No more dash cams in cop cars

Or on their person. Unless that individual wants it.

’cause?

If they aren’t doing anything wrong they got nothing to hide? (devil’s advocate here) lol

In my opinion its leading down the wrong path. Sometimes bad people have to be handled badly and the camera footage shown online only shows one side and it almost always sides with the suspect. It always looks bad when cop is beating a citizen but I’m sure sometimes that is all the “animal” understands. Pretty soon policeman are going to lose effectiveness by tentatively approaching their job. Afraid to hurt anyone or lose their job by perceived mistreatment.

Better than not being afraid of hurting anyone. If they used force properly and as needed then they have nothing to fear from the camera. This goes both ways – if an officer is shot and the gunman gets away we may have all the evidence we need on those cameras to track the criminal down.

I know it goes both ways. I just think there may be a worse outcome one way over the other.

I can’t imagine how stressful certain situations must be. Then you have all the people with social media law degrees dissecting how you perform your job…no thanks.

The cops I know and work with seem to all want the dash and personal cameras. They seem to think it will make their lives easier and keeps them out of the courtroom. When a D-bag forces a trial and tries to blame an officer for something, the video ends the situation quickly.

I will say there is a very small amount of cops making poor choices, and a very high amount of criminals doing stupid things.

suzuki wrote:

Sometimes bad people have to be handled badly and the camera footage shown online only shows one side and it almost always sides with the suspect.

If the camera is running for the full duration, there should be no question if the person needs to be handled “badly”.

I’ve seen too many bad cops caught on tape along with more bad people.

I would even help fund this in my taxes.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I would even help fund this in my taxes.

I completely agree though. Unfortunately I too have seen more than several instances with crap police force in the city and think it would help both parties to know there is always someone watching.

How bout the media stay out of the police business. There are bad people on both sides of the isle. The people involved and other agencies don’t need the media exploiting an already bad event. Dash cams or not the media is a big part of all the problems the United States has today.

Some day take a look at what an officer has to wear already. Some have room for a cam and other don’t. Yes I know these cams are small but there is a whole lot more too them then just putting them on.

gmartell wrote:

the media is a big part of all the problems the United States has today.

Agreed. The internet and smart phones gave them another stage.

Like it or not, this is another sign o’ the times. When something becomes technologically possible, it opens the conversation about should it be done and why.

In the case of cameras watching the police, the debate is over. It should be done, needs to be done, and will be done. The reason I say this is because, setting aside sensational media coverage, there are compelling reasons to have this video oversight–both to catch bad cops doing bad things AND to show that the good cops do the right thing the vast majority of the time.

Personally, I think the good law enforcement professionals out there should welcome this because they are the ones being given a black eye by the bad cops out there. And sadly, while we used to use the old cliché “a few bad apples”, the problem is that in our social media and video access world, the perception is that there are a LOT more than just a few bad apples.

We can argue all day weather or not this is fair, but the problem is that the police are here to serve the public and the public is rapidly demanding much greater accountability because of the perception (again, right or wrong) based on recent events is that there is a lot of bad stuff happening out there.

Grouse

Wanna waste yur money, go build a soccer stadium

farmboy1 wrote:

The cops I know and work with seem to all want the dash and personal cameras. They seem to think it will make their lives easier and keeps them out of the courtroom. When a D-bag forces a trial and tries to blame an officer for something, the video ends the situation quickly.

I will say there is a very small amount of cops making poor choices, and a very high amount of criminals doing stupid things.

well half-right ain’t bad

I am for personal privacy, but I feel cops having cams is a good thing. Not so much drones (I realize they weren’t mentioned), but once you start approving one form of tech, then where does it stop?

I do feel that media needs to be controlled better, they cause panic and fear when it’s not warranted, and can spin any story into whichever direction they choose. This makes it harder for cops to do their job as effectively as they could.

In Russia, it’s the other way around. Civilians all have dash cams because of all the corrupt cops, lol, at least we aren’t that bad over here!

How long do you want your leash to be ?

I think it is a good idea to protect our Police other wise it comes down to he said she said and bystanders may have an agenda of there own.

The part that is going to drive me nuts is what companies are going to rip off the taxpayers for exorbitant price for body cams. For a high quality camera battery, battery charger and clip on holder should not run much more then $150 bucks per unit with sound.

Tom P. wrote:

For a high quality camera battery, battery charger and clip on holder should not run much more then $150 bucks per unit with sound.

And government built bins to collect invasive weeds shouldn’t cost $2,000.

My brother (deputy) prefers to wear the camera.

The camera’s can protect you from more things than most people think about. I have a friend that’s a local officer and one of the patrolmen in his department was investigated because a woman who he pulled over for a DWI said he inappropriately touched her during the roadside test. She was so drunk that she fell over during the test and he grabbed her so she didn’t do a face plant. She said it was sexual and it was her word against his. He was eventually cleared as her story changed many times during the investigation. This was back in the early 90’s before there was funding for camera’s. The next day my friend went out and purchased a dash cam and mic with his own money and had it installed in his cruiser. His chief said no problem and commended him for taking this step.

I know a lot of police officers, they are family members, friends and acquaintances. ALMOST without fail, they are all good people, good cops who care about the people around them and their community. ALMOST. Yes, I know a couple who are not those things. Of all of them, almost without fail, would rather have the body cameras-both for evidence gathering and for their own liability security. A couple I know don’t want them…and knowing them, they’re the first ones who should be wearing them, for the public’s sake.
That being said(he said oh-so humbly), I certainly would have no problem with access to the video these cameras take being completely off limits to the public(i.e. media sources) until AFTER any investigation is complete(on either side of the law). Short of that, media should only be allowed to show the full video feed beginning to end of any instance they deemed “newsworthy”. Remember when news reported just news, without having to get you all hyped up about it? Or did I just show my age?

raynestorm wrote:

In Russia, it’s the other way around. Civilians all have dash cams because of all the corrupt cops, lol, at least we aren’t that bad over here!

Actually that’s not quite correct. The civilians all have dash cams because they”re required by the insurance companies due to the high incident rate of insurance fraud. It got so bad the insurance companies had to impose a “no video of the accident, no coverage” clause to their policies.

In Mother Russia, dash cam insures you

desperado wrote:

In Mother Russia, dash cam insures you

What a country!