Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbomaybe
perhaps you are right ,but would in not be informative if all of the police body camera videos would be made public showing how experience guides the action of law enforcement ? I am unaware of any jurisdiction that allows the release of day to day body camera videos, police officers are public officials on public business why not release the videos if not needed for prosecution and why not after ?
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That's easy. Police by the nature of their job see the worst of human behavior. They have a responsibility to protect and serve, not to make public the video of you being at your worst. You might be naked in your home when they enter, you might be an innocent bystander at an event where you wouldn't want your boss to know you were present. There is a real need for body cameras, both to show what a criminal was doing and to show what the cop was doing. Only in situations where there is a need to prove a situation happened as it was described is release in the public interest.
I present a real case where release was needed but it was very embarrassing for an innocent person. A call was make by a woman claiming a man was violating a restraining order by being near her. She gave only a general description of the area and nothing about the man. The caller disconnected before the 911 operator got these important details. The cops drove down the street, jumped out of the car and grabbed the first black man they saw as he took out his garbage to the street. They did not calmly question him, they manhandled him and his girlfriend saw it. She came out in her bathrobe and in the struggle was undressed completely, the cops camera now on the ground is pointing up at her crotch, fully visible on the video. This has now been released without any pixelating or privacy. The cops grabbed a totally innocent man and undressed a woman trying to protect her man from being manhandled.
No, all video should not be public. I would support that the object of the video should be able to immediately get access to the video, not only once the police have reviewed it and deemed it appropriate.