Support for criminal justice reform, especially the common sense use of body cameras for police, marks a bright spot for the Obama Administration.
Or so I thought.
The president has called on local police to don the video devices. He has even offered $75 million of his own hard-earned money to help communities pay for the cameras. No, wait — turns out that $75M is not his personal stash but rather our tax money.
Oh, well. While I think local taxpayers should fund their own police forces, without federal subsidies, at least President O’s administration supports the right policy. No?
“The Justice Department is publicly urging local police departments to adopt body cameras, saying they are an important tool to improve transparency and trust . . .” reports The Wall Street Journal. “But privately, the department is telling some of its agents they cannot work with officers using such cameras as part of joint task forces . . .”
Weeks ago, the U.S. Marshals “announced that the agency wouldn’t allow any local law-enforcement officers wearing body cameras to serve on Marshals task forces. . . .”
I’m only surprised that I’m surprised. I should have known that while preaching to others to use body cameras, the Obama Administration would completely ignore camera use for federal police agencies. I shouldn’t be shocked that it even failed to establish rules for working with local and state police who might be required to wear cameras, at the administration’s urging.
It’s a very candid snapshot of the utter hypocrisy we’ve come to know and loathe from Washington.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
6 replies on “Candid Camera”
Hey, this could be a win-win situation. Not only do local cops wear body cameras, but all these “joint task forces” go away. That might actually be WORTH $75 million!
Good point Mr Knapp. Problem is that they may be converted to purely federal gangs, which according to the DOJ are very well mannered and always at within the Constitution’s limits, or so they say.
Does this coincide with the UN “law enforcement” coming into local police departments to take over? Or with the training going on in TX?
I don;t think so.
The “thin blue line” is just another gang with official sanction…the “good” cops that do nothing to reign in their criminal brethren are just as culpable.
Changes need to be made…
1. Eliminate both “qualified” and “absolute” immunity for all public officials–not just police and firefighters. Prosecutors, judges, and other court officials should have NO official immunity.
2. Require all public officials to be “bonded”, and to purchase “malpractice insurance” at their own expense as a condition of employment. No bond or insurance=no job. Insurance companies and bonding agencies would be more diligent in weeding out those who abuse their authority.
3. All funds disbursed to civilians as a result of misconduct must be taken from the respective agency’s pension fund–not from the taxpayers.
4. All police “body and dash cams” must be operational at all times, with a publicly accessible website in the “cloud”. Police are not permitted to have any interaction with civilians without operational body and dash cams…Any police official that disables body or dash cams or interacts with civilians without operational equipment should face immediate termination of employment–no excuses. Equipment should be designed that cannot be shut off or disabled.
5. Eliminate all police and firefighter “unions”. These “fraternal organizations” have been responsible for keeping many “bad cops” on the force. There is absolutely no need for public officials to have labor representation, especially when the public is the employer.
6. Police agencies should not be permitted to investigate themselves. Investigations for misconduct should take place at the state level. Internal affairs should only be used to resolve problems between individual officers.
7. All grand juries must be superior to the prosecutor. Withholding evidence from the grand jury by prosecutors or judges should be a felony. Grand juries and prosecutors who are investigating cases of official misconduct should be drawn from outstate jurisdictions–no more local (possibly tainted) investigations.
8. A searchable public database should be established for all public officials to insure that those who abuse their authority never work in public service. This could be established on a state-by-state basis.
These changes would do much to help eliminate the abuses that take place…
I am not a conspiracy nut, but — imagine the truth that may have been revealed if Federal Marshals and other Federal agents had been wearing working body cameras in the famous / infamous situations at “Ruby Ridge,” Waco, TX, the raid on Gibson Guitar raid, etc.