Police body cameras? The entire article can be found by following the link provided. I didn’t post it in the original T/F thread because I was concerned that it would be overlooked. Imho it is the obvious solution. It helps the police and public alike.
There’s only been one long-term study done on effectiveness of police body cameras, but the results were striking. In Rialto, Calif., between February 2012 and July 2013, the Rialto police had an 88 percent decline in filed complaints after just half of its uniformed officers started wearing body cameras. The officers also used force 60 percent less often, according to the study.
The theory behind the cameras is cops will behave better if they know they are being watched, but police say the cameras change citizen behavior just as often. In Fort Worth, Texas, where the police department launched a voluntary program in 2012, police leaders say they have seen minimal change in the way officers act on the streets.
“We have had several complaints that were unfounded or never made official due to the review of the video,” Forth Worth police spokesman Daniel Segura said. “Citizens decided not to pursue allegations when they were shown the video or told that it existed.” The Forth Worth Police Department recently spent about $679,000 for 195 additional cameras and video storage over the next five years.
Experiences are similar in two Minnesota cities — Burnsville and the Iron Range town of Gilbert — which were some of the first departments to start wearing body cameras.
Yes, google-glasses for all people at all times. Flood the world with information, just to make sure it is all safe and no one misbehaves, wanders out of their territory, or lives past their schedule.
Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old Tottenham resident, was shot and killed by police in Tottenham, North London, England, on 4 August 2011. The Metropolitan Police stated that officers were attempting to arrest Duggan on suspicion of planning an attack, and that he was in possession of a handgun. Duggan died from a gunshot wound to the chest. The circumstances of Duggan’s killing resulted in public protests in Tottenham[1] which, fuelled by poverty and racial tension, led to conflict with police and escalated into riots across London and other English cities.[2] This in turn is widely seen as the proximate cause of the 2011 England riots.
Duggan was under investigation by Operation Trident, a subdivision of the Metropolitan Police. Duggan took possession of a BBM Bruni Model 92 handgun (a blank-firing replica of a Beretta 92 converted to fire live rounds), fifteen minutes before he was shot, from Kevin Hutchinson-Foster. A trial of Hutchinson-Foster in September–October 2012 yielded new evidence and reports on the case, but the jury failed to reach a verdict. At his re-trial, on 31 January 2013, Hutchinson-Foster was convicted of supplying Duggan with the gun. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been investigating the case but has delayed release of its report for more than a year. A public inquest on the Duggan killing began on 16 September 2013, and ended on 8 January 2014 with an 8–2 majority concluding that Duggan’s death was a lawful killing.[3]
The official story of Duggan’s death has undergone numerous changes, drawing criticism and suspicion from Duggan’s family, residents of Tottenham, and other supporters. These critics accuse police of misconduct and of failing to cooperate with investigating Duggan’s death. Shortcomings in the police response have also been blamed for stoking the riots, and for fueling ongoing discontent, with Duggan’s supporters stating “there can be no peace without justice”
Yes, that picture accomplishes your goals much better than does mine.
Whatever the case, here is reality- you chose not to mention in your story of him that he was a black gangbanger. You know you left it out, you know why you left it out, and that makes fair discussion between you and I impossible, since of course fair discussion of reality is not your aim.
I will say this- the fact that you left it out, and the reasons why you felt like that was the right thing to do, are at the absolute center of how to ACTUALLY prevent incidents like this. You encourage a culture where people are considered victims because of their demographics regardless of reality, and one of your mechanisms is to selectively forget certain bits of information while emphasizing others.
Also, it’s proper form to cite a source if you’re going to directly quote it like that, eh?
The damn picture doesn’t matter and Duggan’s alleged criminal activity isn’t really relevant. The question was whether police body cameras would have helped prevent rioting. Perhaps the police account of Duggan’s death would have been confirmed with the cameras and there would have been less cause then for public unrest.
Right now, the prevailing belief in police station locker rooms is that if they ever end up in court for doing something wrong, that it’s just a formality and they’ll get paid leave and be back on the force once things cool off.
