a I've seen some body cam footage which has given me a lot of respect for what officers do. I know I couldn't do it. I think it can be a useful tool, but it still has some major flaws that cannot be overlooked. First, an officer can choose whether or not or when to turn on this footage so if something happened prior to an incident, how can you verify that. It's still their word against your own. Second, the footage can be distorted by where the camera is placed, head or chest or by the movement of the wearer, so you still may not get an accurate visual portrayal of what happened at a scene. Third, the body cam footage is often not available to the public and is at the discretion of the police department involved as to whether they will release it and even then, a lot of details may be obscured like a redacted document not allowing for an accurate understanding from either end, on what happened during an incident.
Largely though, I think the more evidence you can provide either on the side of the police or those on a scene can be helpful. There are police that lie and there are criminals that lie, and as always it's up to evidence, lawyers, trials, witnesses to sort it all out and hopefully prosecute the right people in the name of justice.
They should always be worn and on.
There should be stiff fines, unpaid suspensions, and discipline if they're turned off for any reason other than maintenance after the cop has clocked off, or if they need to go to the bathroom during their shift.
The recordings of incidents should be able to be viewed by the public after they're censored for identity protection reasons (e. g. blur out faces of the public).
Not only does it protect the public, it also protects the officers.
A well-functioning police body camera is an HONEST Cop's best friend.
Many minority subcultures DO NOT WANT an unblinking 'witness' to
the reality of street culture interaction. That 'poor boy who lubs his Mama' and
sings in dah Sunday choir is the SAME boy checking parked cars doors if unlocked and
often making pocket change dealing 'dime bags' and runnin numbers in the hood.
And he ain't smart enough to 'game' an honest cop that he's whom his legal counsel
will try to portray him as... to the eventual jury.
I speak to you as BOTH a former inner city ghetto kid AND a retired Cop and
Federal Firearms Dealer. THERE ARE FEDERAL STATUTES regarding penalties
for firearms possession by MINORS and the NEGLIGENT owners where those
guns CAME from. MOST States Attorneys DON'T CHARGE THEM!
They're used as a 'plea bargain' tool to expedite prosecution through the
overburdened system and bolster 'conviction' statistics of lawyers
with political aspirations.
I am a big fan of them, I really do not put much trust in these bystanders that whip out their cell phones and start recording with no prior context to the incident.
I have had this happen to me as a citizen, had a guy jump out of his car at a stop light yelling and screaming, until I confronted him... he whips out his cell phone and his whole demeanor changed. He went form antagonist to victim in a blink of a eye.
You have these people whipping out cell phones, then talking about how the police are acting... but what they fail to capture is the crime that was just committed and why the police are there to begin with. Police are gas lite all the time by these folks, and they have to be 100% right all the time and these body cams are great. It keeps people honest, and it gives evidence from the other point of view.
Opinion
58Opinion
u I suspect that, in most instances, they will prove that law enforcement do their jobs appropriately. However, those cases don't get publicized. If they prove that an officer did something wrong, that will be front page news!
Oh, this is a can of worms that once opened you can never get them back inside. I have seen police videos help cops and I have seen police videos PUT THEM IN JAIL!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/C-Ok5KsdonYI am a STRONG supporter of police cams. These cams should NOT be controlled by the officer and should activate when the car's emergency lights are activated. The footage should be downloaded into a safe server and available with some common sense redactions to FOIA requests. I have seen a lot of police videos where the cop self mutes. This is WRONG! Allow the supervisors to decide this later! I'm not anti-cop and I am not a defund the cop person. However, I am 100%, an anti-bad cop person! I was victimized by an Ohio Deputy Sheriff close to 25 years ago. To this day I wish I had that entire debacle on video. I DID NOTHING WRONG!
u of course... because in the cases in which they have abused their duty, the can opt to not wear them, they can opt to turn them off... they can take the batteries out or claim they died... and they also can claim that the recordings just failed, were corrupted or they are just gone, or they can just seal then with an order written by themselves
Well, libtards wanted them, because of all the horrible racism from cops, but now that the cameras are largely showing the opposite is true, of course they are complaining about it. Me, being a normal person, am happy with the body cams. Normal people think we should see the truth and not all the sensored bulls...
