There is presumably a spirited debate
going on in a St. Louis County grand jury room over what happened in Ferguson
between Michael Brown and officer Darren Wilson. What ought not be debated is
how this debate could have been ended really quickly. A body camera and/or a dash camera on the car. Where there is video, there typically isn’t
much question. That’s why the evidence
is so powerful in civil cases for slip-and-fall or other premises
liability. One side says they did one
thing, the other side says another. (CNN has provided a handy chart of what each side says in Ferguson, Missouri) You can have a credibility test,
like in Ferguson where the police brought out video of Michael Brown at a convenience store to show he’s a thug. What they don’t have is video of Mr. Brown’s
interaction with the officer. Why would
they have video of a convenience store, but not of the interaction with the
police? Because the store decided to
record their premises for crime deterrence, employee theft, and premises liability.
 |
| Officer not-friendly Shawn Glans - see below |
Studies have shown that in Rialto,California (outside Los Angeles), after cameras were put in cars and on the
body of officers, complaints against officers went way down. Why’s this? One because the officers know they’re being
recorded and act accordingly. Second,
the citizens know (or figure out quickly) that they are being recorded, and
their complaint better be real.
Some officers have taken a stance
against the cameras. The only argument that can be made against the cameras is
that they could be used for internal affairs against the officers. To that, the
only responses is “Good, that’s what it’s supposed to do.”
As Exhibit A in why that’s
necessary, we present a story from PINAC (photograph is not a crime),
from upstate New York, where an
Officer Not-Friendly Shawn Glans thought he wasn’t being recorded. He didn’t have a body or dash camera. The citizen did, though. And it caught the officer not only making an
illegal search, but hitting the citizen when he actually invoked his Fourth
Amendment rights to avoid unnecessary search and seizure without a
warrant.
With a shout-out to PINAC, here’s
a transcript of the audio (the video and audio is on the site).:
Fitch had purchased a .22 rifle earlier that day and had
left in the back seat, Roberts said.
When Deputy Glans asked to search the car, Fitch would
not give him permission, insisting he had done nothing illegal.
“We’ll get a
fucking search warrant, alright,” Glans said. “Wanna do that?””Let me see your
fucking keys,” Glans said.
“Why?” Fitch
responded.
“I’m going to
search your fucking car, that’s why,” Glans replied.
“You can’t do
that,” Fitch said.
“Wanna fucking
resist?,” Glans said before striking him.
*****
“If you have
nothing to hide in there, we’re just going to check and be on our fucking merry
way. Understand? Asshole.”
I’m going to say now that I like
police. I have multiple family members
in law enforcement. I used to work in a
jail in Arkansas. I understand how hard and stressful the job can be. You know what makes it less stressful? Knowing that you are being recorded.
When I was in the jail, everything was recorded. Any incident or altercation was on tape and
would be saved. Which meant that if someone attacked me and I defended myself,
it was on video, all of it. No question over
whose word you’d believe. Look at the
tape.
Any decent officer should want
body cameras and dash-cams. The ones doing dodgy things shouldn’t want the
cameras. And we shouldn’t want them on the street with a gun and a badge.
No comments:
Post a Comment