Police-worn video a sign of the times
Taser makes a popular video camera for cops to wear on duty – the Axon.
This editorial appeared on thespec.com website, an online news outlet in Canada. It raises the question about whether the police should wear video cameras when on duty so everything that takes place is recorded. What’s your opinion?
Should police wear a video recording device?
Try to imagine what it would be like to go about your working life under regular if not constant video surveillance. All your colleague and human interactions committed to digital memory for examination. Knowing all your utterances might not be private.
Wearing a video recording device might be a good idea overall. It might even be inevitable. But it would also be decidedly weird, and for many of us it would be at least slightly offensive and restrictive.
Considering the question of whether or not police officers should wear video cameras while on duty, that should be our starting point. We should, at minimum, walk a mile in those boots before rushing to a yes or no.
Granted, police officers are not average working folk. Technically speaking, they hold a public office as opposed to straight employee status. They deal with situations most of us would rather not face and probably never will. And, of course, they’re armed with guns and less lethal tools of protection. And yes, they are paid by the taxpayers and citizens they are sworn to protect, so they should be held to a high standard.
It seems inevitable that will soon involve wearing video cameras. It’s already happening in some U.S. and Ontario jurisdictions. In many ways, it makes sense.
It would offer increased protection to officers and the civilians they interact with. It would, potentially, save money that would otherwise be spent on investigating complaints that can easily be dealt with by viewing video. It could help with ongoing investigations. In some cases it could be a deterrent to people tempted to interfere with police.
What’s the downside? It infringes on privacy, but the infringement is probably justifiable in the name of police and public safety. It’s not a panacea and would show the situation only from the officer’s perspective.
Ultimately, police-worn video cameras are a reflection of modern reality, in which the use of video is ubiquitous. Police can already expect to be recorded in their interactions, as Hamilton officers Mark Morelli and Chantelle Wilson found when they became a viral sensation in a video showing Morelli going above and beyond his duty to explain their actions in apprehending a suspect. Their conduct was laudable and beyond reproach, but the situation demonstrates why police-worn video cameras make sense overall. They are at least worth a pilot project in Hamilton.
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Would love to hear from all you guys about what you think about cops having to have everything they do during a shift recorded. Do you think it helps or hurts. Will send out instructions on how to register to comment on this site. Every comment will be moderated by me before it gets posted to protect our group.