Can Technology Prevent Cops From Forgetting To Turn On Their Body Cameras? (fastcompany.com)

tedlistens writes from a report via Fast Company: Axon, Taser's growing police camera division, has announced a new wireless sensor for gun and Taser holsters that can detect when a weapon is drawn and automatically activate all nearby cameras. The sensor, Signal Sidearm, is part of a suite of products aimed at reducing the possibility that officers will fail to switch on their cameras during encounters with the public. It happens more than it should: Last year in Chicago, for instance, an officer apparently forgot to turn on his camera before fatally shooting and killing an unarmed 18-year-old named Paul O'Neal. Taser isn't alone in trying to address this and other technical and procedural issues with cameras, but reformers emphasize that just as body cameras won't solve problems with policing, new sensors won't prevent officers from failing to record. Fast Company adds: "Automatically-activated cameras won't be completely effective at providing oversight of police encounters: As happened when Baton Rouge police shot Alton Sterling last year, cameras can fall off during physical encounters, a problem that Taser has worked to address. They can also malfunction, or videos can be deleted. And civil liberties advocates complain that cameras are only as effective as the rules that guide their use: [...] the ACLU has complained that current city policy allowing officers to switch cameras off for privacy reasons gives police too much discretion over when to record. Other issues with cameras being resolved at the local level include the heavy costs of cloud video storage, and the question of whether officers are allowed to view their footage immediately after violent encounters -- a privilege not extended to the public."

Comments

No

[rsilvergun]

Was talking about this with my brother and he brought up the best Upton Sinclare qoute of all time:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

You'll always have footage go missing and cams get shut off because it's part of the system. The public is complacent in the whole thing. So a higher up comes along and tells the techies to make the footage disappear and it does. Period. And we all look the other way when a black guy in a poor neighborhood gets shot and 3-5 officers have a camera malfunction instead of demanding they all get fired for not maintaining their equipment. Hell, even when they do get fired they just move to another precinct...

I'm reminded of long haul truckers. I couldn't figure out how they cheated their books with GPSes and electronic logs. The answer: They only spot check individual logs of individual drivers and they warn the driver being checked before hand. My buddy hated it because he never cheated a log so his driver manager made sure he was always the one to get checked. He eventually gave up the line of work because he couldn't find a way to do it without cheating and he's the paranoid type.

This is the same damn thing. We don't need more tech. We need to use the tech we already have.

Re:Make it illegal to not turn them on

[Calydor]

The issue only arises if the video is required for a future trial. Hell, high-def video of what she looked like when the officers arrived on the scene might even be used as evidence IN HER FAVOR.

If the video is never requested for trial (maybe nothing happened, maybe there was a plea bargain or whatever) it just sits and collects proverbial dust on a hard drive somewhere.

Yes

[fph il quozientatore]

Step 1: remove the off switch. Step 2: there is no step 2.

Re:Make it illegal to not turn them on

[TheRaven64]

Yes. The system should be designed so that everything is recorded and encrypted with one of a rolling set of asymmetric keys. Nothing can be played back without accessing the decryption key, which should not be available to the individual police precinct without oversight. Everything recorded should be stored and, unless needed, deleted a month later. Any decryption keys that are not used within this period should be deleted without ever being released, so even if someone takes an unauthorised copy of the video, they can't decrypt it.

It absolutely should not be up to the judgement of an individual in a highly emotionally charged situation to decide what should be recorded.

Re:Easily

[Anonymous Coward]

> But seriously, the problems with US domestic police forces run far deeper than what these programs address.

Yes. I was following along with the tongue-in-cheek, but you are right. The militarization of police (and the parallel degradation of the judiciary, in part driven by the "justice is revenge" frame of mind, instead of something trying to hold society together... don't get me started on jails!) is absolutely scary.

Especially because many people seem to favor that, especially the revenge part. The whole monster has democratic support.

Re:Probably

[dougdonovan]

hr and dispatch will have the schedules and should automatically turn the camera on for you at the beginning of your shift when you start so you can get paid to carry a gun and a badge. at the end of your shift, hr and dispatch will turn the camera off no matter what time of day it is.