Support NeoGAF

[Frozenprince]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/25/us/charlotte-police-video/index.html

(CNN)Videos released by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department of the fatal encounter between officers and Keith Lamont Scott could be the last such footage that North Carolina authorities share with the public.

Scott died on September 20. In the five days since the shooting, protesters have demanded that Charlotte Police release video footage of the incident.

Initially, Police Chief Kerr Putney chose not to immediately release the camera footage, only doing so amid pressure from the public. Release of another video from one of Scott's family members also added to the calls for police to release their footage.

Putney's decision may be one of the final times a police chief will relent to public pressure.

Previously, North Carolina had no uniform law regarding the release of dashboard or body camera footage.

As more officers have become outfitted with body cameras, particularly following the heightened scrutiny surrounding officer-involved shootings, law enforcement agencies in the state made their own rules. Most agencies considered such footage personnel footage, allowing for its release under limited circumstances through public record requests.

With the new law, both types of videos would no longer be considered personnel records or part of the public record. As a result, police departments would have more discretion as to whether they release the videos. The law has the full support of the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/us/states-with-police-body-camera-footage-laws/index.html

States with laws restricting access to body camera footage
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Louisiana
Minnesota
Missouri
Nevada (state has another law for state Highway Patrol Division)
New Hampshire
North Carolina (effective October 1, 2016)
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Carolina
Texas
Utah
Washington

States that have proposed legislation on body cam footage restrictions
Iowa
Maryland
Massachusetts
Mississippi
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin

This kind of thing was to be expected. Police and public accountability is reaching all-time lows in an era where everybody has a camera and miscarriages of justice and the public peace are more and more common. Peace officers will now be forced to police themselves internally, and given the atmosphere of fear cultivated within the departments and bodies themselves against speaking out for fear of retribution or being blackballed, what are those who are so persecuted against such injustices now supposed to do when their rights are violated? Their lives taken?

This is just another step in a long and painful line of self segregation that the police departments of the US and the state departments of said states are making towards their general public who they now consider to be their enemy. The Charlotte killing will be the last such time we see the police department bow to public pressures and divulge the footage they have regarding a violent and unnecessary incident. Once again putting the burden of regulating those that should protect and enforce justified laws on the shoulders of the public instead of themselves.

 

[Exile20]

This is the best way to gain public trust.

SMH

 

[TemplaerDude]

Police were a mistake.

 

[Seik]

This is the best way to gain public trust.

SMH

Yeah, exactly, what the fuck?

 

[styl3s]

Police were a mistake.

Let's remove all law enforcement from the US for 6 months and revisit this statement because as much as the shitty officers piss you, me and everyone else all let's not make a fucking blanket statement of every single police officer is a corrupt, murdering piece of shit.

 

[Team Filler]

You know what, Police Departments? Keep at it. Please, keep doing shady and unscrupulous things. Keep on keeping on until the fed can no longer ignore the systemic behaviors of you racist fuckbag piece-of-shit cunts, and are forced to take action if they want to prevent riots in every major metropolitan area across the country.

 

[hypernima]

What's the point of even having body cams then?

 

[Suikoguy]

What's the point of even having body cams then?

So the Police can say they looked at them and saw nothing wrong.

Let's remove all law enforcement from the US for 6 months and revisit this statement because as much as the shitty officers piss you, me and everyone else all let's not make a fucking blanket statement of every single police officer is a corrupt, murdering piece of shit.

They are just complicit in it.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Let's remove all law enforcement from the US for 6 months and revisit this statement because as much as the shitty officers piss you, me and everyone else all let's not make a fucking blanket statement of every single police officer is a corrupt, murdering piece of shit.

It's a play on the anime joke. Relax.

 

[Lunar15]

Doesn't this really highlight the need for people to get heavily involved in state and local politics? It's more important than the national election in regards to things like this.

 

[Wyndstryker]

As more and more of these situations occur. Either new laws, new recordings, whistleblowers and whatnot, things will reach a breaking point.

Worst case scenario in such a breaking point won't be pretty. Federal legislation has to be done before it that breaking point gets reached...but given how inept the US government is right now, that breaking point is getting closer and closer.

 

[RandomExpletive]

Did taxpayers fund body cams on police in the first place? Christ what a waste of resources, what was the POINT of purchasing this tech if we're going to basically ignore it altogether?!

 

[Team Filler]

As more and more of these situations occur. Either new laws, new recordings, whistleblowers and whatnot, things will reach a breaking point.

Worst case scenario in such a breaking point won't be pretty. Federal legislation has to be done before it that breaking point gets reached...but given how inept the US government is right now, that breaking point is getting closer and closer.

At this point I say do away with state laws. It seems that 9 times out of 10 they are used primarily as a means of instituting oppression where the federal government refuses. Fuck states rights at this point. Implement federal law as the only law of the land.

