Smile! Camming the Fuzz - Any Reason Why Not? This week, both houses of New Jersey’s legislature considered bills to make wireless, body-mounted video cameras part of the standard equipment for every state police officer. (The lower-house sponsor is Assemblymember Paul Moriarty, a liberal Democrat who famously pushed through dashboard cameras for all state troopers after one helped him beat a DWI ticket.) The Garden State is one of numerous states and municipalities considering such legislation, including Florida; DeKalb County, Illinois; Denver; Orange County, California; and Spokane and Bremerton, Washington. Most of these measures are proposed by liberal Democrats, and enjoy support on both sides of the aisle. This follows a broader pattern of progressives nationwide calling for wiring up the constabulary as a tool to keep police accountable. Ostensibly, these voices have joined in this call in reaction to Ferguson and other flashpoints, in the wake of what has seemingly been a season of police violence against the poor and people of color, such as the killing of cigarette vendor Eric Garner on New York’s Staten Island in July. The reasoning goes, “If police are compelled to record all their interactions with the citizens, they will behave better.” I would not want to test that theory against a modern, urban paramilitary officer geared up in repurposed military hardware, perhaps policing a demonstration or clearing a keg party, with his heads-up display, night-vision goggles, and Mesopotamian body armor—body-cam or not. While supporters claim that cameras would transform the culture of policing, perhaps the best we could hope for would be catching them in the act more often—as when a police dashboard cam recently caught a patrolman shooting a man in the leg when he went for his wallet at a gas station in South Carolina. Yet our self-documentation, as a society, has reached unprecedented proportions. It seems as if nearly everyone has a sophisticated camera right in their pocket, linked wirelessly at every instant to global platforms. This should be enough to empower citizens to keep police on their best constitutional behavior—yet still we are regularly treated to images of police violence. However, attempts by citizens to document the police have seemingly engendered retaliation—Ramsey Orta, who shot cell-phone video of New York cops’ fatal arrest of Eric Garner, was arrested only weeks later on what he claims are trumped-up gun charges. This suggests that citizen vigilance in cop-watching will be unreliable, as it exposes those who would come forward to possible retribution by police. (more at link) popularresistance.org/camming-the-fuzz-why-not/
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 19:58:44 +0000
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