a cop? It’s not a Constitutional right to be a cop.