TheAgitator.com
Did the Cameras Go on Strike?
Sunday, January 18th, 2009A jury has found that officers with the Prince George’s County, Maryland (where else?) police department used excessive force when they apprehended and arrested a TV reporter who was investigating possible improper use of public resources. I don’t know the much about the case other than what’s in the article, and from the article, it sound like the jury got it right–too much force, though the decision to puller her over may not have been out of bounds.
But it’s the last sentence of the article I found particularly interesting:
In all, nine police cars from Prince George’s and Cheverly responded. Although most of the squad cars were equipped with video cameras, police said none of them were working that day, Pavsner said.
So “most” squad cars in PG County have video cameras. Yet at the scene of a controversial arrest, with nine cars at the scene, not a single squad car camera was “working that day?”
LOL. This is ridiculous. They need cams with wireless web feeds that put those recording out of the reach of the agency they are meant to supervise.
I bet they worked just fine. The failure was after the fact.
Actually, they need to simply make it a felony to disable the camera in a patrol car, and it should be an automatic suppression of all evidence and testimony if a camera is disabled during a stop.
Like most of what I propose, there is *no way* an honest cop can argue with the above.
Actually, what happened was a low-yield nuke went off nearby and the EM pulse knocked out all the cameras, thereby…
geez, what a load of bullshit. I guarantee that all nine cameras malfunctioning is statistically IMPOSSIBLE. As usual, they fucked up and don’t want to admit it.
just like when the goofball says, ‘My dog ate my homework,’ all the people in the classroom roll their eyes. Everyone knows it’s stupid, but it’s a lot of work trying to prove the obvious lie and this kid is very stubborn and he isn’t very bright… Hell, he probably shot his own dog!
I totally agree with Michael Cheney. The video cameras should be tamper proof “black boxes”. It should be a felony to disable one, or cover the lens. They should always be operational when the squad car is on patrol. There should be regulations prohibiting the operation of a squad car if the camera is disabled or malfunctioning. There need to be standards for archiving the data.
I’m no math whiz, but I’ve got to agree with Andrew and the other commenters that this is beyond probablility. Dash cams should be standard issue in ANY department, and they should be checked before every shift to ensure that they are working properly. If they just happen to “stop working” during an incident like the one discussed above, that should merit disciplinary action. This case also reinforces the need for departments to begin experimenting with “body cameras.” The technology is there. Now is the time to start using it.
They must make it mandatory for the camera to be active in a patrol car all the time, along with having the officer Mic’d. There needs to be an outside agency composed of members of the community or something, and they are the only ones with the key to unlock the drive from the patrol car. They take the video drive in, archive it, and sit down with a member of the department and review what can be tossed out (The 30 minutes of an officer sitting in his car having a lunch break for example) and what shouldn’t.
I’m not sure why everyone finds it so unlikely that the cameras really weren’t working. Governments regularly buy defective equipment/software for outrageous prices, and then fail to give proper training on those few pieces of equipment that do work as intended. (No money left in the training budget, we spent it all on the widget). Equipment/software is also usually bought piecemeal, with little or no thought to how it will integrate with already existing systems.
And I think we can be pretty sure that, had the cops managed to collect all the cameras that caught that BART shooting on New Years, it would turn out that none of them were working either.
In San Diego police don’t want PVS systems (video cameras) in their cars even though it’s easy to get federal grants to have them installed. In my opinion it’s because they would have to make their reports more factual and couldn’t “create” probable cause. (Couldn’t start reports with “subject consented to a search of their vehicle” if they didn’t etc) Kind of silly because in rare instances cameras might actually show the cops weren’t lying but when it shows they are, they could just do what the Port George cops did and say they weren’t working.
What was the basis for the felony stop? Did this reporter have a warrant? Did she just fit the description of someone who did? Does anyone know?
There’s so much wrong with law enforcement all across this country on so many levels that it’s hard to know where to start. However, Prince Georges county, MD would be a mighty tempting first choice.
“There’s so much wrong with law enforcement all across this country on so many levels that it’s hard to know where to start. However, Prince Georges county, MD would be a mighty tempting first choice.”
I know a good place to start.
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/01/frederick-case-puts-police-tactics-trial-too
Just a suggestion. :)
I don’t think it’s all that unbelievable that the cameras weren’t working. All that would have to happen is that no camera was ever repaired.
#11 Cops are paranoid. Any time a cop think he’s being followed, the follower has a high-powered rifle that will shoot through his vest and is willing to use it. This being PG County, McCarren and her cameraman are lucky they weren’t just killed outright.
That being said, I’m to the point where cops should have cameras surgically installed and operating 24/7, even off shift and on vacation. Too many opportunities for abuse, and they should be under a microscope at all times.
I too am no math wiz, but I’ll give it a try.
Suppose that PG police are dumb. (How dumb are they?) They’re so dumb, they can only keep dash cams operating 50% of the time. What are the chances of an event where nine squad cars equiped with dash cams show up at an event and all nine camera’s “don’t work”? ANSWER: 2 to the ninth power or one chance in 512. If PG police are smart enough to keep the dash cam failure rate down to 33%, then the chances of nine failures is, well, kinda remote. So which is it? Are PG police dumb or dishonest?
