Body Cameras on Police

Kakumei

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Note: Discussion, not a debate please.

What do you think about the idea of having Body Cameras on Police officers?

In general, I trust policemen. I will continue to do so unless they become Federalized or a Military Police.

Anyways, do you think this would hinder or help?

How would you want this to be implemented?
 
Personally, I like the idea, with a few restrictions.

Body Cameras only have to be turned on when responding to a situation, or when the lights are on in their vehicles when pulling somebody over.

Blur out the faces of witnesses so that they may be protected, and ALWAYS blur out the face of minors, especially if they are victims.
 
The problem with body cameras is thay they do not give whoever is viewing the video after the perspective of the officer. Even eyeglass-mounted cameras only show so much. A local law enforcment agency is trying them out, and I've seen the footage. If something controversial happens, it still will not placate the public.

But between the choice of body cameras and every civilian in a mile radius pulling out their phones to record every encounter, every cop I know will strap on a camera.
 
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Yes. So people can see that not all cops are brutal and there are just some people out there who fake shit.

On the opposite side, cops can also be caught doing unfair things.

A win-win for any type of camera that monitors the job from the start of an event.
 
If something controversial happens, it still will not placate the public.
Agreed, but I believe that it could add information to any case. What if, for instance, the police had body cameras when responding to the skirmish between Zimmerman and Martin. With that video, it would be more widely known and easily seen that Zimmerman indeed had some very brutal hits to the back of his head and face. Just shooting a few pictures and floating them around online and media sources just doesn't seem to be enough.

Yes. So people can see that not all cops are brutal and there are just some people out there who fake shit.
Sounds pretty fake coming from the Joker...


Kidding, I actually love this statement right here.
 
Keep the camera's on, at all times while on duty.

Most Cops are good and honest people, but giving them the ability to turn it off only allows abusive cops to manipulate the system.
Even if the Camera's aren't perfect they do still give more insight to the situation for cases such as:

1) Abusive Cop
2) Victim is faking oppression to gain Public Sympathy
3) General Investigative purposes

Though let's remember the camera's are part of said investigation, not all of it.
 
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Keep the camera's on, at all times while on duty.

Most Cops are good and honest people, but giving them the ability to turn it off only allows abusive cops to manipulate the system.
Well, in Charleston (SC) they are implementing a system that the camera comes on (automatically) whenever the lights in their vehicle are on. Since they have to keep lights on while responding to a situation anyway, I think it will work out pretty well.


I'd rather them not recording themselves taking a piss.
 
Right now with the current state of our society and culture, YES. D: I think having cameras on cops and their cars is a good idea. Our education and justice system are fucked the hell up, and the result is nasty crimes by citizens and terrible power abuse by cops. I think the problems are at a level right now where cameras would force people to be more accountable for their actions.

In my happy lala world where crime rates aren't so high, it wouldn't be necessary. There's always going to be power abuse in the system, but it wouldn't be at such proportion where you would be nervous about trusting cops. Right now, I am a little hesitant about trusting officers because of some family and associates experiences, even despite some of the GOOD interactions and people I've met. @___@
 
Our education and justice system are fucked the hell up, and the result is nasty crimes by citizens and terrible power abuse by cops.
Interesting correlation I just realized from this statement right here.

It seems like the more "educated" our country becomes and the more stress we put on education, the more crimes are being committed in society. I say that because I have a friend who is a Psychologist who was talking about something similar. She thinks that because our system is designed to bring children away from there parents for 8+ hours a day, that it actually hinders human behavioral development.

If she publishes a paper on it, I'll share it on here.

Anyways, I was just vocalizing my thoughts.

I like what you said!
 
She thinks that because our system is designed to bring children away from there parents for 8+ hours a day, that it actually hinders human behavioral development.
I can see this being a thing. O__O But I think it makes a huge difference in WHAT people are learning in school too. School can be a great way to learn proper human behavior and relationships and how to function in society. But these days they keep you sitting silent in a desk writing, writing, writing for classwork on subjects - while really cool and good to know - isn't really applicable in every-day life for most people.
 
But these days they keep you sitting silent in a desk writing, writing, writing for classwork on subjects
I grew up in 3 different places. Taylorsville UT, Yokohama JP, and Savannah Georgia.

In Japan, social interaction sucks. Savannah GA, the best you get is like a 30 minute recess (at the end of school...).

In Utah, you had 3 recesses in Elementary School. In Middle School, you had 2, and Highschool, 1.

I probably learned the best of my social skills (in real life) in Utah. Seriously, Utah seems to do a lot right. They have the least amount of federal and state funding in the entire US (and are the poorest school systems), and yet, they are rated the number 1 school system year after year for preparing children for college.

You think that other states would look into that. : /
 
Well, in Charleston (SC) they are implementing a system that the camera comes on (automatically) whenever the lights in their vehicle are on. Since they have to keep lights on while responding to a situation anyway, I think it will work out pretty well.
That's as simple as a Cop turning the lights off though.
I mean yes they're not allowed to, but if they're an abusive cop is that really going to stop them?
It seems like the more "educated" our country becomes and the more stress we put on education, the more crimes are being committed in society. I say that because I have a friend who is a Psychologist who was talking about something similar. She thinks that because our system is designed to bring children away from there parents for 8+ hours a day, that it actually hinders human behavioral development.
I can see this being a thing. O__O But I think it makes a huge difference in WHAT people are learning in school too. School can be a great way to learn proper human behavior and relationships and how to function in society.
Well learning social norms and being socially developed are two different things.

