If every officer had a camera, do you think the public would behave "better" with their interactions with police, knowing that they, themselves, were the ones on film? (Granted the drunks and the ones on drugs won't care...but, I'm talking more about John Q. Public who's mad at his neighbor's dog, or something like that.)

 

No, I think the public would try to provoke the police more, to get a lawsuit out of them.

Absolutely. While officers may be nitpicked, I would say that they would far more exonerated. If an officer has a body camera on, he's going to be on his best behavior b/c he is under surveillance, basically. If anything escalates, rational thought says, that it will come from who ever the officer stopped or detained.

 

I think that what happened w/ Dubose is an outlier, b/c most cops w/ body cams on would be certain to follow protocol. There will be no more "he said/she said." The only people who won't like it will be judges b/c their dockets are going to be fuller due to lack of discretion on the officers part. A citeable or arrestable offense will have to be followed through on, or the officer faces the risk of reprimand.

 

Absolutely.

 

And officers will have to take action on ALL offenses because if they don't other arrested parties will be able to point to preferential treatment for others that weren't cited or arrested for the "same" thing.

 

Off the top of my head court dockets will probably triple. Defense Attorneys should be all over this one pushing for more and more video from the police.

 

And, the constant video will be constant training for the officers and they will adapt and learn how to catch even more violators.

 

Crime statistics! Wow! Change is a coming!

I wonder what percentage of the time the body cam supports the officers' action, rather than work against them?

I wonder what percentage of the time the body cam supports the officers' action, rather than work against them?

 

I really hope it supports the officer WAY more than it works against them.

I really hope it supports the officer WAY more than it works against them.

 

I would sure hope so. That being said, I would not want all of my work interactions recorded. I can't imagine who would.

I really hope it supports the officer WAY more than it works against them.

 

Can you please explain? Do I think most cops are crooks, no. But I do believe there is an element that will lie until their face turns blue in order to cover up a wrong doing by themselves and other officers. They don't call it a "brotherhood" just because of the occupation. They don't want to be black balled so they say what is necessary to protect a fellow officer no matter how wrong. People give police the benefit of the doubt becasue they are the one's who are suppose to hold up the law, when in fact some do just the opposite in selective situations. Putting camera's on police are going to accomplish 2 things; 1, the good deeds of many; 2, show just how ignorant of the law some really are. Like Rodney Dangerfield said, "make sure you're number 1 or you'll step in number 2.

Can you please explain? Do I think most cops are crooks, no. But I do believe there is an element that will lie until their face turns blue in order to cover up a wrong doing by themselves and other officers. They don't call it a "brotherhood" just because of the occupation. They don't want to be black balled so they say what is necessary to protect a fellow officer no matter how wrong. People give police the benefit of the doubt becasue they are the one's who are suppose to hold up the law, when in fact some do just the opposite in selective situations. Putting camera's on police are going to accomplish 2 things; 1, the good deeds of many; 2, show just how ignorant of the law some really are. Like Rodney Dangerfield said, "make sure you're number 1 or you'll step in number 2.

 

I'm assuming he's saying that he would hope more times than not, and by a very large margin, cops are acting in the proper manner, and that the body cameras would show that to be the case.

 

If I had to guess, I'd say body cameras probably show the cops acting appropriately in at least 90% of situations.

I'm curious on this. If an officer is wearing a body camera, and is involved in an incident such as this...is the footage of the actual incident the only thing the defense/media can gain access to? Or can they see what he did forever (going back as long as the officer had the camera)?

I'm curious on this. If an officer is wearing a body camera, and is involved in an incident such as this...is the footage of the actual incident the only thing the defense/media can gain access to? Or can they see what he did forever (going back as long as the officer had the camera)?

 

That's one of the debates of body cameras. Open record requests would allow any film that was captured by that camera to be available. Regulations need to be adopted to prevent privacy issues with that happening.

I'm assuming he's saying that he would hope more times than not, and by a very large margin, cops are acting in the proper manner, and that the body cameras would show that to be the case.

 

If I had to guess, I'd say body cameras probably show the cops acting appropriately in at least 90% of situations.

 

I would say it is much higher. People are quick to complain, no way cops are acting inappropriately in 1 out of every 10 interactions. That would be a couple of times a day and you would have a complaint list longer than a spoiled kids Xmas list.

Do any of you want to wear a camera so your boss can see you every move? No of course not. But most of us are not put into life or death situations. Should all truck drivers or for that matter all vehicles have to have dash cams? My brother in law gets a message every time one of his employees gets within a few feet of their homes. He can track them at any time.

Not sure I'm a huge fan of it. Great to say someone else should wear one, but in reality I'm not sure any of us want big brother up our back sides all day long.

I would say it is much higher. People are quick to complain, no way cops are acting inappropriately in 1 out of every 10 interactions. That would be a couple of times a day and you would have a complaint list longer than a spoiled kids Xmas list.

 

How often are false accusations, like brutality, theft, etc. made against officers? In those cases a body cam would be of benefit to the officer. Body cams likely also help prosecutors build a case against criminals in most situations.

It seems that body cams should be a useful tool FOR officers not against them.

 

We have cameras almost everywhere where I work. Supposedly they only pull footage when something questionable comes up. They are not supposed to use footage to monitor employees' daily activities (but who knows?). I will say that footage has been used more than once to support staff in questionable situations.

Who has control over how body cam video is used and is there any limit on what can be monitored? Can they use body cam to evaluate an officers routine day? To see if he/she took too long of a lunch break?

I'm assuming he's saying that he would hope more times than not, and by a very large margin, cops are acting in the proper manner, and that the body cameras would show that to be the case.

 

Correct, this is what I meant.

Do any of you want to wear a camera so your boss can see you every move? No of course not. But most of us are not put into life or death situations. Should all truck drivers or for that matter all vehicles have to have dash cams? My brother in law gets a message every time one of his employees gets within a few feet of their homes. He can track them at any time.

Not sure I'm a huge fan of it. Great to say someone else should wear one, but in reality I'm not sure any of us want big brother up our back sides all day long.

 

Comparing cops to a normal desk job (or any number of jobs that aren't in any way similar to police work) is silly and inaccurate. It's a bad analogy.

Comparing cops to a normal desk job (or any number of jobs that aren't in any way similar to police work) is silly and inaccurate. It's a bad analogy.

I think the comparison is just in that would you like your boss looking over your shoulder all day everyday. Seeing how many times you aren't giving your 100% to the job, are on your phone checking something or how many times you log onto the internet for non work things? I completely understand the need for body cameras, but there are some legitimate concerns for officers.