Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 353 posts

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#291

Post by m_mueller »

craigsmansion wrote: post #243
cryptonector wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fixing this will have to be the next step. The first step was getting the body cams. Also, you could probably file a suit to get the unredacted video, and you could make a big stink about this. That's how you get to the next step.

> Fixing this will have to be the next step. Depends really. Moving to a different country would be my next step personally.

Yep. Stories like these have made made me decide some time ago that I will never bring my family to the US, no matter the offer.

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#292

Post by bognition »

Clubber wrote: post #114
pzxc wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think maybe it was downvoted because it misses the point, just as the article misses the point. Behavior change would be nice but the real benefit here is accountability. So what if there were 1.6% (made up number) rate of reported bad behaviors, and now the rate is still 1.6% -- the point is that in those 1.6% of cases, there is now the best kind of evidence to ensure that the facts are represented accurately when…

Yes, this is the real benefit. It's no longer the police's word against the defendant, which nearly always goes the way of the police in a court of law. Accountability is key.

That's not necessarily true. I've seen juries dismiss charges that came down to word vs word.

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#293

Post by Bromskloss »

will_brown wrote: post #60

I was recently the victim of an armed kidnapping, escaping only by jumping out of my own car from the driver seat while in gear with the gunman in the passenger seat. By the time the police arrived, my attacker escaped in my car and the first words out of the sergeants mouth was “cut the crap, quit jerking us around, what really happened?” Sure enough I was in a jurisdiction that only two months prior was equipped wi…

What is the redaction supposed to be used for?

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#294

Post by libertyEQ »

stupidcar wrote: post #276
bobbinsbob wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this won't be a popular comment but it never surprises me that this attitude that police should be guilty until proven innocent arrises. It seems to be the default setting. Just like the way everyone hates the police until they need them. Everything is at some point the fault of the police. It seems like everyone wants the police to do only what they want them to and to be punished if the police do something d…

I can't really believe there's a straight up choice between non-corrupt police and bankrupt police departments. It is true that US police seem to funded in ways that create incentives to corruption. An ideological commitment to low taxes means institutions like the police need to find other sources of revenue. This leads to a proliferation of regulations and drug and driving laws that can be used to impose fines, sys…

The US is not a monolithic entity, and various states handle civil asset forfeiture differently:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United...

Many places in the US don't have these problems, so there is nothing to solve.

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#295

Post by [deleted] »

m_mueller wrote: post #291
craigsmansion wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fixing this will have to be the next step. Depends really. Moving to a different country would be my next step personally.

Yep. Stories like these have made made me decide some time ago that I will never bring my family to the US, no matter the offer.

[deleted]

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#296

Post by chimeracoder »

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #279
cryptonector wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fixing this will have to be the next step. The first step was getting the body cams. Also, you could probably file a suit to get the unredacted video, and you could make a big stink about this. That's how you get to the next step.

> The first step was getting the body cams Nonsense. Cameras will be always used to benefit only the police as long as they control them: it's easy to cherry-pick what to record and, later on, what to release. It's easy to take off a camera altogether. You need 3rd parties (e.g. bystanders) to be able to record what's happening and stream it it safe storage in real time.

Nonsense. Cameras will be always used to benefit only the police as long as they control them: it's easy to cherry-pick what to record and, later on, what to release. It's easy to take off a camera altogether. You need 3rd parties (e.g. bystanders) to be able to record what's happening and stream it it safe storage in real time.

It's sad that you're being downvoted for saying this, because it's true. As long as police are the only ones legally or practically empowered to film these encounters, they will be the ones empowered to control the narrative.

The right of citizens to film police encounters without harassment or threats is imperative.

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#297

Post by kbutler »

mulmen wrote: post #255
kbutler wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if police catastrophically fail half their interactions, we should criticize them, too. We only end up discussing the tiny fraction of police cases where things go badly.

What percentage of airline crashes is acceptable? What percentage of police abuses of power is acceptable? Half was a made up number. The point is we are right to hold the police to a high standard and demand solutions when they fail in their duties.

Yes. And when an airline crash occurs, we don't just say, "it's because the pilot is a horrible person", or worse, "all pilots are horrible people." We analyze what went wrong and what we can do better, then we engineer the system to accommodate human weakness and prevent damage from human error.

It's easy to be an armchair pilot, but usually crashes are caused by more complex issues.

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#298

Post by fnabl »

katastic wrote: post #157
literallycancer wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about firing anyone who tampers with the evidence? And I mean actually let them go, not give them indefinite paid vacation.

My local PD recently sent a guy home for 10 days WITHOUT pay for merely getting mad at his son's football game and throwing a helmet. It was unbecoming of their professional standards (even off-duty) and he's representing the community. It even made the news (how I heard about it). So remember, there are plenty of good cops and good forces out there. It's just the shit ones never get held accountable.

People and cops are not "good" or "bad".

People who work in retail who grow to hate customers are not bad. Most probably want to yell at or strangle certain customers but they don't.

Giving people power without accountability is the problem.

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#299

Post by eCa »

ImSkeptical wrote: post #102
will_brown wrote: post #60

I was recently the victim of an armed kidnapping, escaping only by jumping out of my own car from the driver seat while in gear with the gunman in the passenger seat. By the time the police arrived, my attacker escaped in my car and the first words out of the sergeants mouth was “cut the crap, quit jerking us around, what really happened?” Sure enough I was in a jurisdiction that only two months prior was equipped wi…

Why does what the cop said matter? It sounds like a pretty wild story, so I'm not surprised someone might doubt it on first hearing about it. Did they beat you up, refuse to help you, or something like that?

> Why does what the cop said matter?

One reason is that the police department thought it mattered.

Re: A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations

#300

Post by dnautics »

bobbinsbob wrote: post #280
stupidcar wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't really believe there's a straight up choice between non-corrupt police and bankrupt police departments. It is true that US police seem to funded in ways that create incentives to corruption. An ideological commitment to low taxes means institutions like the police need to find other sources of revenue. This leads to a proliferation of regulations and drug and driving laws that can be used to impose fines, sys…

Like I say I can't comment on the US system regards it's policing practices, from the outside looking in it all seems open to abuse. Where I come from the government funds the police, they don't make any profit from the likes of tickets etc. Currently the police are savagely being under funded as are all public sectors and crime is on the rise but the difference between the police and other public services is that pe…

Crime is not on the rise and the police are not underfunded(0). Where did you get this information?

(0) Their pension plans are underfunded, but those plans are rediculous compared to private sector plans.

Post reply on HN