STL Cop warns officers to turn off dashcam while arresting suspect

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  • Libertarian01

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    How about ANY person that receives tax dollars, while working, is denied right to privacy? Cameras everywhere.


    I think this ^^^ would be awesome!

    One year my mother lost her job. She looked around and found a job typing up court transcripts. I don't know all the details but from what I remember she put what happened on tape in courts onto paper by typing it out.

    She really mystified her supervisor. You see, she was typing up about 9 - 10 court cases a day. Her coworkers, regular government employees, were doing about 3 - 4 court cases per day. The supervisor began to wonder how it was a woman who had been out of office work for years could come in and start doing double the amount of work that the regulars did every day...???

    I would love to see how those workers spent the rest of their time when they were on our dime!!!

    I am not overlooking the "civilian" workplace. However, in the civilian workplace there is a thing operating called the free market and competition. Most of the folks who are in it understand that failure to achieve the goal(s) every day can mean failure to receive a paycheck tomorrow. Thus there is a greater level of motivation, overall.

    Regards,

    Doug

    Caveat: I am not against privacy. ONLY when on duty. Bathroom breaks, regular breaks, lunch not included. But when on company time, yeah.
     

    Kutnupe14

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    Does this mean we can put cameras on soldiers too? Seems that would curb a lot of disputes about military misconduct. Lots of guys would be exonerated when people make false claims.
     

    Scout

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    I thought the cams were supposed to be for officer defense? I mean, if you have to turn the camera off to arrest somebody, wouldnt that be a sign you're about to so something you shouldn't?
     

    2001FZ1

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    Are you guys actually surprised by the officer's actions? As long as the officer has the ability to turn off the camera, they will be off at the critical moment.
    Why do you think they still run VHS quality dash cameras when you can get 1080p on a $100 phone? Deniability!! Cameras can only help good cops and hurt bad cops. If I was an officer, I would have my own personal camera and or audio recording going all the time to protect myself. My wife has a camera going all the time at her school for the same reason.
     

    CTS

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    Are you guys actually surprised by the officer's actions? As long as the officer has the ability to turn off the camera, they will be off at the critical moment.
    Why do you think they still run VHS quality dash cameras when you can get 1080p on a $100 phone? Deniability!! Cameras can only help good cops and hurt bad cops. If I was an officer, I would have my own personal camera and or audio recording going all the time to protect myself. My wife has a camera going all the time at her school for the same reason.

    And where will you store all of this data? Should each car be equipped with several TB of storage? The camera's quality feed really is a technical limitation. Sure you can get 1080p out of your camera, but exactly how much video do you think it can hold? A couple of hours if you're lucky.
     

    Mr Evilwrench

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    We had recorders on all the buses by the time I stopped driving. My last bus had three cameras, all recording, with audio. The drivers have no control; the recording starts with the engine and continues for some time after shutdown. Now, we didn't just store it all, but that's a matter of policy, not so much cost or technology. If there was a question or complaint, they'd download the video for examination by the appropriate people. I have a fully functioning 1080p camcorder that will fit in a glass of water. If you're recording in mpeg2 (compressed), which is what's on DVDs and satellite TV, there's something you may have heard of, called .mp3, which is the audio layer. A manufactured two layer DVD records about 4 or so hours of a/v on 9GB. 32TB SD card will last you a long time.

    I have a DVR the size of a deck of cards, with an LCD monitor on it, and it takes micro SD. It may just be NTSC, but it's a lot better NTSC than 1985 VHS technology, and the cameras make beautiful pictures. Don't get too wrapped up in bits. If you're right there with the subject, the quality should be more than adequate.

    A police recorder could come on with the lights but no option by the officer, or be turned on and off if there was something interesting to see. You definitely don't have to have someone sit down and examine 120 million minutes of video; incidents have time stamps, and it's trivial to go straight to what you want. Keeping all of it would be more expensive than keeping incidents, but it may make sense to review policy. Just some random thoughts.

    The point is, if you're the good guy, the video will protect you; if you're the bad guy, it will protect the good guy from you, and as much as it seems to cost, it can be a truckload of cash cheaper than court time, legal fees, settlements, the lot.
     

    2001FZ1

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    Denny347

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    Are you guys actually surprised by the officer's actions? As long as the officer has the ability to turn off the camera, they will be off at the critical moment.
    Why do you think they still run VHS quality dash cameras when you can get 1080p on a $100 phone? Deniability!! Cameras can only help good cops and hurt bad cops. If I was an officer, I would have my own personal camera and or audio recording going all the time to protect myself. My wife has a camera going all the time at her school for the same reason.
    Total and utter bull**** you are pulling out of your ass. Video is public record, there will be times it needs turned off. Interview with a child molest victim, rape victim, during the initial investigation should remain private. Me eating, talking on my personal phone, taking a crap, etc...no need to record that. You realize that if I had a rider with me, I have to ask permission from a homeowner for them to follow me into the house on a investigation, privacy issues. Record it and you will have invited the world into your house. If I grab your your SSN card, driver's license, etc, and the camera sees it, it's now public record and a FOIA request will make it public. There is a department on the west coast going though this right now. They were ordered to hand a citizen ALL of their videos. Something like 15k hours of recordings that he can do with what he wants. Post it on Youtube, Facebook, whatever. Look, I could not care less if I am required to wear a camera. I'm not doing anything I need to hide. However, there are huge unknowns that could make or break a mass rollout of these things. It's rarely as easy as the internet likes to think.
     

    hoosierdoc

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    Apr 27, 2011
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    Galt's Gulch
    ^^^ yep

    i work in healthcare where there is a huge massive push to document absolutely everything. This is driven by government panels wanting to publish how well hospitals do things. Really it's just a way to slash reimbursement.

    We spend a HUGE amount of time documenting stuff that has zero impact on patient care. This slows down patient throughput, makes us hire more people, ticks everyone off, etc.

    just because we CAN document a lot of things now doesn't mean we SHOULD
     

    KellyinAvon

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    Some officers are forbidden to use personally-owned cameras. Denny, Phylo, VUPD, and I would all face disciplinary action if found to have violated IMPD policy on the matter.

    No selfies with the suspects? I'm thinking cops, a perp in cuffs, a pile of cash and a big bag of confiscated drugs would be what your Public Affairs-types would love to send to the local media.
     
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