 

[Banana Aeon]

Let's remove all law enforcement from the US for 6 months and revisit this statement because as much as the shitty officers piss you, me and everyone else all let's not make a fucking blanket statement of every single police officer is a corrupt, murdering piece of shit.

Any police officer for this measure or someone who does not do anything about the corruption of the police is complicit in this.

 

[Glix]

Let's remove all law enforcement from the US for 6 months and revisit this statement because as much as the shitty officers piss you, me and everyone else all let's not make a fucking blanket statement of every single police officer is a corrupt, murdering piece of shit.

Just prove it to us with transparency. Its not hard. Or it shouldnt be at least.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

So basically police departments wasted taxpayer dollars on fancy new technology that they will never actually use for intended purposes in order to cover their own asses.

So glad they are looking out for us.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

As more and more of these situations occur. Either new laws, new recordings, whistleblowers and whatnot, things will reach a breaking point.

Worst case scenario in such a breaking point won't be pretty. Federal legislation has to be done before it that breaking point gets reached...but given how inept the US government is right now, that breaking point is getting closer and closer.

Yep. As I said once, if anyone thought the riots righty now were bad, if it reaches that breaking point, every single riot that happened to that point will look like a small disagreement compared to what might happen. When that happen, shit will most certainly hit the fan.

OT: fuck the police. Fuck the people that let this shit continue. Oh and fuck the people that think that there is nothing wrong with cops in this country.

 

[Mathieran]

As people who don't have a problem with stop and frisk would say: if you don't have anything to hide, why not just them see what you have?

 

[red731]

To protect our asses and kill

 

[thelastcrusader]

Thanks Obama.
Why doesn't the fed do something? Now in this one topic that the fed should actually get involved in!

 

[TemplaerDude]

Let's remove all law enforcement from the US for 6 months and revisit this statement because as much as the shitty officers piss you, me and everyone else all let's not make a fucking blanket statement of every single police officer is a corrupt, murdering piece of shit.

You took my vague joke far too seriously. Calm down.

 

[Wyndstryker]

As people who don't have a problem with stop and frisk would say: if you don't have anything to hide, why not just them see what you have?

Cause chances are there will be a gunshot before the frisk?

 

[Team Filler]

Cause chances are there will be a gunshot before the frisk?

Suspect was breathing aggressively while black. How were the peace officers to know that he wasn't a threat?

 

[Guevara]

...riots erupted [in the Hunter's Point section of San Francisco, CA] after police shot and killed 17-year-old Matthew Johnson, who was unarmed and fleeing after being discovered with a stolen car.

Residents of the African American neighborhood took to the streets to protest.
...
“There’s no aggression from the victim, but there’s aggression from the police,” [local activist Adriana] Camarena said.

The Hunter's Point Riot, San Francisco

Spoiler

September 28, 1966, 50 years ago almost to the day.

 

[Zoe]

Doesn't this really highlight the need for people to get heavily involved in state and local politics? It's more important than the national election in regards to things like this.

This is a problem that needs to be solved with federal guidelines. It does a city no good to set their own standards when the state comes along and overrides them.

Good luck finding some kind of compromise though. You'll never satisfy the people who want 100% unfiltered access just like the people who want to keep them 100% internal.

 

[Like the hat?]

Don't worry. They'll still release footage when it benefits them so they can say hey look, we release video all the time! We just can't this time because reasons.

 

[commedieu]

Let's remove all law enforcement from the US for 6 months and revisit this statement because as much as the shitty officers piss you, me and everyone else all let's not make a fucking blanket statement of every single police officer is a corrupt, murdering piece of shit.

Not every single police officer is a piece of shit. Just all the ones that support having no accountability or transparency are pieces of shit.

That's a pretty long list though. Can we just say a large number of them are pieces of shit?

And let's compromise thay 6 months. Let's get officers that support transparency be police, and the pieces of shit will sort themselves out by staying at home. As they aren't fit to be public servants.

Deal?

 

[Almighty]

I have always been a big support of mandatory body cams in order to hold police accountable. Naively I never considered that states would pass laws doing the opposite. Policing in this country is so fucked.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

What's the point of even having body cams then?

So they can capture some murder porn and watch it in the station as they pat each other on the back on a job well done with the sole good apple standing in the corner wondering where it all went wrong and why he's surrounding by murderous cowards.

 

[Glix]

Does it matter? They just destroy them or turn them off.

The whole initiative has been an infuriating waste of money.

 

[mackattk]

Did taxpayers fund body cams on police in the first place? Christ what a waste of resources, what was the POINT of purchasing this tech if we're going to basically ignore it altogether?!

I guess 1/10 times it can actually work in the officers favor, and at that point the police can choose to release it for PR concerns.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

We need to make a federal law that will override the state ones. It's sad that we have two do this just to get a little bit of transparency from police agencies.