That being said, I’m to the point where cops should have cameras surgically installed and operating 24/7
Which sounded like crazy talk to me, but then I thought wait, don’t cops have extra powers even when off-duty? That should be the rule: more power than any other citizen, fewer “rights” than any other citizen.
#9 | chance
great point- equipment used by police/fire/ems is under a real high stress level and frequently breaks down because of poor design/training. plus, there are countless examples of cops/firemen/other govt workers going into private sector to sell equipment to govt agencies. they already have a personal relationship with many of the buyers, so they’ll buy the new stuff and try to integrate the old with the new. even if all the equipment is top notch, there’s a good chance it’s not well-integrated.
the problem with bullet proof documentation that people want with the cameras is that cops’ll find a way to document around the camera. Mitigating factors will be ‘out of range of the camera’. I think a better answer is to reduce the bullshit laws/reasons for official interactions between LEOs and the public. Let these guys be peace officers. Cameras are part of the solution, but they don’t address the fundamental issue.
Gun works only when camera works. Shouldn’t be technically too hard to rig that up.
I’m pretty sure that tampering with a camera in a patrol car is already a felony. Around here we’d call it obstruction of justice.
This is the problem with video cameras, they seem to shut down when it’s convenient for the ones in possession of the cameras.
http://www.rightklik.net/
good point, Jason-
all too often, if a member of the public takes video of an incident involving someone from law enforcement, the cops immediately cast doubt on the images- they could’ve been manipulated, made up, etc. I wonder how hard it’d be to manipulate the images in the squad car camera?
The police dog ate the cameras.
Unfortunately, the dog was shot during a no-knock raid on the handler’s house….
T. Reed,
This assumes the failures are independent events. It’s more likely that, given a single failure, there will be others, i.e., that equipment failure is likely systemic. Of course, this is not to say that I believe for a moment that there were equipment failures and that they aren’t lying to cover up evidence.
False dichotomy. The two descriptors are not mutually exclusive.
“Are PG police dumb or dishonest?”
Lying morons. Take your pick.
The cameras go inop when the vehicle is thrown into PARK.
That has to be the only logical conclusion.
1st Law of Government Purchases: Governments love new toys, but hate paying for maintenance.
That said, even if there is an innocent explanation, I see little or no reason not to clobber the Government in question over how suspicious it looks.
Did no one notice that the jurists thought her stop was not illegal?! I think that jury pool is not too smart, either! But, as the old saying goes…They will get theirs! Probably will be the victim of an unrestrained police department! But we know, the police would never do anything to an “innocent” person! I do think, it is great that the news media, in this case, is on the other side of the equation for a change! Police bullies! I wish this would have had more national attention!
Taking a cue from Enron, and other cases where there is destruction of evidence, why can’t there be a presumption that the evidence is unfavorable to the defendants, PG County? Why not a charge that there was a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice? All you would need to do is get one person to squeal and the rest will follow.
Another transparent example of law enforcement corruption.
What an enormous steaming pile of police shit!
This is exactly why I do not feel sorry for BART Officer Mesherle – if it weren’t for all those cell phone recordings that escaped being illegally confiscated, we would not know how that young man was really slaughtered. Period.
#23 | Marty
“I wonder how hard it’d be to manipulate the images in the squad car camera?”
I’m quite sure you already know the answer to that one Marty – LEO’s just cut out the parts they don’t want us to see and offer up the butchered remainder with a straight face.
#21 | Chuchundra
“I’m pretty sure that tampering with a camera in a patrol car is already a felony. Around here we’d call it obstruction of justice.”
Yeah, for us citizen nothings but if the chosen ones tamper with evidence or obstruct justice, isn’t that just considered “a training issue”?
#7 | Helmut O’ Hooligan
“This case also reinforces the need for departments to begin experimenting with “body cameras.” The technology is there. Now is the time to start using it.”
Even good ol’ Taser makes one:
http://www.taser.com/products/law/Pages/TASERAXON.aspx
This is the sales video of the product:
http://www.taser.com/Pages/VideoDetails.aspx?videoid=77
please play it, the beginning of it cracked me up ….
YOU CHOSE A CAREER BASED ON HONOR
TO SERVE AND PROTECT
PROTECT: THOSE WITHOUT HONOR
PROTECT: FROM THOSE WHO WILL STEAL, DISTORT, AND LIE
THE TRUTH IS YOUR GREATEST ALLY
DESTROY THE LIE
PROTECT TRUTH …..
Assume only 5 of 9 cars had cameras and 20% of the force’s camera’s were working. (That’s about as pessimistic as I can grant.) The odds of none of the 5 being one of the 20% are about 1 in 3 (33%).
If you make a more reasonable assumption of 6 of 9 and a 50% working rate (still ridiculous, even for the extraordinarily sad PG County), the odds of none of the working cameras being present are about 1 in 64 (1.6%).