theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
If you meet one bad cop, you've met a bad cop...
Thoughts arising from police bodycam footage
- Thread starter theprestige
- Start date
ponderingturtle
Orthogonal Vector
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2006
- Messages
- 54,545
And of course you know that all the other cops are covering for them.
plague311
Great minds think...
It's entirely practical and pretty simple. Unless there's some requirement to interact with police then just simply don't and yes, plenty of people that encounter police will voluntarily interact with them.
Despite theprestige finding this treasure trove of police cam footage that seems to paint the police in a positive light, I get to hear all of the conversations that they have off camera. Most of the time when they're standing around at shift end waiting to put their reports in and they're a mixed bag, as are all jobs. One consistent thing I find is they don't refer to people as people, they're just "civilians". Every single police department, annex, or extension has some form of paraphernalia on the walls that say "and then God made a cop" or something else that shows how they're just built different. They're better, and they constantly reinforce that opinion to themselves in every way they can. Working for a managed services provider, I've worked with several police departments, sheriff offices, etc. Every single one has multiple wall hangings about how police are better than other people. Most cops are fine, but if people think the majority of them care about "civilians", well I've got bad news, at least in ND and MN, that ain't the ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ case. You're sheep, they're the sheep dogs, if some sheep get lost...bummer.
Last edited:
Ok, it's small steps but we can start here for you. I hope you don't have to learn the hard way.
Scratch that, I hope you do.
May I ask how many bad encounters with law enforcement you have had where you live?
And not just speculating about how many bad cops are out there in the US?
Rolfe
Adult human female
I had a rather telling cop encounter way before bodycams were invented. I had just bought a new motorbike, and although the road tax was paid, the tax disc had not yet come through from the DVLA. A couple of cops spotted the empty tax disc holder and pulled me over. They were brusque to the point of rudeness. I should point out that it was winter and as well as a full-face helmet I was wearing a full-body waterproof nylon motorcycling suit. I pushed my visor up and answered them. The change in attitude was comical. Suddenly all polite and friendly, and "we've had reports of stolen bikes so we're conducting checks. Sorry to inconvenience you madam."
They obviously thought it was a man they were stopping. It was a perfectly reasonable stop, absolutely justified. But when they thought it was a man (or a youth) they were rude and belligerent. The minute they realised they'd stopped a young woman, all polite and even obsequious.
They obviously thought it was a man they were stopping. It was a perfectly reasonable stop, absolutely justified. But when they thought it was a man (or a youth) they were rude and belligerent. The minute they realised they'd stopped a young woman, all polite and even obsequious.
Well, let's start with how many you require to take me at my word?
I've rechecked the thread title and, upon doing so, struggle to understand this conclusion. Could you elaborate?
"Thoughts arising from police bodycam footage"
I'll take you at your word. I just think there's a whole lot more to it than just ACAB.
Yet despite body cams being around for a long time they're still not mandated for full implementationn until autumn 2026 in Scotland. Careful how you go Rolfe.
Last edited:
Indeed. How does that title lead into me, "speculating about how many bad cops are out there in the US". I'm confident that I have a world view here.
Last edited:
Yes you do, one of them are yours. Others have theirs.
I'm not denigrating law enforcement where other people live in a democracy. Europe is pretty good at that.
Just kind of get the sense that there's an underlying anti-US vibe. And I don't fault you for that, there's a lot to criticize.
In terms of policing, it's not perfect. But there's not place in the world that is, and there is an effort for police training that focuses on empathy and de-escalating.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
I've already learned the easy way.
I've had many encounters with cops - including one where they suspected me of DUI. None of those encounters played out as you predicted.
Rude. Do you regularly wish bad ends on people who disagree with your worldview?
That ship has sailed. I already know from direct experience and video recordings of many other such encounters that your hypothesis has been falsified, your theory disproven.
However many bad encounters with the police you might be able to cram into your lifetime, I can provide an equal number of counter-examples. Interactions with the police simply do not play out as universally as you allege.
But I suppose it might be something, at least, if you were to tell us that every single one of your encounters with the police has played out that way. Has that been your experience?
So, in the quoted instance, the police were trying to put you on the wrong side of the law, like I said. What was their reasonable suspicion?
My apologies.
No, why would you default to that conclusion? However, you need a reality check and sometimes harsh lessons are those best learned.
I don't have the time to link you to two for one right now, it's late here in the UK.
That's a bold claim.
My quinquennial firearms and blackpowder renewal is possibly the best interaction but not sterling. Anything outside of that has not been great. What now?
Last edited:
plague311
Great minds think...
Oh, well if you have videos on the internet then there's no way you could be wrong. It's not like videos get edited or anything.
One of the best things that has happened in US law enforcement is the use of Axon cameras (kind of a monopoly).
They can to be turned off during downtime because of data storage. Occasionally some get turned off or not turned on in time for the crux of an arrest.
It's up to the defense to argue they purposely turned them off before ◊◊◊◊ gets real. It's worked before.
Editing in the sense of leaving things out by determining when to start the camera, can kinda see that. But nowadays with data storage not really a problem, I don't see a way where police turn it off at any time.
plague311
Great minds think...
As someone who works with Watchguard as part of my everyday life, I assure you there are plenty of ways to get around body cams. We could easily find multiple cases of cops getting in trouble for shutting their cams off during traffic stops. It happens more than one would think.
That being said, I was more referring to the footage being presented on something like youtube. I would doubt that he's watching live streams of footage, which means it could easily be manipulated.
There needs to be penalties for turning them off or even some way to make it impossible. Require a remote on/off or some such. I also thing the video should all be downloaded to 3rd party storage at the end of each shift. The public defenders or local courts maybe.
Granted, we won't be able to keep cops from fouling the lenses or such.
ETA: I'm guessing most youtube body cam footage is coming from the cops themselves. Hardly going to be incriminating of the cops.
Last edited:
plague311
Great minds think...
Ours don't go to third party storage, but it's storage that the police don't have access to make changes. They can view footage, they can upload footage, if needed, but they cannot delete and they don't control the upload process. Once the SUV gets into the parking lot it auto-connects to a specific hidden SSID, uploads the data to a SAN style device and that's where it stays.
This is a common "excuse" I've heard for terrible footage. "I got rain\water on it" or "I didn't realize my hand was over the lens when I was talking".
Exactly. At best you might see some footage released that came via FOIA request that paints them in a poor light, but cops don't volunteer footage of them doing sketchy ◊◊◊◊ to the public unless required to, which was what I was saying with my edited comment above.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
There's an issue with storage. The device itself can only hold so much data. Typically when on, they record a 20 second video buffer, that keeps getting overwritten. When the cop activates recording, the device stops overwriting the buffer, and starts storing additional footage. It also starts recording sound. This goes on until the device is full, or the cop stops recording.
The footage is indeed uploaded to a third party, but there's still the question of who administers the library of footage. Usually it's the court system.
It seems to me that this kind of thing can be addressed through disciplinary action whenever it is detected. Maybe what we need is more civilian oversight.
The cops themselves typically don't have access to the video; only authorized admins in the police department or the courts can access it. The cops would need to file an FOIA request, just like everyone else.
SteveAitch
Master Poster
Wi-fi to a hard drive in the patrol car?
