Police Body Cams

Recent shooting of an unarmed Chicago black man by white police officers after a stolen car chase (which didn't used to be a capital crime) wasn't captured by the officers' body cameras "because they forgot to switch them on."  Two San Diego cops attacked by a shooter didn't capture the event because their cameras were off too. According to one study in Phoenix only 6.5% of traffic stops were caught on camera.

WTF?  They should be on all the time, like a surveillance camera, with like a rolling 24-hour or 12-hour memory.

The police are public servants, they should be aware all the time that anything they say or do could become public knowledge at any time. Secrecy is what allows them to get off-track and become public adversaries instead of servants.

NoCoPilot wrote:

The police are public servants, they should be aware all the time that anything they say or do could become public knowledge at any time. Secrecy is what allows them to get off-track and become public adversaries instead of servants.

I don't believe the police, in general, are any better or worse than they have been for many years (possibly since the inception of the American police as bounty-collecting slave hunters).

The only difference I see is the widespread publication of their heinous activities.

Most people in this country never have contact with the police, except for maybe a traffic ticket, so they are shocked at these actions. Don't be; it's the same old shit.

I know or have known a couple of officers; unsurprisingly they're all great guys with great attitudes and honorable intentions.

Guys like these have absolutely no problems with transparency or body cams.

It's the officers who turn off their cameras, who try to operate outside of public view, who think they're above the scrutiny of the public who worry me.

I did use the qualifier, "in general". I had a very close friend who was a cop. Unfortunately, he died young from the Bug C. Hell, his father was a prison guard.

Frank and I met in college, in a Political Science class. The professor was a good friend of mine, and he told me years later that he really enjoyed winding up Frank and me, then sitting back and enjoying the show. We didn't agree on many things. But he was a good and honorable man.

There are some very good cops, but there are a great many despicable men in uniform and they need to be removed from the police force and to be punished for their illegal actions.

If you're ever out mowing your lawn and an off-duty police sergeant drives by and takes a shot at you - for personal reasons - your opinion of the average policeman might change.