 

[davepoobond]

What's the point of even having body cams then?

to waste money on government contracts.


its a very smart plan.

 

[Epsilon-delta]

I feel like I'm living in bizarro world. Laws passed restricting access to body cams defeats the purpose of having them in the first place.

 

[Link]

Can't imagine why public trust in police is so low.

Disgusting pigs.

 

[SummitAve]

I mean it's still footage to be used for investigations, prosecutions, and ultimately holding police accountable. I am for more transparency, but it seems to me that there are obvious privacy concerns that still need to be worked out, and these laws restricting their release are just the first step in finding the balance between transparency and privacy. I am only familiar with Minnesota state laws though...

 

[Frozenprince]

So they can capture some murder porn and watch it in the station as they pat each other on the back on a job well done with the sole good apple standing in the corner wondering where it all went wrong and why he's surrounding by murderous cowards.

I genuinely do feel for good cops. The deck is stacked against them in this environment both externally and internally.

But we need some of them to start getting up and being good cops and calling this shit out and we need it NOW. People are dying every day, black people have a target on their backs. The justice system is falling apart.

We need accountability.

 

[zeemumu]

Police were a mistake.

I love Message in a Bottle

 

[StayDead]

Any police officer for this measure or someone who does not do anything about the corruption of the police is complicit in this.

Do you honestly think it's that easy to do something about corruption in an organisation when you're at the bottom/middlle of the ladder? They can't really do anything about it.

 

[Mark L]

I really don't think this thread title is fair: we can hardly call them a *bastion* when they've only been around like ten minutes and they barely ever resulted in justice being done anyway.

 

[Link]

I mean it's still footage to be used for investigations, prosecutions, and ultimately holding police accountable. I am for more transparency, but it seems to me that there are obvious privacy concerns that still need to be worked out, and these laws restricting their release are just the first step in finding the balance between transparency and privacy. I am only familiar with Minnesota state laws though...

Are you talking about internal investigations and prosecutors that regularly work with those officers? I'm sure everything will be on the up and up. Just look at how much justice we get when the footage is actually released.

 

[NintendoGal]

Not every single police officer is a piece of shit. Just all the ones that support having no accountability or transparency are pieces of shit.

That's a pretty long list though. Can we just say a large number of them are pieces of shit?

And let's compromise thay 6 months. Let's get officers that support transparency be police, and the pieces of shit will sort themselves out by staying at home. As they aren't fit to be public servants.

Deal?

First we need to make it so they're not severely punished for going against the flow.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-with-an-unloaded-gun/?utm_term=.d25d457381ac

 

[Glix]

to waste money on government contracts.


its a very smart plan.

That's called business.

 

[dan2026]

Can the Federal Government not step in and force them by law to release all footage?

 

[psynergylover]

Shit....my state has one of these laws.....fuck!!!!

 

[geardo]

I genuinely do feel for good cops. The deck is stacked against them in this environment both externally and internally.

But we need some of them to start getting up and being good cops and calling this shit out and we need it NOW. People are dying every day, black people have a target on their backs. The justice system is falling apart.

We need accountability.

The problem is that every time one of those so called good cops actually does something, they get a massive target on their backs. Just look at Serpico. The culture is just too toxic.

 

[Frozenprince]

First we need to make it so they're not severely punished for going against the flow.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-with-an-unloaded-gun/?utm_term=.d25d457381ac

This has been the case for decades. Thousands upon thousands of good cops were railroaded and stuck as beat cops for their whole careers because they disagreed with the war on drugs and didn't pad out their numbers arresting 17 year olds with some weed.

The deck has always been stacked against the good and the just, because the rules and protections in place are designed to accommodate those that aren't.

It's up to the good and the just to speak out against these injustices they face themselves as well as those around them. The fact that they aren't is a MAJOR reason things are so bad right now.

The problem is that every time one of those so called good cops actually does something, they get a massive target on their backs. Just look at Serpico. The culture is just too toxic.

Because we've allowed these monolithic entities propped up on the backs of minor drug dealers and users to fester and rot for 40 years under the guise of "protecting" us from the big bad drugs.

There's a lot that needs to change, but we need people en masse to speak out against injustice or we'll never move past where we're at now.

 

[MontyMarx]

DON'T DO IT WISCONSIN

Spoiler

not like this

 

[Messofanego]

But don't people often say that it's only the bad apples that ruin the image of the police? That police in the majority are good? If they were, such footage would be accessible publicly, much like you get with Freedom Of Information Act.

This move goes against such claims, and makes people even more suspicious of the gang-like nature of American police where accountability is a bad word.

 

[BobTheFork]

But if they are following the law, they have nothing to hide, right?
Maybe we can have a task force randomly stop and frisk..I mean check the body cam on cops to make sure it's working.