The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday in the noon hour.
QUESTION: Do you think all police departments should have body cameras for each of their officers?
Talk about it.
Yeah, why not? Technology is getting better and cheaper every day.
Police officers are not normal people. They are trusted with a power and responsibility beyond a normal person. Therefore, they should not be entitled to privacy on the job. Once they put on that badge, they’re not a working person, they are an instrument of the state.
They are normal people that uphold the law and make critical decisions and enforce laws established for the safety of the cities and areas they patrol. Technology is now showing what officers see on a daily basis . Until you have walked in their shoes, give them the benefit of doubt.
You’re correct, police officers are not normal people they are exceptional people making split second decisions that are often criticized without knowing all of the facts. In a majority of their decisions and reactions the body cameras showed they made the right decision or further investigation showed their decisions were justified
Bob Foo, you are right, the Police are not normal people they are Hero’s. Hero’s who deal with sub human behavior all day long. Body cams yes and televise all interactions.
Definitely
Yes
They are government agents that are paid for by taxpayers.
They are given authority and powers no other citizen has.
If they don’t like it – they can find another job.
Let them join the Free Market – no gov’t paycheck and benefits – no Union to protect them – no prime retirement packages.
And yet they seem to love their Government, Socialist Job.
“And yet they seem to love their Government, Socialist Job”.
I see you have a high opinion of the law. I don’t know if police object to wearing cameras. Maybe they love them. I don’t care if they do wear them or not. I can see that when things get tough it is another thing to worry about. Looking at some police they look overloaded with gear.
What you say applies perfectly to teachers.
I agree, put cameras in the classrooms also Teachers should be making way more money than police. Make teaching a lucrative job and you will see an increase in quality of teachers. Stop protecting tenured bad teachers.
@Rob
Theres that “I drink piss and vinegar for breakfast” attitude. I can’t stand your posts but we agree 100% on the solution. The place you come from is so hateful and bitter. Grow the f up and get over your nasty negative head. You do know this is a one party democrat state and they could have implemented this years ago. instead they gave them “OFF” buttons. You spew venom yet it’s your tribe who had the chance to do it. Conservatives have no voice here. We want accountability across the board.
Actually, in the interest of transparency and full disclosure it seems all elected representatives and senior government officials should be required to wear body cams so that the constituents can Monday-morning-quarterback the decisions they make on our behalf
Camera should be present when they talk to any special interest group or any lobbyist.
Yes and always on.
L 1st-S 2nd – I like the idea of putting body cams of all elected officials – right down to the proverbial dog catcher.
Now days when so many bystanders are using their cell phones to video record the police, a body camera can sometimes show a different scenario. However, if they defund the police the body camera will have to go, they’re too expensive to use. There’s software updates, data storage facilities, and other maintenance costs, which can cost millions of dollars. Technology is always changing, equipment and networks will age rapidly, costs will only rise to maintain or replace equipment. There’s also battery life, some of the batteries die before the officer’s shift has ended.
Totally fund the Police.
Body cams, dash cams, K-9 cams are all going to become standard equipment. And for the protection of the public and law enforcement, it should happen as soon as possible. A bystander with a phone does not give the full picture.
Yes! and a review board that is not connected to the department that is made up of both civilian and retired officers that is rotated out every few years. Also, we need to narrow what their job is and not require them to be the catch all for social worker, law enforcement, first responders, counselors, and evevery thing else under the sun. 26 weeks of training is not enough to be all those things. Here is an article on how other countries have done it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/police-protests-countries-reforms/2020/06/13/596eab16-abf2-11ea-a43b-be9f6494a87d_story.html
Yes. Live streaming to the public at all times. No on-off switch. Camera is broken, sit at the office until properly equipped to deal with the public who pays their salary.
I like the idea…if affordable pricing is in affect. Maintenance and upgrades could bankrupt a normal business, so how would that work with a police dept?
The body camera also serves as an officer’s protection against the many untruthful allegations made against them.
Things are getting weird enough that the pubic will soon be wearing them too just like our cars now have dashcams.
