Legal Commentary

A Camera in Every Police Car

By TChris

Steve Chapman at the Chicago Tribune asks:

Nine years into the 21st Century, why isn't every squad car in America equipped with a dashboard video camera? Why do we persist in relying on the slippery, self-interested, incomplete and unverified accounts of opposing participants when we have the means to see the truth with our own eyes?

Chapman spotlights an arrest of a driver who, according to the arresting officer, was "lurching and unable to walk a straight line or stand on one foot." The squad car's video recorder showed the driver keeping his balance during his field sobriety tests.

[more ...]

Stories like this are legion among those who defend allegedly impaired drivers. When squad car cameras are available, the recordings usually tell the tale: either the driver looks drunk or he doesn't. When the picture matches the police report, the driver pleads guilty. When it doesn't, the case is often dismissed.

Some police departments have resisted the accountability that cameras bring.

After the 1991 Rodney King beating, a commission recommended that the Los Angeles Police Department mount cameras in its squad cars. It installed some but soon got rid of them.

It's so easy to get it right. Why aren't cameras mandated in all police cars?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 15, 2009 (boomark / email).