Feb 13
The DHS secretary’s effort to avoid a shutdown is about propaganda, not transparency
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The DHS secretary’s effort to avoid a shutdown is about propaganda, not transparency
The VPD has been exploring the possibility of cameras since 2009, but expedited the timeline of a pilot after inquest jurors deemed Myles Gr
Vancouver police officers are set to begin using body-worn cameras this fall, following recommendations from a coroner’s inquest into the death of a man who was severely beaten by members of the force seven years ago.
The Vancouver Police Department has been exploring the possibility of cameras since 2009, but expedited the timeline of a pilot program after jurors at the inquest deemed Myles Gray’s death a homicide in May.
Gray was beaten by seven officers in August 2015, leaving him with injuries including hemorrhaging in his testicles and fractures in his eye socket, nose, voice box and rib. He died shortly afterward.
The homicide finding carries no legal responsibility, and none of the officers were charged.
Full article
Tagging: @politicsofcanada
Do you have a sauce on progs being anti-bodycam? The only objection I recall was that cops being investigated for malfeasance were being allowed to review THEIR OWN footage before they had to give testimony, which is ripe for abuse.
ACLU's current proposal for how bodycams should be restricted. Countless restrictions each of which might be defensible on its own, but the sum gives me the very strong impression they've decided they don't want this (unless it can be used for the criminals).
A lot of it is dictating when the cop should turn bodycam on and turn bodycam off, which is a failure waiting to happen.
Some highlights:
A law enforcement officer who is wearing a body camera shall notify the subject(s) of the recording that they are being recorded by a body camera as close to the inception of the encounter as is reasonably possible.
Arguably unenforceable in crowded areas, unless you play games with the definition of "subject". (The ACLU plays games with the definition of "subject" in the footnotes, saying it shall not include people who only "incidentally" appear in the recording.) And including this with the next point,
Body cameras shall not be used surreptitiously.
This is arguably contrary to the basic idea of cops having bodycams. They should be always-on while the cop is on duty and the cop doesn't get access to tinker with the device. It should be publicly announced and made common knowledge in a bodycam state (or other jurisdiction) that "Cops Are Recording" as a default fact about cops, so it can't be used surreptitiously.
But the ACLU decides to shoot their nominal cause in the foot by trying to micromanage when the cop is supposed to turn the bodycam on and turn the bodycam off, and this inevitably gives the cop more wiggle room to turn it on and off for his own purposes.
When interacting with an apparent crime victim, a law enforcement officer shall, as soon as practicable, ask the apparent crime victim, if the apparent crime victim wants the officer to discontinue use of the officer’s body camera. If the apparent crime victim responds affirmatively, the law enforcement officer shall immediately discontinue use of the body camera
There's a hell of a lot riding on that "as soon as practicable" clause, and a hell of a lot of exploit room for having a criminal feign victimhood to get the camera turned off and cover their buddies.
Body cameras shall not be used to gather intelligence information based on First Amendment protected speech, associations, or religion, or to record activity that is unrelated to a response to a call for service or a law enforcement or investigative encounter between a law enforcement officer and a member of the public.
No. Just have the fucking things recording by default. It turns on when the cop signs in and it turns off when the cop signs out, maybe tied to the Hours Worked at the precinct to disincentivize fudging. Then restrict access to the footage, instead of demanding the cop constantly second-guess himself and the review court about when to turn it on and turn it off.
I repeat: Giving the cop full control over his own bodycam is a failure mode waiting to happen. The ACLU is smart enough to know this. The fact that they're demanding it anyway suggests to me they want messy grounds for lawsuits.
Law enforcement officers shall not activate a body camera while on the grounds of any public, private or parochial elementary or secondary school, except when responding to an imminent threat to life or health.
Given that this is ten pages of legalese, I am not inclined to give them benefit of the doubt for the obvious loophole of "the cop activates the camera before entering the grounds".
No body camera shall be equipped with, or have its video footage or other data subjected to, facial recognition or any other form of biometric analysis.
That middle clause is dumb and doesn't belong here.
Should any law enforcement officer, employee, or agent fail to adhere to the recording or retention requirements contained in this chapter [...] (2) A rebuttable evidentiary presumption shall be adopted in favor of criminal defendants who reasonably assert that exculpatory evidence was destroyed or not captured; and (3) A rebuttable evidentiary presumption shall be adopted on behalf of civil plaintiffs suing the government, a law enforcement agency and/or law enforcement officers for damages based on police misconduct who reasonably assert that evidence supporting their claim was destroyed or not captured.
This is a sort of final clause which would be reasonable and good with always-on or at least strongly on-by-default bodycams where it takes unusual effort for the cop to interfere with his own bodycam in any way.
