TheAgitator.com
New Professionalism Roundup
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008• Nice editorial in the Desert Dispatch questioning the wisdom of paramilitary police raids.
• Police in Seattle are looking to add a belt-mounted camera to their uniforms. Huge fan of this idea. Hey, why not mount them on SWAT helmets, too?
• That cop in Baltimore who yelled at the skateboarding kid seems to have a history of problems with his temper.
• The Florida deputy who dumped a paraplegic man out of his wheelchair has been suspended. That’s good news, though it’s too bad it took a swarm of national media attention for it to happen.
• A DARE “Officer of the Year” gets suspended for downloading porn on his police computer. I can think of quite a few things worse cops have done, and for which they’ve received no discipline at all.
• Last year, Boston’s mayor admirably assembled a civilian review board to investigate complaints of police misconduct. Unfortunately, the Boston Herald finds that the board meets in secret and keeps no minutes or records of its meetings.
Justice Scalia’s “new professionalism” comments in Hudson are particularly relevant here. In fact, I believe he mentioned civilian review boards in that opinion. The problem is, they tend to be stacked with pro-police panelists, lack transparency and accountability, and even when those first two criticisms don’t apply, they lack teeth. They’re rarely given subpoena power, or the power to enforce their recommendations.
*sigh*
Police in Seattle are NOT looking at using personal mounted video cameras, in fact the report that first asked them about the prospect was laughed at by the police department. (see http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/big_brothers_bigger_brother)
Currently, contract talks between the city and the police guild have broken down over calls to implement civilian oversight and accountability reforms, which the guild is rejecting… so the use of belt mounted cameras isn’t even on the table at this point… unfortunately.
The article you’re referring to is simply about the company making the cameras, which was founded by some ex-SPD officers and is based in Seattle.
From the wheelchair incident:
“Docobo also announced that two corporals and a sergeant involved are now on administrative leave with pay”
Classic.
If police are downloading porn to their computers, let’s think twice before we mount cameras to their belts. That’s something no one needs to see.
If they do end up mounting cameras to belts how is it going to record anything with the cops belly flapping over it?
The Florida deputy news is a bit out of date. We are well past the suspension. Deputy Jones has now been arrested, made bail, and resigned.
The article below adds, “Three other employees remain suspended in connection with the incident - two with pay, one without.”
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/19/Hillsborough/Embattled_deputy_resi.shtml
He didn’t just yell at the skateboarding kid, he physically assaulted him…which would land any of us “little people” in jail if we did it under similar circumstances. Hopefully internal affairs for the Baltimore PD watches their local newscasters so they could see the update.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sMOLf02YL0
It seems after the policeman turned the camera off a woman fell and got two black eyes, a couple broken teeth, a broken nose and blood pouring from her head. I wonder what she fell into?
“He didn’t just yell at the skateboarding kid, he physically assaulted him…which would land any of us “little people” in jail if we did it under similar circumstances.”
Yet officer Riviera was suspended *with pay*. Pathetic
PC:
I saw that video to.
Lets see, the video goes off, then when its turned back on, she’s obliterated in a puddle of her own blood. The photos showing her shoulder clearly depict baton blows.
She’s going to get some $$$ from that department. Even OJ’s jury could put this one together.
PC,
And the cops said they can’t prosecute for lack of evidence!?! That’s just sickening…absolutely f***ing sickening!!! You see the cop start roughing her up, you see the cop turn the camera off as it gets heated, when it comes on you see the woman lying in a pool of her own blood with injuries that are extremely unlikely to come from a simple fall and the cops say there’s not enough evidence to proceed with a prosecution!?! Bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit…because this cop’s done it before:
http://www.ktbs.com/news/Latest-developments-in-case-involving-injury-of-woman-in-police-custody-8912/
That’s four brutality incidents in four years.
Right, because you do such a bang-up job of reining in your scumbag cops when the press isn’t watching you like a hawk.
Belt camera? Surgically implanted camera tied to the cellular system with access via http://WWW.
And prosecute if the cops so much as screws their spouse in a manner unapproved by the state.
I think actually in the badge itself would be better than the belt, and they shouldn’t have the ability to turn it off.
The problem I keep seeing here is the Policeman’s union. No, maybe you can’t prosecute the cop in PC’s video, but the entire situtation should mean immediate dismissal from the force with the promise of a negative reference to any other police department.
I’m starting to think that in any incident involving a non-undercover officer and a citizen, the cop should have to present video of the incident or face dismissal if there is any question over his actions, similar to how the Post Office fires any mail carrier that crashes an LLV (the mail vehicles), regardless of fault.
But policeman’s unions that are concerned solely with keeping cops in the job and not with the quality of their brethren are an impediment to that, just like they’re an impediment to turning th “blue wall of silence” into ostracization of bad cops, instead of protecting them like it does today.
Oh, now I watch the video they say the cop was fired. Good.
Jethro,
But not prosecuted for a “lack of evidence”…which is laughable because you can clearly see on camera the cop throwing her against the wall while handcuffed and then you see the cop switch off the camera right before she ends up lying in a pool of her own blood on the floor. The authorities successfully prosecute domestic abusers all the time without the benefit of camera footage showing the run-up to the beating…so Whitehorn’s claim is at best disingenuous and at worst a blatant lie to cover for systemic problems in his department (since this guy had clear brutality issues before and never got punished or even seriously reprimanded until he made it to YouTube).
I agree, he should be prosecuted. I was really just trying to say that the bar for firing him should be much lower, because we give them so much power they should have commensurate responsibility, and any inkling of abusing that power and failing to live up to that responsibility should mean immediate dismissal. And not only should that be an integral part of any contract with a policemens union, it should be something the union supports for the sake of their own reputation. Our safety and rights trump labor law.