Sunday, November 23, 2014
Ferguson
The town of Ferguson is awaiting a grand jury decision regarding the innocence/guilt of officer Darren Wilson.
This article on a new era of policing is worthy of commentary.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/new-era-of-policing-will-the-benefits-of-body-worn-cameras-outweigh-the-privacy-issues/article21698547/
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This is my weekly post…
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great topic of discussion because the issue of police brutality and police wrong-doing is becoming a big issue in our world. Major cities like New York and London have already had trials of these Go-Pro like devices. Calgary is the first major city in Canada to follow through with the trial. One of the more recent issues with police was in Ferguson MO. A recent Autopsy revealed that Mike Brown was shot at a close range without his hands up. (1) Witnesses say that Brown was running away from the officer and had his hands up, so clearly they were lying or else the entire law enforcement and coroner’s office is corrupt. However the issue has sparked many to start protesting in the streets against police. Gun shops have even started to have rising sales because people are getting “prepared” to protest. (2) I don’t understand why people are so upset here, the evidence shows that Darren Wilson’s statement was true. However there would be more evidence if the officer was wearing a body camera. For a number of years there has been dash cameras installed in police vehicles, these have helped police identify shooters, vehicles and mainly made to keep the officers in check while on a traffic stop. However now that the technology is available to keep officers in check at all times, I believe it can only help in cases like the Brown vs. Wilson case.
I believe this is a win-win situation. Now the police will be caught if they speed, run red lights, and break the rules that we have to follow. I struggle to find a downside to this technology. If Darren Wilson was telling the truth, then it would be easy to disprove the statements of the witnesses because you can actually see what went on. It would decrease police brutality because they know they are being watched. It’s not only to protect the citizens, it’s made to protect the police as well, if someone tries sabotage an investigation with a bogus witness statement, which is possibly what happened in Ferguson, it protects the police from getting convicted when they shouldn’t. Think about how things would have been different if the G20 summit in Toronto over 3 years ago. Cops are still under investigation from their actions. (3) If they were wearing body cameras it would be easy to tell if the cops were actually doing something wrong. So overall I believe that there is really no downside to this technology, it can help protect the police, and the citizens and allow police to do their jobs without scrutiny as we would know if they were actually doing something wrong. Not all cops are bad, however not all of them are good. Let’s keep all of them in check knowing that if they do something wrong, they will be disciplined just like with any other job. We want to see what our tax dollars are being paid for, so let’s install these cameras. One last thing that you may be interested in, the following is a link to a video showing how a body camera helps to know what is going on. (4) This police officer was put in danger by a man with a knife, and the body camera showed that the man did what he had to do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku1Vy2DZQrs The next link is a video that will show you how a camera was used to show how a police officer shot a man multiple times for doing nothing. (5) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1EdDhmvvVA
Sources:
1) http://www.voanews.com/content/michael-brown-autopsy-ferguson-missouri/2492800.html
2) http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gun-sales-surge-jury-ferguson-decision-article-1.2016101
3) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/g20-police-officer-guilty-of-misconduct-over-bandana-arrest-1.2468333
4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku1Vy2DZQrs
5) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1EdDhmvvVA
This is my weekly post
ReplyDeleteThere are merits for this idea on both sides of the law. Obviously this does raise some privacy issues (1). However I believe that the positives for both sides outweigh the negatives. There really is little privacy issue, no cop is going to invade your privacy any more then usual because of a camera. It may even be less, a cop must obey legal protocol when on camera. With this new innovation police can make more successful and more importantly accurate arrests and convictions. (2). With the shooting in Ferguson recently there has been mass riots against police brutality yet it is still unclear what happened that day. Do we believe the officer in question that he needed to shoot? Was Darren Wilson truly an innocent man? One thing that is certain is that Michael Brown's side of the story can not be told by him. Had there been video proof of what had happened then Ferguson may not have exploded into riots and chaos. On the riots as protests there have been more questions and accusations of police brutality, we do not know if these claims are unfounded or not. It is word against word. Another concern of the body cameras is that an officer could still be corrupt. Each officer must turn the camera on when needed (3). Would officer Darren Wilson have recorded this event at all? It is to soon to tell how helpful body cameras on police would be however it is clear that something needs to be done.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/717/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/12/police-body-cameras/15522059/
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/12/363547611/after-ferguson-police-body-cameras-catching-on
As demonstrated in the Ferguson case, as well as numerous other controversial police brutality cases, claims of unwarranted use of police force often lead to lengthy, potentially corrupt investigations that only result in a light slap on the wrist. One example of this was in 2009 in Seattle when without warning, a sheriff’s deputy slammed who he thought was an assault suspect into a wall. The innocent man was left in a coma and suffered permanent head and spinal cord injuries. The officer in this case managed to escape all charges and is still a police officer to this day (1). This case is not an isolated incident. Since 2003 there have been over 5000 people murdered by police in America, a number that outweighs the soldiers killed in the Iraq war (2). With so much loss of human life accompanied by overwhelming controversy, it seems like the easiest way to solve the problem would be to have mandatory cameras for all police officers.
ReplyDeleteWith Ferguson we began to see the outcome of long term police corruption. Without waiting for any real evidence, people began to protest the shooting of Michael Brown as if they already knew the outcome of any future investigation (3). The protests quickly turned to riots, still without a solid understanding of what occurred. Perhaps the most interesting part of the story was the response from around the world. Widespread opinion was almost unanimously critical of the police. Whether it was on social media, talk shows, or everyday conversation, it seemed that everyone had condemned the police officer before any evidence was revealed that would even suggest he was in the wrong. This speaks volumes to how accustomed our society has become to authority figures abusing their power, which would change from a possibility to a true or false fact if every police officer was forced to have a camera recording them at all times.
1. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/24/us-police-brutality-worst-examples
2. http://www.globalresearch.ca/increasing-police-brutality-americans-killed-by-cops-now-outnumber-americans-killed-in-iraq-war/5361554
3. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/18/us-usa-missouri-shooting-timeline-idUSKCN0J222320141118
This also happens to be my weekly post.
DeleteHannah,
ReplyDeleteThe Ferguson case is one that will go down in history books for generations yet to come. Darren Wilson, a white cop, shot and murdered Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. This caused outbreak from the general public, leading to peaceful protests that turned violent after police intervention. I personally believe that Darren Wilson should be accountable for his actions and should face consequences. There have been multiple stories told of what exactly happened, so it is hard to tell exactly who is telling the truth. There have also been inconsistencies in autopsy reports, some suggesting that only 6-8 shots were fired, when others suggest up to 12 shots. When interviewed, Wilson stated that there was no other way for him to handle the situation. That to me shows that he doesn't know how to do his job effectively, and makes me question the system as a whole. There are numerous cases where people get into bad car accidents, and if someone died in that crash, the other person can be charged for manslaughter. But Darren Wilson was not charged, for anything. As a police officer he should be trained enough to use his gun as a last resort, not at first convenience. This issue has brought to light many other racial issues that are present in our society, especially in the united states. By not convicting Darren Wilson for the murder of Mike Brown, it is putting the African-American equality movement back by years.