A Camera in Every Police Car

By TChris, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 10:37:13 PM EST
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Steve Chapman at the Chicago Tribune asks:

Nine years into the 21st Century, why isn't every squad car in America equipped with a dashboard video camera? Why do we persist in relying on the slippery, self-interested, incomplete and unverified accounts of opposing participants when we have the means to see the truth with our own eyes?

Chapman spotlights an arrest of a driver who, according to the arresting officer, was "lurching and unable to walk a straight line or stand on one foot." The squad car's video recorder showed the driver keeping his balance during his field sobriety tests.

[more ...]

Stories like this are legion among those who defend allegedly impaired drivers. When squad car cameras are available, the recordings usually tell the tale: either the driver looks drunk or he doesn't. When the picture matches the police report, the driver pleads guilty. When it doesn't, the case is often dismissed.

Some police departments have resisted the accountability that cameras bring.

After the 1991 Rodney King beating, a commission recommended that the Los Angeles Police Department mount cameras in its squad cars. It installed some but soon got rid of them.

It's so easy to get it right. Why aren't cameras mandated in all police cars?

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A Camera in Every Police Car | 5 comments (5 topical)

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I've got a problem... (5.00 / 3) (#3)
by kdog on Sun Mar 15, 2009 at 08:10:48 AM EST

with all the cameras in surveillance society, but damn right if they can fix cameras on us wherever and whenever then they should have cameras fixed on them.

Not just squad cars either...in the station, at headquarters, and don't forget the halls of Congress and the White House. Only then maybe will we all realize it's creepy to be watched simply conducting your daily business.

the notion of giving (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by pluege on Sun Mar 15, 2009 at 09:06:06 AM EST

omnipotence to police and then expecting them not to abuse that power is ludicrous, particularly inasmuch as police mostly are authoritarian personality types to begin with.

Deference to the police side in every situation without corroborating evidence is a sure fire method to false convictions.

Because Videos Document Abuse (none / 0) (#1)
by Michael Masinter on Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 11:01:28 PM EST

The abuse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWC7iSGCk-s

The appalling opinion of the eleventh circuit: http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/unpub/ops/200710988.pdf

Our certiorari petition has been distributed for conference for March 27; our first citation is to the youtube link. See Adam Liptak's Sidebar column: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/us/03bar.html

That's what kills me (none / 0) (#2)
by Mikeb302000 on Sun Mar 15, 2009 at 07:14:31 AM EST

I find it amazing that police officers have done brutality which was picked up on their own videos. They should be fired for stupidity even before determining if they're unfit because of the violence.

Who's (none / 0) (#5)
by Patrick on Sun Mar 15, 2009 at 05:59:51 PM EST

gonna pay for it? I like the camera in my car, but they ain't cheap.