Lisbet Beryl Weir asked on her timeline what she could do to encourage the adoption of body cameras by police officers. The below is what I personally sent off to every elected official I could think of between Mayor of my town to my two US Senators. That works out to two non-partisan officials, three Republicans, and two Democrats. If anyone is inspired to do likewise, you are free to use any part of the below you like without attribution, with my compliments. Dear _____-- Hello, my name is Geo Rule, and I’m a resident of Ramsey, MN, and one of your constituents. As many of us are today, and over the last few months, I am contemplating the horrible situation in Ferguson, MO. I do not intend to “take sides” in this missive as to the facts of what happened on August 9th in Ferguson, MO between police officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown. I am writing you today to encourage you –as does the Brown family—to seriously consider putting the weight of your office behind the effort to ensure that every peace officer is equipped with and trained in the usage of “body cameras”. This is a technology whose time has come. Between the miniaturization of cameras, memory, close communications technology (Bluetooth and the like) and battery advancements, this is a technology that is eminently achievable *today*. If Officer Wilson had been wearing a body camera on that day, likely the later course of events in that community would have been quite different –whatever that camera would have shown. I understand it costs money. I understand that some police unions are leery of the technology. I am of the opinion the investment in funds will be minor compared to the savings in reputations, settlements, judgments, and damaged lives and livelihoods of good, honest police officers, innocent civilians --and in particularly ugly results like Ferguson, MO-- innocent citizens and business owners. And, yes, also in getting the not-good cops off the street, to the advantage of both the citizenry and the public reputation of the rest of our police officers who remain on duty serving us all. I want to call your attention to a recent study conducted in Rialto, CA for a year with the cooperation of the Police Foundation. It can be found here: policefoundation.org/content/body-worn-cameras-police-use-force Here is a summary of the findings: The findings suggest more than a 50% reduction in the total number of incidents of use-of-force compared to control-conditions, and nearly ten times more citizens’ complaints in the 12-months prior to the experiment. Please note that *complaints* dropped by 90% while actual use of force dropped by “only” 50%. This clearly implies that *false* complaints against police officers were deterred by potential complainants knowing that there would be video evidence to refute their complaint. I understand this is only one study, but the results as you can see for yourself were very promising, and at the very least the experiment should be greatly expanded –including here in Minnesota—and if improvements of a similar magnitude are achieved, then universally. I write you today in the firm belief that a body camera is a good cop’s best friend, and while no technology invented by human hands is perfect, it seems clear that this technology will on net be greatly of benefit to our police officers, their families, and the law abiding citizens of our state and country --and I urge you to support their implementation widely and to the best of the ability granted you by your public office. Thank you for your time in reading this, and your service to our community Cordially— Geo Rule
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 00:25:27 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015