re: So what's wrong with the lapel camera idea?

Other than cost and maybe potential privacy violations, but that is it. Overall I think the pros out weigh the cons.

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concerns

This is why you would not want them on all the time legitimately.

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Police work for the public, and do not have an expectation of privacy on the job. Any irrelevant / personal comments could be redacted just like they are today with documents and e-mail.

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Police work for the public, and do not have an expectation of privacy

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But you sure as hell have an expectation of privacy as an individual citizen in certain circumstances.

Having said that, you want the police to enjoy the same legal protections as Joe Citizen. Because:

You want citizen cops. Treat a working dog like shite and he will bite you. It has been my experience you want cops that know the law, respect the law, but that know the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. If not you will have cops that never write warnings and they will be general uncaring a$$holes.

Don't believe me? A fellow officer had his dash came turned on without his knowledge. Why? For doing something wrong? No. He got his a$$ chewed for every traffic violation that the camera saw and his supervisor pointed out. He was asked why the cars were not stopped for minor traffic violations. In my business they are called chicken$hit stops. See #2 and #3 of my first post in this thread. File this under careful what you ask for.

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You want citizen cops.

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Can I pay them like citizens? Or do they still earn $150K per year in NJ?

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Don't believe me? A fellow officer had his dash came turned on without his knowledge. Why? For doing something wrong? No. He got his a$$ chewed for every traffic violation that the camera saw and his supervisor pointed out. He was asked why the cars were not stopped for minor traffic violations.

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Dude. Is he charged with pulling people over for violations but he didn't? Sounds like he was disobeying orders. Also sounds like internal affairs issues to me. Details obviously matter.

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If not you will have cops that never write warnings and they will be general uncaring a$$holes.

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Is this a threat or a recap of what is already happening? Want to change this crap? Break down the Blue Wall.

I have done my share of prosecuting...
this is my take on cameras.....

They can either greatly help or hurt the prosecutors narrative.

Invariably they seem to fail to pick up one scene you want to see.

The officers, as would be anyone else being recorded continuously, are uncomfortable with them on constantly

Having said that.. there is no reason that every police cruiser should not be mounted with a continuously running camera preferably with a 360 degree field of view. The technology is there and cheap.

The lapel camera, with an internet feed, should be mounted on every officer and running during all traffic stops/arrests..the officer should be able to turn it off only when he is on break or needs to attend to a personal matter

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He got his a$$ chewed for every traffic violation that the camera saw and his supervisor pointed out. He was asked why the cars were not stopped for minor traffic violations. In my business they are called chicken$hit stops. See #2 and #3 of my first post in this thread. File this under careful what you ask for.

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I do agree that the officer needs some discretion, otherwise they cannot do their job effectively, and there needs to be much thought given to an officers right of privacy, to the extent it does not interfere with their public duty

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the officer needs some discretion

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Why? I thought officers are "just doing their job" when arresting/busting people for breaking dumb laws? You mean to tell me that they can ignore crimes when they feel like it?

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You mean to tell me that they can ignore crimes when they feel like it?

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some examples of officer discretion:

Domestic violence - Especially where verbal abuse is alleged and if there are no obvious bruises or signs of physical violence, it may be difficult to determine who started a fight and who escalated it. The police officer will have to use his or her personal judgment.

Traffic violations - Because everybody speeds by accident occasionally, a police officer may decide that it is more worth the state's time simply to give a warning rather than to file the paperwork for someone likely never to commit a traffic violation again.

Potential hate crimes - A police officer must use his or her discretion to determine if a crime has hate crime elements or if it was just a standard crime. Hate crimes carry more severe sentences, but it can be difficult to determine through evidence. An officer must judge the perpetrator's character.

Crimes involving mentally ill individuals - If someone is mentally ill, they may not be charged as heavily because it could be determined that they weren't in full possession of their faculties.


without some officer discretion the court system would be quickly overwhelmed