One if they wished could easily learn to feign/act among human beings by adopting and imitating their social norms.
But that is at the end of the day learning how to act.

While time with (supportive) parents can help one develop in a way that they feel loved and supported.
And that's what would reduce crime rates, not knowing when the proper time to shake a persons hand is.
But these days they keep you sitting silent in a desk writing, writing, writing for classwork on subjects - while really cool and good to know - isn't really applicable in every-day life for most people.
That is also true. School's are getting rather notorious for teaching stuff that the majority of people won't use in their life, due to the reasoning that a few people might need it.
In other words, making a lot of courses which should be electives mandatory, while ignoring stuff like learning about their legal rights, mental health etc.

Though School (at least Kindergarten and lower) is actually seeing a rather extreme change in this regard.
Back in the "Things you learned from work" thread I went on for a quite a while about issues with ECE (Early Childhood Education), one of which was their Play to Learn style.
The intention behind it is good, get children away from just doing work sheets all day long and get them engaged, have fun while learning.

The issue is the current approach is focusing too heavily in the other direction.
They allow the child so much freedom, and avoid stuff like worksheet's so much that often times the only way a child is going to learn the math, english etc. needed for the rest of school is if the child themselves shows a personal interest in it. If they don't, they'll end up barely understanding it, which will put them behind in Grade 1 and end up causing a snowball effect.
 
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That's as simple as a Cop turning the lights off though.
I mean yes they're not allowed to, but if they're an abusive cop is that really going to stop them?
I don't know about other places, but here if they are caught turning off the lights, they are prosecuted in court and often face jail time. Thats just one extra charge they would face even if they are in the right or wrong with the situation itself. They ought to do the same thing in the other states as well.

Well learning social norms and being socially developed are two different things.

One if they wished could easily learn to feign/act among human beings by adopting and imitating their social norms.
But that is at the end of the day learning how to act.
Yeah, and I get that. But I don't believe school is geared toward learning social norms or social development. I don't thing its their job, nor do I want it to be.
While time with (supportive) parents can help one develop in a way that they feel loved and supported.
I learned more from my parents than any other person or organization (school for example) in my life.

I feel like parents no longer feel that this kind of relationship with their children is necessary as school as seemingly weaseled its way into children's lives via government instruction. That's pretty much what Common Core is about.
 
I don't know about other places, but here if they are caught turning off the lights, they are prosecuted in court and often face jail time. Thats just one extra charge they would face even if they are in the right or wrong with the situation itself. They ought to do the same thing in the other states as well.
If they're caught.
Yeah, and I get that. But I don't believe school is geared toward learning social norms or social development. I don't thing its their job, nor do I want it to be.
Social Norm's I agree with. Those vary too much within one's own culture to begin with.
Social Development however? That can influence mental health, which has a direct effect on a child's ability to perform well in School.
Stuff like that should be a focus of the School if they want their students to do well, especially for students whose parents are failing to provide it.
Which could be for a number of reasons:
  1. Abusive Parents
  2. Parent's are always working
  3. Parent's are often absent
  4. Child is an Orphan
  5. Parent might not be mentally fit for it themselves
  6. Marital Issues
etc.

We can't just say "Make the parents do it" because then children are bound to fall through the cracks.
Family life is definitely important, and School should be mindful of that, but in cases where family fails to deliver the school needs to be able to make up for them.
I learned more from my parents than any other person or organization (school for example) in my life.

I feel like parents no longer feel that this kind of relationship with their children is necessary as school as seemingly weaseled its way into children's lives via government instruction. That's pretty much what Common Core is about.
Then that's great. I have a friend from High School whose the same way.
Another never graduated High School, but is now in college because he taught himself instead.

But if the parent's fail to deliver, we need some way to help the child.
 
... Ok, derailing again.

Moving to new thread!
 
This could go far in ensuring the safety of not just the general population, but the cops who respond as well.

However, I would say that this is only truly effective if the cameras are monitored by an impartial third party.
 
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It's a good idea, but it needs to be done right to not end up useless or corrupted.

First and foremost, as Alan said, they need to be monitored and reviewed by an impartial third party right out of the gate. You can't have employees of the police department be the watchdogs of the police department, because that just never works.

Next there needs to be strict rules on when the cameras have to be on and brutal punishments for anyone who violates those rules. If police officers are allowed to skirt around the camera thing with only a slap on the wrist then their effectiveness will be ruined.

The camera footage should all become part of the public record that can be either easily accessed online or provided upon request to the third party overseers. The public versions should obviously have faces, licenses plates, IDs, and so on blurred out to protect privacy. The public having full access to the footage is a large part of what will keep borderline asshole police officers on their toes. If the records can be kept private at the discretion of the police department, then they can easily cover up bullshit just like they've done in the past by saying "we investigated it and decided everything was okay."

As long as those three things are assured, putting cameras on cops is a fine idea. If those things are not assured, then we might as well not waste the money on personnel and equipment because they'll just go to waste one way or another.