Yes, I think L E officers should have body cams. As the technology matures, BC’s should become smaller and power efficient. The problem is Gov’t agencies tend to order by their own specs which allows manufacturers jack up prices. Remember, it’s little more than a dash cam for the chest. I know nothing about Wisconsin so checked a map and see it has 3-4 cities and hundreds of tiny hamlets, probably a lot of small town, poorly trained officers.
Reminds me of a true story while I was in the Air Force. Everything the military buys is ostensibly manufactured to specification (called “milspec”). Since the military overdoes everything, Milspecs are intensely detailed allowing manufacturers to charge hugely inflated prices for even mundane items. Think $500 hammers or $1000 toilet seats etc. In this case soda crackers in the little packages you get in diners. Some genius in the upper echelon discovered that Milspec crackers were virtually identical to those in the supermarket. The Dep’t of the AF announced that it had decided to switch to commercially available soda crackers in the dining halls, thus saving millions of dollars each year. I saw it happen.
Cops are our surrogates. They should all have cameras. There should never be a question about how an encounter played out.
That means you would wear one.
The body cameras don’t show everything like the 22 year-old Sean Monterrosa shooting in Vallejo
The audio recorder was first used by police and stopped many bogus complaints. The video cameras are doing much the same. Stopping the lies by less than truthful people. Maybe the police managers should wear them as well?
And @Sam, so you want the live stream cameras on during everything? Like when the police go to your house? Or are dealing with someone under 18? Or handling a death investigation?
Yes. Maybe there should be a moderator for the live stream. But there should be footage of everything. 100%. Minors, deaths, my house. Plus they need to ban no knock warrants. That’s a big deal when you have an armed population.
Definitely. Many argue that the gear is expensive, but so are lawsuits and lies.
No need. Apparently all we require is a 10 sec shaky phone video and we have all the facts Needed to blast it over the media outlets all day.
I mean. Would we ever know if the body cam shows something different than the narrative? NOPE
I agree with most of the comments, about being public servants, having super critical positions, etc. Both police and non-police are human, and have notoriously subjective powers of recollection. Cameras are a tool that can help clear some of the fog. And they offer a strong disincentive for misbehavior from both parties.
But because I am old, I am of a mindset that you can have private conversations with people in the world, whether it’s your doctor, banker, kid’s teacher, or local police officer. I would not be as candid with a police officer knowing there is a camera in my face. And I would not expect a police officer to be very candid knowing they are performing for the camera mounted on their chest.
We can HAVE a society where everything is on camera. We are fast moving in that direction. Not too long ago that was a dystopian nightmare. Now people can’t seem to bring it on fast enough. Cameras on cops, on cars, on every public transport, in every store, in every school, in every workplace, and on every house pointing in all directions. I may be in the minority here, but doing a before and after comparison, I kinda feel LESS safe for having all these cameras everywhere.
Trust in technology. The cone of silence was invented if truly private conversations are ever needed. It’s a smart idea.
Sure they should have the cameras!! It is the police body camera footage that will ensure that the death of “Saint” George Floyd will be shown not the fault of the police involved. The cameras are going to save their butts !!!
AD
Nobody claimed George Floyd was a Saint. Why is someone’s past what dictates if they deserve to live or die? The job of an officer is not to be judge and jury. It also doesn’t excuse the 9 minutes of kneeling on the victim’s neck and the 3 minutes of doing nothing as the victim was dying. The bodycam footage only proved that those officers were too aggressive and didn’t know how to deescalate a situation. Within 15 seconds of encountering Floyd they have their guns drawn on him over a fake $20 bill. You can see the man is distraught but you are going to keep ramping up the situation? He’s obviously having a mental breakdown but at this point their fragile egos have been hurt so they are going to punish him.
I think they said he ODed on fentanyl.
Fentanyl patches may cause serious or life-threatening breathing problems, especially during the first 24 to 72 hours of your treatment and any time your dose is increased.
“I can’t breathe” Yeah I wonder why. Officer will get off. This was not a murder. The footage is sad. That’s what it is when someone ODs. Why did proud woman beater and Antifa affiliate DA Keith Ellison let everyone believe this false narrative? Infiltration..
