Posted on 08/22/2014 1:13:15 AM PDT by EinNYC
n the wake of the controversial caught-on-camera chokehold death of Eric Garner, the city’s public advocate is pushing to equip city cops with body cams to record all interactions with the public.
“We’ve got a tool at our disposal, which is used in other jurisdictions, that in fact can improve police-community relations,” Public Advocate Letitia James said Thursday.
“The question is why it isn’t implemented in New York City.”
The waterproof three-ounce cameras James demonstrated, worn on a lapel or belt, would record audio and visual for up to eight hours on a single battery charge.
On July 17, a bystander filmed Staten Island cops putting Garner in a chokehold, which are banned by the NYPD. The city medical examiner declared Garner’s death a homicide and Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan said last week he will present the case to a grand jury to see if criminal charges are merited.
In an appearance on MSNBC last week, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said body cameras are in the pipeline for the force.
"That’s where we’re going in the NYPD,” Bratton said. “We're working very closely with the LAPD, who’s about a year ahead of us in putting cameras in place.”
The federal judge who handled the stop-and-frisk class action lawsuit has ordered the NYPD to mount a pilot body cam program in one precinct in each borough.
James is pushing for a bigger pilot program in precincts with the highest rates of crime and complaints.
Last month, Mayor De Blasio said he approved of the cameras but said the technology isn’t there yet.
“It’s not something that has been perfected,” De Blasio said at a July 28 press conference.
“It’s something that has to be worked on quite a bit to be used on the kind of scale we’re talking about here.”
The cameras would cost about $5 million if given to 15% of the police force, according to a study the public advocate issued Thursday. The price would go up to $32 million to expand the program citywide.
James claims the expense would be more than made up for by a drop in costly lawsuits against the NYPD. Payouts in settlements and judgments from such cases totalled $152 million last year.
“In cases where police officers are falsely accused of police misconduct, it would exonerate them,” James said of the cams.
“There will be no room for discussion and misinterpretation of the facts.”
But police union head Patrick Lynch is not convinced.
“We are reserving our decision on body cameras until we see some real evidence of their effectiveness and impact on the officers,” Lynch said in a statement earlier this month.
James said police misconduct complaints have already decreased in other police departments using the body cams. In Rialto, Calif, complaints of excessive force dropped from 24 in 2012 to just three in 2013, after all 75 beat cops started wearing cameras.
Cams are already carried by cops in Albuquerque and Salt Lake City and pilot programs are underway in Seattle, Houston, Oakland and other cities.
The overly litigious society we live in forces everyone's actions to be monitored to provide protection against scurrilous claims of misdeeds.
Cameras could protect cops and citizens, and I have no problem with that.
Well from my standpoint I can’t tell you how frustrating it is when we have police reports with nothing to corroborate the account except the word if officers.
That frustrated me when I was a prosecutor every but as much as it does now that I want to make money (and be my own boss) and am a defense attorney.
In a world with so much video capability I’m often stunned at how many times the equipment failed, wasn’t turned on, or whatever the excuse of the day is.
The fact is that cops who are up to no good don’t want anyone filming them, let alone cameras that keep them accountable to the people they supposedly serve.
I have applauded numerous cops for following the rules and letting their dash cams get the whole altercation that way I can call BS when my client lies to me. Those are cops that aren’t afraid of the truth in what they are doing.
It’s the ones who consistently go out of their way to not get recorded that worry me.
That said, bad cops will find ways to disrupt accountability methods.
I have some police friends who actually want video so nobody has to take their word. They can just run the video and say see I told you so.
You are one of the good cops I refer to in my post no. 3.
Thanks for the good work.
We need more out there like you.
What would a well-behaved cop have to fear from cameras?
It strikes me that body cameras might not show much. Chest or shoulder mounted cameras in an altercation might be too close and just show blurred scuffling or even black screen if pressed against body parts or clothing. Ear mount?
I do think it might be good protection for officers to have a miniature Blutooth wide-angle video and sound camera mounted on their firearms, possibly built into their laser sights—they make them small enough now—that activates automatically whenever the gun is withdrawn from the holster and records to a secure remote digital system—preferably away from the patrol car—until it is replaced into the holster.
That way the officer has an complete record to show that the shoot is a righteous shoot. No quibbling about "was he charging and attacking, or running away, standing, or kneeling with his hands in the air when shot ever again!" You would not be placed in the limbo of "he said, but the perp/witness/anyone else said" after the fact. The recording would tell the unvarnished truth, good or bad.
I ride with them regularly I am not a cop. Those I know are honest people just trying to support their families.
Cameras have saved the careers of many a good cop and ended frivolous abuse lawsuits against cities in many cases. Smart (and honest) officers realize that the camera is actually their friend. On top of that, it can tell the story of what happened if they’re not able to.
Ok gotcha.
Well, boo-hoo. Like it or not, it’s an idea whose time has come.
My dept just took delivery of a sbipment of them. Gonna have to use them,with every contact with public. Funny though...the administration wont have to. I hope they enjoy the video of,me in the mens room...
Stop shooting at me for a sec...i have to activate my camera...
Filming his wee wee when he is on break? Oh wait queers like that.
“The overly litigious society we live in forces everyone’s actions to be monitored to provide protection against scurrilous claims of misdeeds.”
This says it all and sort of refutes your argument IMHO> If I’m a cop I want this in my union contract for my own protection.
If the city wont provide it, I’d buy my own. The hassle of dealing with trumped up charges of police brutality by race hustlers or just the ordinary criminal simply isn’t worth the stress on the family and possible personal financial ruin.
And if it curtails some rogue cops from going over the line in their interactions with citizens I’m good with that too.
Having a permanent record that protects everyone’s rights is why so many jurisdictions have put cameras on their cars. Now that the technology is there for small personal body cameras we should use it.
>>that activates automatically whenever the gun is withdrawn from the holster and records to a secure remote digital system—preferably away from the patrol car—until it is replaced into the holster. <<
I want to see why the cop thought it was necessary to withdraw his weapon from his holster. That is what needs to be shown, not the shooting.
>>. Funny though...the administration wont have to.<<
Be sure that you have the camera on when talking to anyone who isn’t wearing one and that includes administration.
B4, In a perfect world, we would have a "way back machine" and we could tune it in and see what transpired.
But, what we have is the narrative that Brown attempted to attack the officer in the car, and tried to get a hold of the gun. The firearm discharged in the car. That is felony assault. From that point, the officer was duty bound to arrest Brown by any means necessary.
The officer is authorized to use whatever force is necessary to accomplish the arrest of the violent offender and to protect himself. From what I've seen, the police officer is a man about 5'9" and 185 lbs. Brown was 6'4" and 320 lbs.
"God made men, but Samuel Colt made them equal."
When facing someone who has shown aggressiveness, you need an equalizer.
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