ARE POLICE BODY CAMERAS REALLY THE ANSWER TO ‘POLICE BRUTALITY’?

A British study on the use of body cameras by Rialto, California cops showed a 59 percent reduction in the use of force and an 87 percent drop in citizen complaints

In the wake of Michael Brown’s shooting, Al Sharpton and Brown family attorney Benjamin Crump have demanded that all American cops wear body cameras. President Obama, evidently heeding the advice of Sharpton, his go-to-guy on matters of race, has announced that he will provide local police agencies with $75 million in grants for body cameras to protect Americans from the unjust use of excessive or deadly force by the police.

A year-long British study on the use of body cameras by Rialto, California police officers conducted by Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology seems to justify Sharpton’s demands. Compared to the previous year, the study showed that since Rialto’s cops started wearing body cameras, the use of force by the police dropped by 59 percent while citizen complaints against the police dropped by 87 percent.

Here is what Jerome Korda, a former homicide investigator and now a crime scene consultant, told the Examiner:

"It stands to reason that when individuals are aware they're being recorded then those involved will want to make certain they act properly in most cases. That's especially true when we are dealing with police and civilians who may be suspected of illegal acts. The mere fact there's a tape, will help the cop when a suspect claims police misconduct or brutality. And the bad guys don't want a jury seeing them in a video being belligerent and threatening towards a police officer.”

"And the bad guys don't want a jury seeing them in a video being belligerent and threatening towards a police officer.” Come on Korda, get real! Those who are prone to get belligerent with a cop are not going to be concerned about what a jury will think of them. They're just doing what comes natural to them.

The Examiner also quotes former NYPD officer Iris Aquino as saying:

"The old adage, 'be careful what you wish for,’ might be appropriate especially if the videos show the public what cops see everyday on the job. So many so-called civil-rights activists may end up with egg on their faces and their credibility compromised.”

Aquino may be onto something there. But are police body cameras really the answer to ‘police brutality’? At first glance the answer would appear to be yes. But, and this is a big but, what happens when the cops have become so used to wearing body cameras that they are no longer conscious of them?

I am sure that during the first year of their use, those Rialto cops were quite aware that during any confrontation with citizens, their conduct was being recorded by the body cameras. But will they still be so conscious of the cameras, let’s say the third year or beyond? Personally, I doubt it.

I am reminded of the cameras that have been installed in the booking areas of law enforcement agencies and inside detention facilities. There have been countless recordings of cops kicking the shit out of prisoners being booked into jail facilities. There have also been quite a few recordings of detention officers doing the same to jail or prison inmates. The cops and detention officers had to know that their actions were being recorded by cameras, yet they chose to kick the shit out of people anyway.

Were those cops and detention officers just plain stupid for letting themselves be recorded using excessive force? Stupidity has nothing to do with it. They had simply gotten so used to being recorded that they were no longer conscious of the presence of those cameras.

Will the same thing eventually happen with officers wearing body cameras? Stay tuned to see.

And there is something else to consider. Today cops are fully aware that their every move may be or is being recorded by citizens with their cell phone cameras. That has not stopped the use of excessive force. When an officer gets real pissed off, his behavior is controlled by his emotions, not by his good judgment, and then the cameras be damned.