In a bill where the ACLU is demanding the cop turn his own bodycam off for this, turn it on for that, turn it off again for the other, turn it on except as specified in section (2)(j)(iv), turn it off if he is requested by such-and-such unless there are exigent circumstances, notwithstanding the previous it shall be turned on as specified in subsection F-yourmother, and make sure to constantly notify people in the middle of everything else you're doing, et cetera, et fucking cetera, -- it's practically guaranteed the cop will violate it.
I expect police departments reading a bill like this would just be like "No. Hell no."
Ohio County Sheriff Appreciates Benefits of Body Cams
He remembers when his cruiser was equipped with a video cassette recorder – or “VCR”. It was a full-sized appliance, and the bulky unit was stuffed and installed under his seat. After each shift, he ejected the videotape and turned it in at the office, and then he was issued a new cassette for his next patrol duty. It was awkward progress, Ohio County Sheriff Nelson Croft acknowledges now, but it was cutting-edge technology when introduced in the 1990s. Plus, at the time, Croft had no way of knowing he’d be wearing a camera on his chest before his law enforcement career was complete. The Ohio County Sheriff's Office is located on 16th Street in downtown Wheeling. “When we first got the cruiser cameras, they were really rudimentary, but they worked for what they were intended for at that time. We had the technology that we had back then, and it’s certainly advanced since,” Croft said. “But back then, we had to have a full-sized VCR in the trunk or even under our seats, and we had to turn in the tapes and keep the tapes for long periods of time when something important was recorded. “We still have our cruiser cameras and they work much better these days and the images are much clearer, too. It’s become all digital now,” he explained. “The body camera devices we’re using are for the best of everyone involved because our deputies and the citizens they interact with are recorded and the details are right there for everyone to see.” Once receiving a federal grant, Croft introduced the use of body cameras for himself and every deputy of the Ohio County Sheriff’s Office late last summer, and since, he insisted, the benefits have outweighed any inconvenience. Sheriff Croft followed in his father's footsteps when it came to a career in law enforcement. Harry was once an Ohio County deputy who had a long career as an investigator in the Upper Ohio Valley. “Because of the grant, acquiring them was a no-brainer,” Croft said. “We have a multi-year contract for them, and I do believe that in the years to come, body cams likely will be mandatory for everyone in uniform. The pros for us outweigh the cons by far. “When a deputy interacts with the public, he’s expected to turn it on so everything can be recorded until he is finished with that interaction,” explained Croft, who expects he will run for re-election in 2028. “Each day, the deputy brings their body cam back to the office and plugs it in so the footage can upload to our cloud (storage). And yes, we have had several requests for the footage, mostly from the Prosecutor’s Office.” Nelson Croft served as a deputy sheriff in Ohio County for 31.5 years before he was elected as the sheriff of Ohio County. Seeing Is Believing The cruiser cameras were positioned in an automobile’s front window, so law enforcement officers were trained to conduct any interaction with an individual close to the vehicle’s front bumper. Those occasions included field-based questioning and also field sobriety tests when a LEO suspected driving under the influence of alcohol. Now, though, the body cams are positioned center-chest and often provide perfect perspectives during those same interactions. Once the technology was received last July, Croft confirmed, each of Ohio County’s deputies was thoroughly trained so they understood how best to utilize the equipment. Traffic along I-70's "Two-Mile Hill" is monitored all-day, everyday because of issues like speeding, drug trafficking, and human trafficking, according to Sheriff Croft. The cameras proved their worth quickly, too. “We phased in the cameras in shifts over three days, and it was a four-hour training so we could learn everything about the equipment,” Croft reported. “After that, we got our cameras and they deployed from the office and the first call was a violent domestic situation. It was a strangulation case, and the female had to fight off her attacker and then she shot him with a pepperball gun. “Kudos to her for being prepared to protect herself and not dying in this situation,” the sheriff said. “When our deputies arrived, he was tearing up her property, and then he took a swing at the deputy. With the cameras recording, the male was taken in custody and thanks to the cameras, he can’t claim that our deputy did anything wrong.” A common police report includes space for an individual’s critical information and also for a narrative that is completely by the responding deputy, and while the LEO does their best to describe situations, the displays offered by the body cameras consistently offer better definition. Croft (front row, second from left) was a young deputy under former sheriff Tom Burgoyne when cruiser cams were introduced in Ohio County. Sheriff Croft explains it this way. “Before the cameras, we would put in our reports that a victim had a red neck from the altercation, but to watch the incident in real-time is something completely different. You can see the red neck, sure, but pretty often you can also see how a victim got the red neck,” the sheriff explained. “What better evidence could you have than the video recording? “And as for taking a swing at the deputy, there's no way he can say that our deputies had him down and were kicking him because it’s now all recorded. If they didn't have the body cameras, though, telling lies like that would still be a possibility,” Croft added. “I know our deputies do the job the way they’re supposed to protect and serve the people of Ohio County, so that’s why it’s easy for me to say that the body cameras are working out well for our department.” Read the full article
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Oh good gods I hate the surveillance over everything.
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