Cameras On Cops: Coming To a Town Near You
An anonymous reader writes "The trend of police officers using body-mounted cameras is going nationwide. As we discussed last month, the NYPD is pondering the cameras, and the LAPD is actively testing them. A town in California (population ~100,000) has tested them with seeming success: incidents involving officers using force have dropped more than half, and citizen complaints have dropped almost 90%. '[C]ops are required to turn on their cameras in any confrontation with a suspect or citizen. The footage is uploaded to computers when they return to the station, and is typically retained for one to three months.' The town's success is even drawing interest from police departments in other countries. The ACLU likes the idea, but has problems with it in practice, so they're opposing the trend (PDF). They worry about privacy abuses, and they want citizens caught on camera to be allowed equal access to the footage."
Fact is as long as they can turn the cameras on or off and the video is in police custody this will do almost nothing to reduce police abuse. Either the camera will be off, the video will be "lost" or the recording device will be "broken". They want the video for convictions, but they will make damn sure the video is lost or the camera is off when they go to beat the shit out of some innocent person.
They should be required to wear camera, the cameras should record while they are on shift and video should be stored by an independent third party. Any missing footage should result in someone being fired.
Look, there are always going to be abuses of ANY system, but anything that helps raise the bar of accountability is inherently a Good Thing(TM) so please stop the whining about how it's not totally perfect.
Just wait, til the cops start uploading all their footage to a central server for the NSA to add to its collection so they can start cataloging every social interaction that cops see while on their beat. Someone who's face matches a potential subject of interest in a database will get flagged when they show up on the footage and the NSA will then start tracking them based on geolocation data in the footage.
Asking people to think is like asking them to buy you a new car
Run around and point a video cam at a cop.
Or ... better don't.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I predict that these 'cameras' will have a higher then normal fail rate.
This! Every system can be defeated, but each new system that has to be defeated is good. Plus, for anything serious more than one cop will be there, and stories about "accidental damage to devices" become even less likely to fly when it coincidentally affects all 6 officers who responded to the same incident, and no one else that day.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
The accused should be informed that they are being recorded or it can't be used against them in a criminal proceeding (rights against self-incrimination)
IANAL, but it'll be like any other police recording. Spontaneous admissions will likely still be admissible, but questioning would likely be subject to Miranda rules.
*shrug*
I smell what you're steppin in. I'd like to make certain the data is only accessible for a particular instance or violation. It shouldn't be allowed to be used for mass population facial recognition, or NSA data grabs.
So, when cops have cameras, reported incidents of police using force dropped by half. I believe that means that 50% of uses of force were unwarranted or unnecessary, otherwise why would they have stopped?
This sound like pretty clear evidence that police think they can get away with bending the law as long as no one (except the victim) sees them.
I used to think that the ACLU was a force for good, and they might be. But they do not know when to quit, or compromise on anything. Here we are finally getting accountability for law enforcement, and now they want to stop the program?
I wonder if anyone told them that nothing is perfect and life is all about compromises.
Also most incidents of bad behavior start off with police officers who walk in ambiguous situations with the initial intention to behave professionally (e.g. the officers who beat up Rodney King were not intending to lose control of their emotions and the situation when the encounter started). Those police officers will not turn off their cameras.
If I really want to tell the cops to shut off all of their cameras, I'm sure they will be happy to oblige.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Everyone knows that cops have had video cameras mounted in their cars, for decades. Neat how you skipped the parts of the summary talking about how police violence and complaints have dropped dramatically where these cameras have been used.
Almost like it's the cops who are the real jerks here. Interesting.
The problem with the "aww, it's just a few bad apples" canard is that one bad one rots the whole barrel. When all your "good cops" are willing to commit perjury to cover up for the "bad apples", there are no good cops.
so please stop the whining about how it's not totally perfect
You must be new here.
This is Slashdot, where perfect is the enemy of good, and the edge use-case wins, EVERY time.
I suspect you should have a good chat with Kelly Thomas and revise your storyline. Or read up on LEO departments stealing millions from people not convicted of any crime via "asset forfeiture". Or how hundreds of thousands of mostly black and brown men are stopped in NYC without probable suspicion under "stop and frisk".
If an officer with a camera is in the presence of a man who facial recognition flags as a possible match for someone with an open warrant out on them, it would probably be a good thing for the officer to be alerted about the match.
Now, of course what I am thinking of is the situation where some guy with an open murder warrent in Florida is spotted laying low in Wyoming. Having that guy picked up is probably a good thing.
I wonder exactly what sort of abuse you foresee with that situation? I am sure there are things that can go wrong.
END COMMUNICATION
Do you really believe in your heart of hearts that if a cop commits a crime during an altercation, that the video won't somehow get lost?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
If you can't tell the difference between a cane and a rifle from a distance of thirty feet, you have no business being a police officer.
