Posted on 12/02/2014 7:05:40 AM PST by Kaslin
In the immediate aftermath of Michael Brown's shooting, before we learned that he had not been shot in the back, that he had not had his hands up, that he had, in fact, attempted to grab Officer Wilson's gun, I wrote in favor of requiring more police to wear body cameras. Assuming nothing about Wilson's guilt or innocence, I wrote, "Cameras cannot repeal aggression, bias, rage or stupidity -- but they can certainly diminish them. And with cameras, justice for the guilty -- cop or civilian -- is more attainable."
In the wake of the grand jury's decision not to indict Wilson, Brown's parents have called for police to wear body cameras. I remain in favor, but the outright denial displayed by so many opinion leaders in this case makes me doubtful that even video evidence would be enough to calm the next storm if the victim of violence is black and the perpetrator white.
There was video evidence in this case: the convenience store robbery and strong-arming of the owner. Any fair-minded person would concede that while the footage didn't prove that Brown attacked Wilson a few minutes later, it did severely undermine the legend that was being spun of Brown as a "gentle giant." Yet most commentators on the left either ignored the store footage or suggested it was irrelevant. Missouri's governor denounced the release of the video as a form of character assassination.
For reasons best known to themselves, Ferguson authorities chose to withhold Wilson's account of the fatal encounter for many weeks. Arguably, this silence permitted the legend of a brutal, unprovoked attack on an "unarmed black man" to proliferate more than it otherwise might have.
Still, by October, word had leaked to a number of news organizations about the autopsy reports (there were three) on Brown's body. The reports proved conclusively that Brown was not shot in the back, did not have his hands up and had been shot at close range in one hand (consistent with Wilson's story about a struggle for his gun in the patrol car). He also had enough THC in his body to cause hallucinations.
Again, fair-minded people, presented with this evidence, would give Wilson a hearing.
Finally, in the weeks leading up to the grand jury's decision, reports surfaced that multiple African-American eyewitnesses corroborated Wilson's account of the events that day in their testimony. There was a bullet hole in the police car. Brown's DNA was found inside the police car and on Wilson's body.
Lovers of the racist-cop narrative swatted these inconvenient facts away, noting that there was "conflicting testimony." Well, yes. But the testimony of those whose accounts were at variance with the forensic evidence -- such as those who testified that Brown's hands were over his head when he was killed -- is not as trustworthy as that of those whose testimony was consistent with the other evidence.
So who really failed Brown? The "system" that refused to railroad an innocent cop to appease the mob, or the aggrieved parents themselves?
One must sympathize with parents who have lost a child. The image of Lesley McSpadden's tears is piteous. But her refusal to face reality is also documented. Responding to Wilson's interview, she said, "I don't believe a word of it. I know my son far too well. He would never (attack a cop), he would never provoke anyone to do anything to him, and he would never do anything to anybody." But we have video footage of what happened at the convenience store. Doesn't that count as provoking someone?
Imagine if footage surfaced from a security camera or cellphone somewhere of Wilson making a racist remark. Would those who stoutly deny that the convenience store video tells us anything relevant about Brown say the same? Of course not. The outcry would shake the rafters. In America today, not all evidence is created equal.
I'm still for cameras on cops. Some police officers abuse their authority, and cameras would diminish that. In other circumstances, the video would provide police with proof that their actions were justified.
But we cannot imagine that body cameras will solve the "Ferguson problem." Too many are too invested in the white racism morality play to let facts -- even videotaped facts -- get in the way.
A body camera would have proved that Officer Darren Wilson acted in self defense.
Be careful of what you wish for.
A lot of LAPD were issued those and they seem to of unplug them broken the internals sorts of stuff so I would imagine compliance will be an issue
i got a call yesterday from an agency saying they have contracts for software systems to work with body cameras and are looking to staff up.
my guess is they are going to use the agitation from ferguson to push more monitoring systems... and another reason they’ll need $260m ...
just another way to bilk those of us footing the bill
No. Not the REAL “Ferguson problem” at any rate.
Video evidence will never convince the racist malcontents, but it will convince a judge of a policeman’s innocence.
No amount of evidence will change these people’s minds. It’s not about evidence or truth.
I see Eric Holder on TV right now talking about stopping racial profiling by police. That’s a flat out denial of the facts and the truth.
After the grand jury’s decision the president called for peaceful protest. That’s denial of the facts and truth. He should have told those people to go home.
holder and obama WANT a war among Americans. They need it.
Ferguson is about ignoring the truth.
Will Body Cameras Solve the Ferguson Problem?
The answer is no. The reason I say that is because there will not always be a clear camera angle of whatever is happening.
In this case, with the physical confrontation which happened, the camera would have been bouncing around. So the camera image would not have been clear. Also, assuming the camera is on the front of a policeman’s shirt, or lapel, pointing outward, the struggle for the gun which happened between Brown and Wilson would not have been shown on camera at all.
Unless the camera is at the best angle to record an entire encounter between cops and suspects, there will always be room for complaints that the camera didn’t show the entire incident, or complaints that the camera angles give a misleading view of what happened.
And if camera views of an incident are unclear or inconclusive or an entire incident is not recorded, then Sharpton and his ilk will still bitch about racism anyway.
No, because the “Ferguson Problem” is, in reality, leftists attempting to further an agenda through a false racial narrative.
I remember George Wallace; the riots in LA; they didn’t prove anything then and they won’t prove anything now...they want turmoil, hate, because they are to lazy and have never been taught in the home there is anything different...when this goes away, and it will, there will be another time, another place and again the same thing...their thugs and always will be..
Just like they ignored Big Mike robbing the store and threatening the owner.
Well that remains to be seen
Remember the Rodney King tape?
We now know that the entire tape was never shown to us on TV. The media edited and showed us only the worst parts of King getting beaten by cops. Though available, the tape of the entire encounter was never shown to the public. That entire tape showed that police were not able to subdue King with less forceful methods than the beat down shown on tape. We only saw the final events and liberal media types did that to make a political statement about racism among cops way back then.
So the existence of a video tape will not necessarily solve anything.
as long as there are miscreants like obama and holder holding such large reins of power cameras are by and large superfluous.
Obie uses two words....to encourage the rioters....someting along the lines of carry on..or carry through. That’s the sort of utterly and completely unacceptable behavior that needs to be FIXED
The only thing that will cause a change in their culture is a bunch of hungry bellies for those who refuse to be gainfully employed.
He who will not work, nor shall he eat.
If Wilson had a body camera, it might well have been disabled during the fight in the vehicle.
As mentioned, it likely wouldn’t have shown the crucial parts of the fight.
Some in-vehicle cameras would have been useful.
The minute something like that happens, Sharpton, Jackson and Holder will be out there screaming that the video has been doctored and demand their own forensic investigator who will prove it to be fake.
Then we'll be back at square one because of the racists who made the cameras.
A security camera in the convenience store pretty well established that Michael Brown wasn’t really a gentle giant, and that is ignored.
Maybe we need a Google car 360 degree camera for police cars, constantly recording.
Body cameras will only record the image in front of the camera, and sound.
That does not tell the whole story.
Plus, perps will attack the cop just to disable the camera.
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