Clopin
04-11-2015, 04:10 PM
Should the police be required to wear cameras on their bodies, while on duty?
Police officers should not wear body cams.
I'm really surprised there's seemingly so little debate on the matter; what of the privacy of those being arrested, and by law are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law? What of the privacy of witnesses being questioned, who may want to remain anonymous for various reasons, such as there own personal safety and threat of retaliation from the accused.
Body cams are a slippery slope, that inevitably leads to Global Warming.;)
Would you be willing to wear a body cam at work?
The videos aren't going to be uploaded to YouTube or anything... There are 900'000 officers in the U.S so you're looking at over a million hours of footage (at least) every day. This isn't feasibly going to monitored by anyone and will exist as evidence in cases where it needs to be looked at; such as when lethal force has been used and there is a question as to whether it was legitimate self defense or otherwise justified or a gross use of excess force. It's important to know.
As for witnesses, this has already been solved with voice scramblers and... not showing their face, so that's a total non issue.
Innocent until proven guilty means you somehow can't be filmed? Okay, why?
And my job? Well actually I work in childcare and if there was some reason the public wanted body cams installed (for example if childcare workers were molesting or suspected of molesting their charges at an endemic rate) then I would go along with it. The comparison is pretty stupid though; the police are targeted for body cams over say, office workers, or teachers, because they carry guns and are authorized to KILL PEOPLE in extreme situations, which is totally unique to law enforcement.
How much popcorn is too much?
Really, you trust public servants to guard your privacy... are you insane?
Will the police have to tell everyone they encounter, or even pass by, that they are being recorded – with the intent that the recording may be used against them? What of filming inside an eyewitnesses house, it would be a breach of an innocent’s privacy. How long is the video retained, where and what government entity would manage the millions of hours of footage, who all has access, will 'Right to Information' laws apply?
And btw, "deadly force" is not unique to law enforcement.
Self defense laws, especially here in Florida, include deadly force... why not force everyone to wear body cams? Public safety is certainly more important than individual freedoms, isn't it?
Uh huh, better to trust public servants to wield deadly force with little to no accountability right? Police body cams aren't so the police can institute a big brother state where they film the inside of your house (the horror), they are to protect individual freedoms in the face of excessive police violence, or to protect police officers from undue recriminations when suspected of using unnecessary force, when the force was really justified.
Forcing everyone to wear a body cam at all times is not even close to analogous to having police officers wear them while on duty, performing their jobs as public servants who are given a large amount of power, including the power to use deadly force if necessary and who are required to be responsible while wielding this power.
Police officers should not wear body cams.
I'm really surprised there's seemingly so little debate on the matter; what of the privacy of those being arrested, and by law are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law? What of the privacy of witnesses being questioned, who may want to remain anonymous for various reasons, such as there own personal safety and threat of retaliation from the accused.
Body cams are a slippery slope, that inevitably leads to Global Warming.;)
Would you be willing to wear a body cam at work?
The videos aren't going to be uploaded to YouTube or anything... There are 900'000 officers in the U.S so you're looking at over a million hours of footage (at least) every day. This isn't feasibly going to monitored by anyone and will exist as evidence in cases where it needs to be looked at; such as when lethal force has been used and there is a question as to whether it was legitimate self defense or otherwise justified or a gross use of excess force. It's important to know.
As for witnesses, this has already been solved with voice scramblers and... not showing their face, so that's a total non issue.
Innocent until proven guilty means you somehow can't be filmed? Okay, why?
And my job? Well actually I work in childcare and if there was some reason the public wanted body cams installed (for example if childcare workers were molesting or suspected of molesting their charges at an endemic rate) then I would go along with it. The comparison is pretty stupid though; the police are targeted for body cams over say, office workers, or teachers, because they carry guns and are authorized to KILL PEOPLE in extreme situations, which is totally unique to law enforcement.
How much popcorn is too much?
Really, you trust public servants to guard your privacy... are you insane?
Will the police have to tell everyone they encounter, or even pass by, that they are being recorded – with the intent that the recording may be used against them? What of filming inside an eyewitnesses house, it would be a breach of an innocent’s privacy. How long is the video retained, where and what government entity would manage the millions of hours of footage, who all has access, will 'Right to Information' laws apply?
And btw, "deadly force" is not unique to law enforcement.
Self defense laws, especially here in Florida, include deadly force... why not force everyone to wear body cams? Public safety is certainly more important than individual freedoms, isn't it?
Uh huh, better to trust public servants to wield deadly force with little to no accountability right? Police body cams aren't so the police can institute a big brother state where they film the inside of your house (the horror), they are to protect individual freedoms in the face of excessive police violence, or to protect police officers from undue recriminations when suspected of using unnecessary force, when the force was really justified.
Forcing everyone to wear a body cam at all times is not even close to analogous to having police officers wear them while on duty, performing their jobs as public servants who are given a large amount of power, including the power to use deadly force if necessary and who are required to be responsible while wielding this power.