( Officer Tip: The entire non-law enforcement population is NOT your God Damned enemy. Quit treating us like we are unless you truly want us to go down that path. . . . )
Had the guy been dressed like a ninja, cartwheeled out of the truck cab, tossed a few smoke bombs and filled the air with throwing stars, and amazing acrobatics, then fine. Shoot him.
Elderly gentleman who can barely move without a cane ? Really ? Holy shit, imagine if he had pulled something REALLY EVIL from the truck. . . . like a ( that can't be a walker, it must be a QUAD ROCKET LAUNCHER ) what then ? Going to call in a swat team ? Sick the canine on him ? Call in air support ? :|
Thought: If YOU or I had done this we would be rotting in jail for eternity. Regardless of what you THOUGHT it looked like, the fact of the matter is: YOU WERE WRONG and someone was seriously injured because of your piss poor observation skills. Go ahead, try it out. Randomly walk down the street and open fire on anyone carrying anything that you might perceive to be a gun and watch what happens.
At the very least the officer should be fired and his peace officer certificate revoked. At the very LEAST.
They are following the will of the elected officials of NYC and the senior police leadership. That may not make 4th Amendment advocates very happy, but the police are not trying to "get away" with anything that they are not proud enough to do in broad daylight in front of numerous witnesses every day.
But the footage can be lost and blamed on an "off" camera.
That is exactly what the ACLU objected to.
The proposed bill mandated that police carried them, but left optional what is recorded, did not require access by citizens, and did not specify a data retention policy. The ACLU objection (see the actual story) cited cases where police turned off the cameras during the (alleged) abuses, sometimes multiple cops turning off each others cameras, and where judges ruled in favor of the cops when the evidence was missing. Data could also be deleted the same day for no reason other than a personal judgement call.
The bill was a good start, but needs mandatory recording requirements, mandatory citizen access, and mandatory data retention policies.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
Officers get shot at "fairly often"? Considering the millions of traffic stops it is a very small percentage, perhaps shooting first is not the best option in all cases.
If you think that old guy was moving "quite easily" you are certainly not anyone I would like to see carrying a gun. He had a difficult time just opening the door. At best, you might think he was really drunk, but that is also not a reason to shoot someone.
If you're unsure, then get back in the car, or maybe hide behind the door. This officer made a tragic mistake that was fortunately not fatal. In his defense the mistake was mostly not because he was a poor human being, just an average human being who was trained improperly (i.e. trained to shoot first).
It can be perfect, but its a conspiracy amongst their ranks to control the public and prevent prosecution for previous misdeeds.
This guy with a PhD who worked for Bush under the White House wrote this white paper on how the police are literally psychopaths, and are more dangerous than the public: http://www.boilingfrogspost.co...
The way to perfection is mind reading technology to valid emotions, thoughts, memories, and impulses, to perfectly prosecute and convict all current government criminals and prevent them from ever regaining power. The Department of Defense, NSA, CIA, and FBI already possess this technology but its being used for psychic warfare and serious spy games abuses. Dr. Robert Duncan says its deployed nationally in all radar and satellites today, and he helped design it during his time with the DOD/CIA/US DOJ. Read his books and look up the technology patents and listen to his whistleblower audio clips about it: http://www.oregonstatehospital...
Perfect conviction is also possible of criminals, and knowing exactly what happened to lead up to finding crime, committing crime, altercations during police encounters, and more. We wouldn't need juries anymore either because a computer can determine guilt and proper "rehabilitation" for all citizens without bias. No flaws, no false convictions, no long trials or need for appeals as the current system work. Releases could be based on the persons actual risk based on their brain waves and thoughts, risks, plans, rather than the typical arbitrary shit and personal opinions of the public today.
Dr. Robert Duncan's book The Matrix Deciphered mentions the literal conspiracy to hide this technology, because it could be used to convict our corporate and Presidential and military overlords, who have lied and conspired and covered up every crime they ever committed, including with this mind reading/altering weapon. Read Duncan's books here: http://www.oregonstatehospital.... html#drrobertduncan
Can't hide a current or past thought/action from TAMI/Thought Amplifier and Mind Interface, or its EEG hederodyning / EEG memory probing feature.
a start doesn't need those things, because it's a start.
Sometimes in businesses or other small policies it is good to implement something incomplete rather than nothing at all.
Law is not one of those cases. An incomplete law can be very detrimental to society and difficult to get changed. When the choice is between a bad/incomplete law or no law at all, prefer having no law.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
But the footage can be lost and blamed on an "off" camera.
If I was on a jury and it came down to a "he said/she said debate" then I would probably be more likely to side with the cop.
On the other hand, if I was on a jury and the cop had a head mounted camera which was off, malfunctioning, or had missing
footage then I would immediately favor the other person as I assume most people would. As a cop it would be in your
best interest to leave it on as any attempt to turn it off would look like an attempt to cover up evidence.