Police Body-Mounted Cameras: With Right Policies in Place, a Win For All

[jimmy olsen]

Probably will cut down on incidents like these.

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/08/woman_calls_911_for_diabetic_fiancee_cops_arrive_shoot_him_dead/

Woman calls 911 for diabetic fiancé, cops arrive, shoot him dead

A black man in Georgia was reportedly gunned down by police, while his hands were up and his family looked on
By Natasha Lennard

Topics: Police, Georgia, 9/11, Police shooting, unarmed, Police brutality, Diabetes, Race, News


When Alicia Herron of Georgia called 911 to get emergency medical help for her diabetic fiancé, Jack Lamar Roberson, she did not expect the police to show up. And she certainly did not expect them to shoot Roberson dead as he held his hands up.

While police claim Roberson came toward them "aggressively armed" with a knife, his family — witnesses to the incident — deny the police's version of events. Roberson's mother said the family didn't own "two decent knives." Reason.com reported that "His mother and his fiancée both witnessed the shooting, and their 8-year-old daughter was apparently in the home too."

Herron gave the following version of events to a local new station:

    He didn't have nothing in his hands at any time or period at all before they came, any time while they were here, anything. They just came in and shot him. He didn't say nothing, the police didn't say nothing, anything, it was like a silent movie. You couldn't hear anything, all you could hear were the gun shots go off and I seen them going into his body and he just fell down.

The tendency of police to respond to 911 calls seeking medical assistance has in all too many occasions led to shootings. Last year, in a striking example, a mentally ill double-amputee in a wheelchair was shot dead by a Houston Police Department patrolman for waving a shiny pen in the air.

In an investigative report, which discovered that half the individuals shot by police have some sort of mental illness (not the case in the Roberson shooting), the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram listed a string of perturbing, trigger-happy police shootings:

    In Saginaw, Mich., six police officers gun down a homeless, schizophrenic man in a vacant parking lot when he refuses to drop a small folding knife. In Seattle, Wash., a police officer fatally shoots a mentally ill, chronic alcoholic as he crosses the street, carving a piece of wood with a pocket knife. In Portland, Ore., police check on a man threatening suicide and wind up killing him with a single gunshot in the back.

Within a week of D.C. cops shooting dead an unarmed woman in a car on Capitol Hill, her toddler in the passenger seat, these all-too-common incidents of police shootings — usually carried out with impunity, often involving black victims — must be recognized as an abysmal pattern in U.S. policing, and far from one-off instances. The officers involved in Roberson's shooting are on paid leave.

[CountDeMoney]

"Allegedly" while his hands were up and his family looked on.  "Allegedly."

Last year, in a striking example, a mentally ill double-amputee in a wheelchair was shot dead by a Houston Police Department patrolman for waving a shiny pen in the air.

That's why pens have caps.

Within a week of D.C. cops shooting dead an unarmed woman in a car on Capitol Hill, her toddler in the passenger seat, these all-too-common incidents of police shootings

Don't see what a threat to the White House has to do with anything.

usually carried out with impunity, often involving black victims — must be recognized as an abysmal pattern in U.S. policing, and far from one-off instances.

Lulz, "impunity".

[DGuller]

Probably will cut down on incidents like these.

Diabetic shocks?  Yeah, for that guy anyway.

[jimmy olsen]

"Allegedly" while his hands were up and his family looked on.  "Allegedly."

Well, if the cops had a camera on them, then there'd be no need to use  the word allegedly. Everyone would no whether it was true or not.

[Barrister]

I just came from a info session by the local police to the Crown's office.

Take away lesson - these things are seriously constrained by battery life.  At present the units they have can only record approx. 90 minutes of video (though they can store much, much more).  So while they will be useful, there is no possibility of them being ubiquitous at this point, and lots of moments are going to go uncaptured.

[fhdz]

Doing things right often leaves no paper trail and brings in no revenue.

It brings in no revenue, but it certainly reduces costs.

[Neil]

Doing things right often leaves no paper trail and brings in no revenue.

It brings in no revenue, but it certainly reduces costs.

Probably not.

[Kleves]

Probably will cut down on incidents like these.

I'm always skeptical about these kinds of stories. No matter what happened, there is no real incentive to do anything other than claim the police murdered their family member in cold blood/without justification, is there?

[garbon]

Probably will cut down on incidents like these.

I'm always skeptical about these kinds of stories. No matter what happened, there is no real incentive to do anything other than claim the police murdered their family member in cold blood/without justification, is there?

Yeah, black people are generally unreliable.

[katmai]

I just came from a info session by the local police to the Crown's office.

Take away lesson - these things are seriously constrained by battery life.  At present the units they have can only record approx. 90 minutes of video (though they can store much, much more).  So while they will be useful, there is no possibility of them being ubiquitous at this point, and lots of moments are going to go uncaptured.

that answered my one question as to battery life As the all popular go pro cameras have roughly 2-2 1/2 hours before they need to be recharged.

[DGuller]

Can't you just hang a car battery on the cop's utility belt? 

[Capetan Mihali]

Can't you just hang a car battery on the cop's utility belt? 

They already have the Maglite, no need for something to batter people with.

[Kleves]

Yeah, people are generally unreliable.

FYP. Of course, if the cops did just roll in and straight-up murder the guy in front of his family for no reason, they would have no reason to tell the truth about it either.

[The Brain]

Isn't the point of life to batter ourselves?

[Capetan Mihali]

Isn't the point of life to batter ourselves?

The batter is the enemy of the good.