Tag: body cameras

“Why’d you have to shoot that criminal with a gun?”

So much of the body-cam debate, releasing or not releasing videos, comes down not to police behavior but to this: I know, as a lifelong police officer, that I see people on the worst day of their lives. People shouldn’t feel like when the police come to your house that what’s happened to you is…
Read more

The truth will set you free

Another case where body cams help police officers avoid false accusations of brutality from a viral video.

“Downside of Police Body Cameras: Your Arrest Hits YouTube”

Interesting article about police body cameras and privacy in the New York Times. [Thanks to JdC]

Videotaping police isn’t quite as legal as you thought

Honestly, my eyes glazed over a little bit reading (most) of this. But you should still read it. In much of the country, it’s still kind of a legal gray area about whether or not you can record police. I did an L.A. radio show a while back and a cop called in with a…
Read more

Body Cams and the mean streats of Basingstoke

The BBC has a short (2 min) and surprisingly informative clip on body cameras. But the real reason I’m posting this is because this attack on a police officer took place in Basingstoke, England. Now you may know Basingstoke for its roundabouts (traffic circles)… actually you probably have never heard of Basingstoke. And that’s OK.…
Read more

Strike against cop cameras

When I was cop, boy did I joke about things I wouldn’t want seen on youtube. It might be a tad overgenerous to say what I said were even jokes. But I laughed. I still do. When I get a message on my answering machine that says, “Pete, will you stop touching little boys and…
Read more

Score one for cop’s camera

KOB Albuquerque reports how a lapel camera protected an officer against a woman’s false accusations that he sexually assaulting her.

Stop making sh*t up!

Here are a few cases were cameras have backed up the police version. One case I’d like to highlight is the Reverend Bill Godair who claimed a North Carolina officer was aggressive in a traffic stop. The good reverend said, “I refuse to sit back and not do anything, not say anything until Ferguson, Missouri…
Read more

Utah shooting of unarmed man justified

Dillon Taylor was another unarmed white boy shot and killed by police. In (mostly) conservative circles, Dillon Taylor was compared to Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri. In some liberal circles, people believe police only shoot and kill black people. But Taylor, who is white, got almost no press (and I think the officer who shot…
Read more