We need that culture to be more along the lines of, “if you take a person’s life without justification, or when it’s not necessary, you’ll be charged with murder and tried with the same scrutiny as anyone else”.
The police in general seem to think that they are above the law. As long as they think that, they’ll keep doing these kinds of things because there apparently are no consequences for them.
No law can ever serve the purpose, if its execution would not be done honestly. This can be reversed too.
There would not be any need of the law, if all people would behave honestly. The problem is not in the law but the people who are executing it.
The fault is not in the police establishment, but in the society, as a whole. Most people do not do what they should do, whether policemen or not. So, why blame only them?
Circumstances (power, need, desire) corrupts all people. Does every citizen does exactly what is expected from him?
Can we all say honestly that we have not done anything such that we should not have done?
Correcting policing is not the solution. Correct the society, the police will be corrected by default. More laws do not help the cause. They make things worse.
Laws are there because people are not wise enough to behave or understand what is right or wrong on their own. The real solution is to improve the wisdom of the society, niether more laws nor putting camera on the chest of policemen. They will find the way to cheat that too. Then we will have to find something else and this will go on and on.
The second problem is that as soon as one talks about learning wisdom, the same people use to start shouting from the foor that their liberty is taken away.
Nevertheless, as i see it, the time will come when people will realize that they cannot have all. They have to sacrifice the untamed portion of their liberty to buy some peace. That is the only solution.
That threhold is not far away. My guess is that most of us would be able to see that happening.
You appear to be living in the past. Police are no longer "accountable to the public.
It was decided that when an officer is on trial, he is to be “judged by a panel of his peers”. And those peers are of course, “other police officers”. It is a segregation of authority thing, “We, the righteous, are not subject to the laws of the unrighteous” - extremely anti-American.
One example case was of an officer in Dallas Texas who ran down a suspect, tide his hands as he laid on the pavement, then stomped on his neck, killing him. Then he planted a gun on him. The court discovered that the man had done no wrong at all and wasn’t even suspected of anything. They found that the gun was in fact planted by the officer(s) (two were involved). So they harshly convicted the officers with 6 months (or 3, I forgot now) suspension for blatant murder and defrauding the court and the public. The sentence of course, was decided by the other police officers.
Geee, what could possibly be wrong with this scheme??
The reality? You posed a question. When I read the question the case of Mark Duggan came to my mind. I googled Mark Duggan. Wikipedia gave the information I presented to you.
What is a black gangbanger? It is not a term I am familiar with.
As stated, I have no idea what a black gangbanger is. Enlighten me, please. The way you use the expression makes it sound like a derogatory term. As a matter of interest, why did you respond with a photo?
This is the UK. 1965: capital punishment suspended. 1969: capital punishment abolished.
That’s a first. Lectured by a racist with regard to proper form.
No, the question was “How to prevent a Trayvon/Ferguson incident”. Let me be less coy.
The real incident we need to prevent is not cops shooting fucking gangbangers. The real incident we need to prevent is the riots that ensue. Media portrayls of incidents like this where you JUST DECIDE to use pictures where the perp is 14 years old and wearing a Christmas sweater, JUST DECIDE that his long history of violent and drug crimes (including being brought in on attempted murder charges more than once) aren’t worthy of mention…this is why you get a riot every time a police officer does their job and a black person is involved.
“Local man with history of gang violence killed in altercation with police”
is what happened, but that doesn’t sell ad space and it doesn’t generate donations to the NAACP so we gotta sex it it up. Add details, remove details, change it all around until, if you actually believe the hype, why WOULDN’T you riot? And then you got the nerve to say Duggan’s criminal activity isn’t relevant. It’s sure as shit relevant that it isn’t brought up.
A member of an organized crime gang, the term being usually but not always reserved for urban youth. Why are you asking me questions you already know the answer to, mr.R?
I’m not. There can be more than one answer. I was asking for your opinion. Faust used to mention that most confusion was just confusion in language, and I have a tendency to agree. So I was asking for your take on what a gangbanger is so that I could get a better idea of where any differences might exist in our views on the matter.
Flood the world with information, just to make sure it is all safe and no one misbehaves, wanders out of their territory, or lives past their schedule.