They are useful and at this point, required. however, the media of them needs counter balanced somehow. George floyd example... wasblown into a race issue but when one looks at the history, others were killed similar way of different color and nationality. It's a "how do yo police issue", not necessarily race. The media loves to blow emotional issues sky high, and that is a pain those who are victimized by the media messaging.
I like it, because it gives us a look in the day of the police officer what stressful situations they have to be in. Some things might be physical, arrests but others might just be quarrels I think that can be exhausting on the mind, and it's their job to be potentially exposed to that and get into people's business. I respect em! DONUTS TO THEM
We needed police body cameras 20-50 years ago when police corruption was actually real and widespread. Having them in 2020 just works against all the criminals trying to claim police corruption, which is why the overwhelming majority of police officers support wearing body cameras.
I'm all for body cams. I am very pro police. If an officer does the right thing there is nothing to fear. I would prefer a dashcam and bodycam to protect myself from frivolous lawsuits. People think qualified immunity is an absolute protection for law enforcement. That is not true. Qualified immunity only protects officer acting within the law and department policy. Also a bodycam might pick up evidence I missed during the arrest.
I think they're a wonderful thing. They help both the public and the good officers. There really have to be pre-emptive checks to make sure that they're not turned off or "corrupted" regularly by particular officers, not just when there's a complaint made against them or they've shot someone.
I think they protect officers from false allegations and protect the public by serving as a deterrent to police misconduct. I don’t really see a downside other than cost.
It's a good protection for them as nowadays people are so quick to judge and jump into conclusion.
I would extend it to shop employees for protection against more and more violent customers raging.
As someone with a degree in law enforcement I fully support body cameras and view them as a wonderful idea cause the media really does likes to lie
They’re great. They protect the officers much more than the public.
Officers get called to deal with the worst of our society daily… and then those bad customers tell their “truth” and the media, politicians and anyone looking for a spark eat it up.
In the few cases where a misconduct happens it allows the system to get rid of those unfit officers.
They are good BUT needs improvements such as camera location and cameras on in and around the police car at all times! None of this push a button to start recording! Image quality needs improvement. So does the microphone. Lets add night vision.
Has its flaws, but I think it's a step in the right direction.
I think policing should be a career field in which one must go to school for law at least 4 years to become a cadet. Psych evaluations and free therapy offered after their first year on their own. I like the idea of having people accompanying officers to help mitigate escalation. And offer better solutions instead of shooting people for not responding the right way despite having a mental disability.
Don’t know why they’re allowed to take them off.
I have 20 years of vhs hoarding digitized and uploaded online. Seems like the cops could record an entire shift and keep it for a week jnc something happened. A “video clip per police report” should be the law.
Every cop we’ve brought to court had to have video. It’s literally a standard.
Its a good thing, I actually bought one formyself as citizen as well. Can just film some guys passing by me on road and doing aggressive maneuver and report them with evidence.
Good tool to call toxic people accountable
They are very useful and I believe every officer should be required to have one that is on and recording.
That being said the news media is selective in what they show. George Floyd was acting crazy and resisting arrest in the police car. Jacob Blake was scuffling with an officer and reaching into a car. The news will not show you the whole video. But instead will only show some cop shooting a “defenseless” black man. It’s horse shit. They know what they are doing.
I think they are justified and necessary, for both parties to feel safe.
It shows a true and accurate story and scenario of what occurs at a scene for the police and the public.
You cannot hide or lie with these camera anymore.
They save more officers than they hurt by showing what happened before an incident. Media edits cell phone footage to make officers look bad but the media don’t control body cams, and the truth comes out.
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