@Pyhrus
Have you seen the newest footage? He was resisting to an insane degree, refused to get stay in the car even though the officer was extremely nice and was going to put down the windows and turn on the AC, he was dropping small baggies of drugs if you look closely enough as well. He is complaining about not being able to breathe (because he is in the process of overdosing on the 2x lethal amount of fentanyl in his system) before the police put him on the ground due to his violent, erratic resisting.
A violent, career criminal, who once put a GUN TO A PREGNANT WOMAN’S STOMACH IN THE COURSE OF A ROBBERY, took 2x lethal does of fentanyl and overdosed while being arrested. This is an excuse for liberals to murder 40+ people, injure thousands, and do BILLIONS in damage to innocent Americans.
Even Floyd’s friends at the arrest scene, who were all career criminals with long arrest records, warn the police that “he’s not all there, man!” and to be cautious.
How about gps microchips implanted in convicted felons?
Cameras would document the de-evolution that is occurring around us at an alarming rate. Unfortunately, even with proof, the de-evolved will make fact out of fiction.
You can’t go to church but you can riot.
You can’t go to school but you can loot.
A liberal once pointed out that churches and schools are indoor activities while riots and looting are safe, outdoor activities and that made logical sense to them.
“It takes very little to govern good people. Very little. And bad people cant be governed at all.”
I hope the rioters all get pushed into the sea or otherwise have a change of heart but there is legitimate rationale behind judging a outdoor gathering to be much safer than an indoor gathering, given how viruses are transmitted.
There would be less flu transmitted at a outdoor concert than at a tightly packed indoor concert, it’s just reality.
I think if I were a police officer, I would want one for self protection. They are asked to make split-second devisions, sometimes based on insufficient or deceptive information, and above all else, they are human. As Pyrrhus stated they are asked to be “… social worker, law enforcement, first responders, counselors, and every thing else under the sun.” I believe they deserve the benefit of the doubt in performing many of those functions and cameras would offer them a backup and help us to better understand their decisions in some situations. I’m not saying every single one of them is above reproach, but I really don’t think the majority are drawn to the profession for other than the desire to do good.
Yes, they should also be worn by teachers, nurses, doctors and politicians.
Body cams will enforce the need for the Police…which criminals and their enablers will hate and claim bias, and defense attorneys will claim tampering. However, will yield some balance and reality…for those willing to know the truth.
yes…. … why would they resist wearing one?
Honest question, what do you hope to have happen by teachers wearing body cameras? For officers there’s accountability, and the ability to have video evidence of officer involved shootings should the incident ever come into question. When cases get brought to court that video evidence could help justify the officer’s actions instead of only having a report to go off of. The general public could become more trustworthy of police if they know there’s always video evidence to back up what’s been reported. What is it about teaching that makes you think they need them too?
Yes – helps everyone, be it a victim of police brutality or a police officer wrongly accused.
It gives a clearer picture into the event that occurred, unvarnished by bad memory or differing perspectives.
Everyone should want this, and if they don’t you should certainly question why.
I was just thinking of the thousands of students who insisted they didn’t do anything wrong over my career as a teacher (now retired).
Yes, absolutely, 100%. Not even sure why it should be debatable.
The guy selling me a hotdog at 7-11 is on camera and his job means essentially nothing, why shouldn’t an officer be on camera when making potentially life-and-death decisions regarding other peoples’ lives?
IME most of the footage we see in controversial police encounters exonerates the police and shows they were in the right. Look at Rayshard Brooks, the cam footage proves he ruthlessly resisted and attacked the police, and the officers were incredibly polite and professional. The George Floyd footage proves he was extremely high, extremely agitated, resisting, dropping small baggies of drugs, and complaining about inability to breathe before the situation escalates at all, IE already overdosing at that time due to 2x lethal does of fentanyl in his system.
We know he was a career criminal with rape and illegal gun possession charges, who was refusing to comply with police and was about to get behind the wheel of a 4000+ pound death wagon, potentially with the aim of mowing down the police and the woman he was just battering.
Body cams on every officer that they can’t selectively turn on/off. It serves as protection for everyone, especially themselves.
Can’t turn it off? Even when they gotta go to the sandbox?