Ferguson, Missouri cops start wearing body cameras

[Jazzy]

Police in the St. Louis suburb where a white officer shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old black teenager have started wearing body cameras, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told the newspaper officers had the devices on during a protest march Saturday over the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson.

Jackson said the department was given about 50 body cameras by two companies about a week ago. Company representatives offered training to officers Saturday on using the devices that attach to their uniforms and record video and audio. Jackson said each officer will get one to use.

The chief told the Post-Dispatch officers were able to capture video images of crowd members taunting officers during the demonstration on Saturday. "The quality is good," he said.

Officers are receptive to the cameras, he added. "They are really enjoying them," he told the newspaper. "They are trying to get used to using them."

The use of the cameras comes amid increased attention on police use of force in the wake of the Brown's death. Following the shooting, local police in Ferguson donned riot gear and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who refused to disperse and, at times, broke into nearby businesses.

Jackson said body cameras would have made a difference in the investigation of Brown's shooting.

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Now we just need to hope they won't shut them off or erase the data when it serves them.

 

[Dee]

Jazzy, I have to believe that there is some sort of safeguard that prevents the cops to alter the video that's recorded. Otherwise, what good would it be?

What I hope is that they can't just turn them on and off at will. There must be a safeguard for that, too. If a cop has an 8 hour shift, they should come back with 8 hours of video. Otherwise, any lawyer worth their salt would easily be able to create reasonable doubt in every situation.

It's sure gonna be interesting to see how this plays out.

And is anyone surprised at the crowd taunting the cops? There is no getting through to some people. They just want to cause shit, they have no interest in improving things.

It actually has been edited or went missing in several cases, at least with dash cam footage. Who knows what'll happen with the wearable cameras. There also has to be policy put in place as to when the officers are required to activate the cameras, as well as whether the footage will be required to be released to the public. There was a case in San Diego where the department was not required to release it to the public even after an investigation had wrapped up. So while this may help in some cases, there is also policy and procedure in place that has to be dealt with in order to even do anything with the footage.